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Republicans Replace Real Debate with Hillary Diversion

You have to hand it to the Republican spin machine. It is well-oiled and switches gears without so much as a sputter. Republican voters and the media gladly get on board. They don’t seem to realize they’re being taken for a ride. In a CNN/YouTube Republican debate Wednesday, retired Brigadier General Keith H. Kerr, a gay man, asked the presidential candidates why they thought American soldiers were not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians. It turns out that Brig. Gen. Kerr is associated with Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign, serving on the candidate’s steering committee on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, and is one of 48 national co-chairmen of Veterans and Military Retirees for Hillary.

So what? Brig. Gen. Kerr told CNN’s American Morning yesterday that he had decided to ask the question on his own, without prompting from the campaign. He is a registered independent voter in California, and he told American Morning that he has not actively participated in Hillary’s campaign and that he has in fact contributed to Republican campaigns this year. It’s clear to any rational observer with a passing knowledge of politics that names appearing on political lists of prominent LGBT leaders are most often merely a symbolic gesture. But even if the general had been put up to it, is the question any less relevant? With our military stretched across two wars and showing the strain, it’s important to ask the “pro-military” party why they continue to force dedicated, highly trained soldiers out of service because they were asked, they told or they were pursued. Watch Brig. Gen. Kerr’s response on CNN yesterday:

Is there anything wrong with opposing parties asserting a change of subject in another party’s debate? First of all, it is refreshing to see Republicans pushed off their “guns, God and (anti)gays” talking points. What our political process needs is a little less polish, a few fewer focus groups and a lot less spin.Yet, when Republicans ring the Hillary bell, the national pundits become nothing more than salivating Pavlovian dogs ready to attack. The pundits and the media who pay them talk about Hillary, not about our irrational, discriminatory policy on gays in the military. Don’t think about the hate and homophobia mixed in our conservative cake. Taste the delicious icing. And Republicans, the media and the right-wing blogosphere take a big bite.

In response, Democrats get defensive. They fall for it every time. Rather than redirect the debate back to the point, they legitimize the spin by responding to it. Democrats, wake up and grow a spine. Don’t dignify Republican diversion by getting distracted with it yourselves. If you don’t, it’s going to be a long, painful election year.

Gay Atlanta Lights Holiday Tree at Outwrite Bookstore

Queer Atlanta will greet the season with the lighting of a LGBT holiday tree tonight at Outwrite Bookstore and Coffeehouse. The Third Annual GLBT Holiday Tree Lighting is free and open to the public. The festivities will get underway at 7:30 pm. Entertainment will include live music by DeJe Johnson, a performer from Blake’s Southern Comfort series, and OurSong, the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chorus. Scrooge from Alliance Theatre’s production of A Christmas Carol and the elfin star of Horizon Theatre’s production of The Santaland Diaries are also scheduled to appear. Reality TV addicts will get a chance to see Carey Sherrell, a contestant on Donald Trump’s The Apprentice. Atlanta’s Ruby Redd will host.

The event benefits the Atlanta Pride Committee. Prizes donated by Atlanta-area business will be raffled. And those over 21 can purchase a wristband that gets them free food and drink, included cocktails from sponsor Smirnott Twist, virgin beverages from sponsor Vitamin Energy, and food from Blake’s on the Park.

Event Summary

Atlanta GLBT Holiday Tree Lighting
When: Thursday, November 29, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse, 991 Piedmont Ave. at 10th St., Atlanta, GA

Gay Marriage Would Shrink Government Expenses and Grow Businesses

A new study reaffirms what many have proven:  there’s money in gay marriage.  It is a rational, pro-business argument for allowing gays and lesbians to marry.  Unfortunately, our politicians–both Republican and Democrat–long ago went deaf to reason. In advance of an anticipated January 2008 same-sex marriage debate by the Maryland legislature, the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law has released a study showing that gay marriage would put $3.2 million in that state’s coffers every year. The money would come from savings in expenditures on means-tested public benefit programs and an increase in sales and lodging tax revenue from gay weddings and wedding-related tourism. In addition, Maryland businesses would benefit. The report finds:

…if Maryland were to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples regardless of residency status, the State would not only experience a substantial increase in wedding spending by same-sex couples residing in Maryland, but it would also see an increase in wedding and tourist spending by same-sex couples from other states. We predict that sales revenues by Maryland’s wedding and tourism-related businesses would rise by over $94 million in each of the first three years after marriage is extended to same-sex couples.

