'Where's President Obama on marriage equality?'

It's a little galling that the Log Cabin guy gets to ask the question about Obama's stance on marriage equality. And, the answer is "Behind Dick Cheney." But, that's where Obama is.

Obama is on the wrong side of history, but that seems lost on the political geniuses at the White House. This has to change because we're going to keep asking this question til we get the right answer.

Jim Messina thought he had a gay problem over the way he mishandled DADT repeal. He's going to have a serious gay problem running the reelection if Obama doesn't get right on the marriage issue. Read the rest of this post...

Join the Blend's live chat with OutServe

As we (hopefully) approach Senate action on the DADT repeal compromise, Pam's House Blend is hosting a live chat tonight with Outserve, the "underground network of LGBT actively serving military members." Earlier this week, OutServe announced it was creating regional and base chapters to "to provide information, resources and social support to actively serving military personnel."

Participating in the chat will be Ty Walrod, Co-Director, Civilian Operations and JD Smith, Co-Director, Military Operations.

Read the rest of this post...

Matt from Stop8.org obliterates NOM's latest ad

This is just excellent:

Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown had their chance to testify in the Prop.8 trial. They didn't. Why? Well, it's one thing to lie to reporters or in paid media. NOM does that all the time. This radio ad is just another example. But, as David Boies explained, they can't lie on the witness stand:

"In a court of law you've got to come in and you've got to support those opinions, you've got to stand up under oath and cross-examination," Boies said. "And what we saw at trial is that it's very easy for the people who want to deprive gay and lesbian citizens of the right to vote [sic] to make all sorts of statements and campaign literature, or in debates where they can't be cross-examined.

"But when they come into court and they have to support those opinions and they have to defend those opinions under oath and cross-examination, those opinions just melt away. And that's what happened here. There simply wasn't any evidence, there weren't any of those studies. There weren't any empirical studies. That's just made up. That's junk science. It's easy to say that on television. But a witness stand is a lonely place to lie. And when you come into court you can't do that.

Maggie and Brian couldn't defend this ad under oath.

Great job, Matt. Read the rest of this post...

SU Action Fund's latest ad features Active Duty Marine

Here's the latest ad from the Servicemembers United Action Fund. It's powerful.

No servicemember should have to obscure his or her face in order to serve this nation. Read the rest of this post...

GOP's new support for marriage should make Obama administration 'uncomfortable'

Sam Stein takes a look at the increasing support among GOPer for marriage equality. And, he's been told by at least one "prominent Democratic consultant" that there's cause for concern:

The notion that the gay rights community would abandon the Obama White House over its unwillingness to fully embrace their legislative priorities may seem absurd to the casual political observer. But the recent embrace of same-sex marriage by prominent conservatives, most notably former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, has some Democratic operatives concerned.

On Monday, former McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt argued that there was a "strong conservative case to be made in favor of gay marriage" and that more and more Republicans are dropping their opposition to the cause. Shortly thereafter, a prominent Democratic consultant got in touch with the Huffington Post to make the case that the Obama administration risks losing the gay rights community (or at least depressing their votes) with its tepid embrace of their priorities.

"I think they have been put in a tough place by these conservatives and they should be," the consultant said. "There are a whole group of people who are to the left of them on gay rights. And they are Republicans. It should make them feel uncomfortable."

LBGT voters are not, of course, monolithic. And on a host of other fronts, they are repulsed by the GOP's policies. Talk about abandoning Obama and the Democrats, in some respects, has been driven more by a desire to scare the party into action than sincere intent to vote Republican.

LGBT voters aren't monolithic. But, in the post-Prop. 8 world, more and more LGBT voters are becoming single issue voters. I don't think the Obama administration ever understood how the dynamics changed after Prop. 8. Or, worse, the political geniuses didn't care.

Every day, Obama looks more and more out of touch on LGBT issues. He's been outflanked by conservative Republicans. Think about that.

I'm not sure why Jim Messina and David Axelrod think Obama's current position on marriage is tenable now. But, it's not going to work for 2012. The day after the Prop. 8 decision, Axelrod told MNSBC:

The president does oppose same-sex marriage but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples.

In response, I tweeted:

What Axelrod said is sorta like gays & lesbians saying, I support Obama, but won't give him money, volunteer or vote for him.

