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How to Keep the Hearts of Bigots Warm Through the Winter
A couple of boys were calling my best friend a faggot one unhappy day at summer camp. Courses of action seemed slim to my adolescent mind. I could stand up for Jack branding myself a fag as well and insuring myself a miserable summer, or I could join in with the name callers, lose my closest friend, but assure my standing with the majority. I sacrificed my friend on the altar of popularity. I don't think I need to tell you that political expediency was a terrific short-term solution but a long-term nightmare. My summer concluded uneventfully but none of those boys became my friend or did me any favors. And forty years later I still feel the loss of Jack along with a piece of my self respect that I can never win back. Mine was an act of cowardice and betrayal.
It seems Obama is now maneuvering through the summer camp of his political adolescence and is about to make the same bad choice as I. He can call the placing of a hate monger like Rick Warren on the world dais political healing or inclusiveness or any other nicety he'd like, but I call it pandering to the lowest instinct of the worst kind of politics.
President Elect Obama, your victory was made possible in no small part to the votes and wallets of the gay and lesbian community along with our supporters. Turning your back on us does not make you more mainstream American. It just makes you a coward.
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The odd thing is, this is a raging, flaming insult to so many people. If what is being said about Warren is true, then the "true" right wing fanatical fundamentalists (whoever they may be who aren't attending Saddleback Church and its satellite churches) dislike Warren as much as the liberal progressives. The fact of the matter is, this appointment is also an inexcuseable insult to those of us who are complete non-believer rationalists. Frankly, I take offense at the idea of having one man, any man (or woman) bless a presidency, and by extension, an entire nation.
People talk about religious expression and religious freedom, UNTIL it comes down to us rationalists and other nonbelievers. It's incredibly hypocritical to be accepting of ANY "God" or many "Gods", but those of us who take a rational logical view away from science fiction mythology are labelled by everyone else as the spawns of Satan.
You all need to see the Rachel Maddow video from her show where Rick Warren blatantly LIES to his congregation saying that he never compared Gay Marriage to pedophilia, pederasty, polygamy, or incest and then Rachel Maddow produces a video where he does in fact compare them to Gay Marriage. She even repeats that he does.
If this man will LIE to his congregation, even again as he did to push Yes on 8 then he has NO PLACE AT OUR INAUGURATION! I don't care if it's 2 minutes or 2 hours, he doesn't BELONG THERE.
Sorry, but I don't think it's a lie. I just think he made his point awkwardly and many people misinterpreted what he said. I don't agree with his views on gay marriage, but I don't think he was saying homosexuality is just like incest or pedophilia. You can use upper case letters all you want, but you won't change my mind on that.
No doubt gay people rank lower on the Obama scale than do Christian swing voters he hopes to bring to the environmental issue. So far the only rumblings concerning gay people that I've heard from the administration is the possiblity that we just may finally achieve political recognition of the right to die in the war as openly gay citizens.
Except that Obama announced after the election that eliminating Don't Ask, Don't Tell is not a high priority.
If this is what it appears to be on the surface - an indictment of the PE for doing EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO FOR TWO YEARS, I'm sorry for those in agreement with you. If your beef is with the King James Bible, take aim at it. Your move in attacking the followers of a religious dogma that spells out derogatory lines of thought on homosexuality is cowardly, in that you are killing the messenger instead of attempting to destroy the message. That message is spelled out clearly in Leviticus - homosexuality is an abomination. Take aim at iron age superstition with calm logic and implacable reason.
Sorry for the soapbox, but I find the outrage unhelpful, if honest.
The word "homosexuality" is not mentioned in the Bible because the ancient Hebrews lacked our modern conception of sexual orientation. Only the sex act is condemned in Leviticus - and then only between men - along with hundreds of other things that Christians take no heed of.
Man lay with another man as he would a woman sums it up. No there was no term that translates, but you seem to be splitting hairs.
Sorry, try looking up Sodom and Gomorah.
really? for two years obama was telling us that one of the first day of his presidency we were going to have to be "blessed" by a man who compares us to pedophiles and fights to overturn our marriages and threatens the custody of our children? glad your demographic can rest easy. actually our "beef" is not the bible. believe what you want in your churches. don't use it as a weapon to deny me my rights. who are you to have an opinion about what is an outrage to someone else? whatever makes you furious, it's not an issue to me, so it must not be important.
If this is supposed to be an indictment of Abrahamic religious dogma, bravo.
If this is anger over Proposition 8, it's well founded.
Amendment 14
1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
I'm sorry that people are feeling hurt, and discriminated against. As soon as a constitutional lawyer gets this into the proper court it will be abolished. Proposition 8 goes against a fundamental principal that we're supposed to live by. Beyond that, there will always be people who can't look past labels, color, orientation, height weight, etc etc. You can't enforce nice thoughts through the courts, but you can enforce a lack of negative actions. Let's keep it real.
Thank you for expressing my views!
Yvette
Your feelings are acknowledged by most, and you certainly have a right to them, and reason for them.