Combined with the net gain in state revenue, that comes to almost one-third of a billion dollars in Maryland pockets in just three years.

Back in April 2004, during the height of the right-wing public relations assault on queers as a strategy for the election of George Bush and a conservative majority, Republican principle was quickly abandoned.  That year, Forbes magazine estimated  that gay marriage would bring a $16.8 billion windfall to business–everything from $196.7 million for cake to $217.2 million for invitations and stationary to $1.7 billion for honeymoons.  A couple of months later, the Congressional Budget Office reported that legal gay marriage in the U.S. would reduce state and federal expenses by almost one billion dollars a year for 10 years.  Shoot, for every year queers could marry, we could afford another three or four days of the Iraq war (currently costing American taxpayers an estimated $275 million a day).

Hmmm….gay marriage reduces government expenses and is good for business.  How do pro-business, small-government Republicans reconcile abandoning their political principles just to pander for religious-right votes?

Human Rights Campaign Shows Its True Stripes with Transgender Exclusion

Two transgendered members of the Human Rights Campaign’s business council resigned yesterday, widening the divided between the group and the transgender community. Jamison Green and Donna Rose are both authors, speakers and consultants–internationally recognized leaders with very long lists of awards and a history of participation and support for many of the largest and most effective LGBT rights organizations. Their departure is significant, not just for the transgender community but for all supports of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

In a joint letter notifying HRC of their immediate resignation, Green and Rose were clear that the group’s decision to support a trans-exclusive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) was the beginning of the end of their support. But there’s more to the story behind the scenes at HRC, and it’s not a pretty one. The behind-the-scenes details, spelled out on Rose’s blog, reveal disconnects and exclusion:

One thing I’ll share that I don’t think anyone else knows yet. The day of our HRC Board Call to make a policy decision on ENDA (10/1) we held a Business Council call that afternoon to discuss the situation amongst ourselves as corporate leaders and to make an uninvited recommendation to the Sr. Staff and Board about the decision we were going to be asked to make. I have always found the fact that HRC leadership kept Daryl and the Workplace Project totally out of the loop throughout the entire ENDA debacle to be troubling. As I’ve said before, those are the people who should have been most engaged. In any event, although we hadn’t been asked to provide an opinion (something else I find odd) we felt that it was important to meet as a group and to have one. So, we met in the later part of the afternoon, we talked, and we forwarded our recommendation to Joe, David Smith, and to others.

What leap of logic did HRC President Joe Solmonese and his lieutenants have to make to rationalize excluding the business council from policy decisions on employment nondiscrimination? It seems to me to smack of nothing less than a hunger for power, and another example of HRC’s desire to control the debate on gay rights. In my view, HRC is more interested in getting invited to the table than in unifying the LGBT community to work as one force against homophobia and discrimination.

Why didn’t Green and Rose stay on and work for change within HRC? They tried. Again, from Rose’s blog:

We struggled with this for quite a while, but in the end we knew what we needed to do and we did it. I don’t feel that it’s necessary to rehash everything we’ve done and felt over these past few weeks to reconcile today’s announcement, but suffice it to say that the fact we didn’t get a response at all from Joe Solmonese to our request to meet with him personally indicated to us that our time there was up. It was that simple.

In fairness, I believe HRC’s strategy is rooted in the necessity for political compromise. It is extraordinarily difficult to diffuse hate and discrimination in one fell swoop. But I can’t help but think that in an effort to get a seat closer to the front of the bus, they’re willing to throw some members of the community under the wheels. You can compromise on timing perhaps, or on wording. How can you compromise on principle? And what’s worse, how can you not even include subsets of the community in the discussion? And Solmonese is apparently unwillingly to even extend a hand to those he’s pushed aside, making no effort to bring the community back together.