LGBT voters are going to support candidates who endorse full equality. Team Obama surely thinks we've got no where to go. But, that's changing fast. Read the rest of this post...

Fidel Castro apologizes for treating gays not so well

CNN:

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he acknowledges the persecution of gays and lesbians during the Revolution in his country, according to a newspaper interview published Tuesday.
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Cuba sent openly gay men to labor camps without charge or trial.

"They were moments of great injustice, great injustice!" Castro told journalist Carmen Lira Saade from the Mexican daily La Jornada. "If someone is responsible, it's me."

Read the rest of this post...

Hero of the Month: Ted Olson

I’ve never voted for a Republican, and I don’t expect to. I disagree with them on too many issues. Nevertheless, I feel that we, as a community, will advance much more quickly if two parties are vying for our support rather than just one. So I take interest when a Republican shows support for LGBT rights, whether it be Meghan McCain, Laura Bush or Dick Cheney.

Three weeks ago, I toyed with the idea that Republicans, not Democrats, would make an appeal to gay voters in 2016 by claiming responsibility for ushering in marriage equality. This strange vision continues to take shape and I am beginning to think that it could become real. Glen Beck and Elizabeth Hasselbeck, of all people, now support marriage equality. The much-reviled Ken Mehlman, the engineer of Bush’s reelection in 2004, is raising major dollars for AFER. These developments are disorienting, but in a good way.

I think Ted Olson has been a catalyst for these changes, and, for that reason, he is my hero of the month. To have someone with Olson’s stature in the Republican party champion the cause of marriage equality is unprecedented. Olson, with David Boies, has spearheaded the federal challenge to Prop 8 and, perhaps even more importantly, has been ubiquitous in making the case to the public in both liberal and conservative media outlets. He has forced many conservatives to confront their assumptions and take our arguments seriously. For instance, check out his interview with Fox News’s Chris Wallace, where Wallace trots out the conventional conservative talking points, only to have them systematically demolished by Olson. In the end, Wallace capitulates.

David Boies has also been a tremendous ally, of course. Boies’s withering cross-examinations of Prop 8 witnesses turned them into witnesses for us, which is not an easy thing to do. He is truly a fierce advocate.

That being said, Olson is blazing a new trail. Republican supporters of LGBT rights face a much more hostile climate in their party than Democrats do. To oversimplify, Boies’ showing support is like a straight ally flying a rainbow flag in San Francisco -- inspiring and much appreciated, but not unprecedented. Olson’s support is like flying one in Itawamba County, Mississippi. It takes extra guts to publicly challenge such a mainstay of your party's platform. Olson does so with equanimity and seems to relish the challenge.

I have never understood why supporting marriage equality (or, for that matter, allowing open service of gays and lesbians in the military) should be particularly liberal positions. As Olson has pointed out, conservative values include encouraging stable relationships through marriage and protecting the liberty of the country's citizens. Unfortunately, conservative practice hasn’t always followed conservative principles where the pet causes of the evangelical right are concerned.

Let’s hope that more and more Republicans follow Olson's lead. I look forward to the day when I don’t have to argue with his fellow party members about LGBT civil rights, and can focus on arguing with them about other issues. Like health care. And climate change. And immigration. And gun control. And a woman’s right to choose. And military spending. Etc., etc. Read the rest of this post...

British Catholic official calls country a 'wasteland' for support of gay rights

Pope Benedict is heading to Great Britain later this month. In advance of that trip, one of the top Catholic officials in the country castigated and trashed the country for its support of a woman's right to choose and gay rights. For supporting gay rights, Britain is a "wasteland":

Mr Adamus' comments are significant because of his senior position in one of the most influential dioceses in the country. His role as pastoral director gives him access to some of the Church's most senior figures, including Archbishop Nichols. He was once a priest at St Augustine's in central Manchester but he left the clergy and married.

In the same interview, he spoke at length about marriage and the role of men and women, pleading with Catholics to "exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification."

He added: "Britain in particular, with its ever-increasing commercialisation of sex, not to mention its permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda, is such a wasteland."

The comments set off a firestorm of criticism, as you can imagine.

Catholic figures aren't exactly the best arbiters of what's right and wrong these days, especially during the reign of Benedict. If you're called a "wasteland" by enablers and protectors of child rapists, does it matter? Read the rest of this post...