I do not believe Obama intented to hurt or insult anyone. I also believe that in the big picture Obama has done much more RIGHT then he has wrong. He is not perfect.
I choose to still celebrate with JOY in my heart on Jan 20th because John McCain and Sara Palin did not win the election, and because george Bush and Dick Cheney will be GONE.
For that I thank the UNIVERSE and Barack Obama and Joe Biden. The cup I'm drinking out of is 90% full.
I'll accept that BO didn't realize he was making a mistake. But he SHOULD have realized it!
I don't accept that BO didn't expect this. He's a smart, savvy politician.
I think he chose Warren to reach out to the "Christian" right, but also will the full knowledge that it would cause outrage in the gay community, and he could be seen by the vast anti-gay population in America as having stood up to those uppity gays. With his 82% approval rating, it sadly looks like this political opportunism probably worked.
You go girl.
Thanks Harvey!
Yes, this inauguration has turned into bad theater.
A friend says he will extend the Golden Rule to anyone, but that he will not allow them to grab it from his hand and beat him with it.
That sums it up.
Gays extended the Golden Rule to Obama and helped him get elected. What is Obama's response? To grab it from their hands and beat them with it.
It is not about opening a dialog with Evangelicals, it is about the place of honor given to Warren during the inauguration.
I support having a dialog with anyone who is willing to talk. That includes Rick Warren and Mahmūd Ahmadinejād, but I note that Obama didn't invite Ahmadinejād to speak at the inauguration.
Obama's spiritual adviser James Meeks hateful towards gays and don't forget Obama sending Donny McClurkin to S. C. where McClurkin denounced gays from the stage.
Obama is chalking up a pretty clear track-record of:
1. Accepting support and money from gays
2. Doing things that denigrate gays
3. Lying about it by claiming he's a fierce advocate for their rights.
Sorry, but until I see some repentance from Obama and he takes actions which demonstrate that he supports human and civil rights for all people, I will continue to oppose him at every opportunity.
I will point out that, as a Democrat, I hold Democrats to a higher standard than I do Republicans - who do not support equal human and civil rights for all persons and proudly proclaim it in their platform.
Wise man oldbrit. All this talk about consensus and opening a dialogue etc is bull. After all, Hillary Clinton tried to open a dialogue and look where it got her and at all the posts from Huffposts that bashed her at every opportunity. So much for dialogue. At least she woul dhave never, regardless of her husband's lousyt track record on Gay rights, have selected someone like Warren to give the invocation.
You must find great joy in the Obama bashing then, I presume.
Don't be too sure that HRC wouldn't have picked Warren too.
Part two
If he is different to the rest of politicians, he will close Guantanamo as soon as possible and I mean in weeks; he will end this cruel war as soon as possible and I mean in months and he will give equal rights for everyone in this country as soon as possible and I mean NOW.
I not a US citizen, but I am a resident that has worked as hard as any American to help Obama to get elected both with my money and my work. Hope and change were very inspiring words during the campaign. I don’t hope anymore, I EXPECT. I expect Obama not to be a political coward.
Part one
Warren is not inclusive, is divisive. Obama should have realized by now that his action of choosing Warren for the inauguration is divisive and NOT inclusive. I am sure Obama did not have the intention of offending gays, lesbians and all the straights (including myself) that support equal rights for everyone. But now he should realize he made a mistake and he should fix it. If he doesn’t, he will become another coward politician.
Obama promised beautiful things and we’ll see what he does. Although I am disappointed with some of his first appointments, I know that not everyone is going to be happy 100%. But picking Warren for the invocation is an insult to a large part of this country (not only gays and lesbians) and is divisive as we can see a week after.
Obama’s decision is simply wrong. I don’t say he doesn’t have to reach out to conservatives, but this is not the way. This is not the change people voted for; this is more of the same politics. Obama needs to be honest and govern for the majority of the country that voted for him. That’s how works. It is funny how when conservatives are in power they don’t need to reach out to liberals, but when liberals are in power they HAVE TO reach out to conservatives.
If I lived in California I would have no doubt voted for gays and lesbian to have the right of marriage. But for many in this community to turn on Obama and to resort to the name calling and intolerance that they deplore when directed at themselves makes me wonder what is going on. Obama was hired because we have economic and environmental issues that threaten us all. These issues swamp all others. Since the people voted the way they did, the recourse is now in the courts as far as obtaining the civil rights associated with marriage. In the meantime why not just ignore religion and the government and go get married with your own ceremonies and rituals? Why concede these powers to the government or religion. Heterosexual marriage failure rates are 50 % so formal marriage arrangements don't seem to be all that effective in any event.
"These issues swamp all others. "
one-track democracy is an oxymoron. the reason the economy tanked is crucial issues were ignored by other ultimately less important issues.
On the other hand, you can argue the economy was ruined by too much attention, in the form of ill-advised deregulation.
It is not only about marriage, it is about equal rights.
I'm with you Harvey.
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