HRC’s actions on ENDA are more than a transgender issue. Lest we think it doesn’t affect the rest of us, we should think again. HRC has shown us its true stripes: positions, strategy and tactics are controlled by Joe Solmonese and others at the highest levels. Dissenting opinion and unity be damned. Have you noticed that comments are not allowed on HRC’s blog? In fact the blog is damn hard to find from their Website. That tells me that the organization is not interested in and/or will not allow discussion or input on their decisions.

Visit Life on Q’s Transgender Resource Page.

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Bisexual Conference Comes Back, Calls for Content

The Bisexual Empowerment Conference:  A Uniting, Supportive Experience (BECAUSE) is back after a three-year hiatus.  The 14th BECAUSE Conference will be held at the Minneapolis campus of the University of Minnesota, March 28-30, 2008.  Workshops will be held on Saturday, March 29, and event organizers have just issued a call for proposals on workshop topics.  Organizers are looking for workshops on a variety of topics of interest to the bi community, including bisexuality 101, sexuality, BSDM, health, politics, spirituality and academic topics. According to BECAUSE organizer Lisbeth Kellogg, the primarily goal for the workshops is to help build the bisexual community.  The deadline for workshop proposals is January 2, 2008.

More information on the bisexual community conference, as well as how to submit a workshop proposal, is available on the BECAUSE 08 Website.

Straight Sex Now the Number One Cause of HIV Infections in Washington D.C.

In the first report on HIV in the District of Columbia ever assembled, the D.C. Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration found that HIV is most often contracted through heterosexual contact, and strikes African-American men and women in numbers out of proportion to their percentage in the general population. According to the report, there were 12,428 people living with HIV or AIDS in the District of Columbia. Most were male (70 percent) and African-American (90.7 percent). While 27 percent of those HIV/AIDS infections were transmitted by men having sex with men, more than 37 percent of the D.C.-area HIV/AIDS cases were contracted through heterosexual sex. Another 20.8 percent were attributed to injection drug use.

In an article published today by the Washington Post, Shannon Hader, the head of D.C.’s HIV/AIDS administration, described HIV as everybody’s disease. “It blows the (gay) stereotype out of the water,” she told the Post.

The District of Columbia has the highest AIDS case rate in the nation, with 128.4 cases per 100,000 people. Nationally, the AIDS rate is 14 cases per 100,000 Americans. The report also showed a 43 percent increase in reported cases in the District from 2001 to 2006, although the Department of Health asserted that some of that increase may be a reflection of an increased use and effectiveness of HIV medications.

A complete copy of the 2007 HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report can be viewed here.

Girls Gone Pride to Share Sweets with Singles at MSR

Girls Gone Pride will be giving lonely-heart lesbians a treat tomorrow night at My Sister’s Room in East Atlanta. Their “Taking Candy from Strangers” party will give the un-partnered an opportunity to meet, greet and eat sweets. With the $10 cover comes a neon bracelet color-coded to announce your status: single and looking, approachable (with caution) or taken. Also included is a candy necklace to reward those who connect.

Music will be mixed by house talent DJ Duck and Yvonne Monet from 99X. Go Go Vixens will help get the dancing going on stage and in the crowd. There will also be a “tighty whitey” wet (or dry) t-shirt contest on the deck at 1:00 a.m. All who participate get a free t-shirt, with a cash prize for the winner. To further encourage interaction, there’ll be flip cup games, also on the deck. And of course, drink specials for some liquid courage, with $2.00 draft beer and $2.00 shots. It all gets underway starting at 9:00 p.m. More information is available at Girls Gone Pride’s myspace page.

Disclaimer: This post is not a paid advertisement. A single lesbian myself, I know it’s damn hard to date. Girls Gone Pride gets it, so they got a free promo post. See you there, girls.

Alexandra Billings Among the Celebrities Promoting Transgender Respect in new GLAAD Video

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released a new public service announcement (PSA) yesterday as a part of its “Be an Ally & a Friend” campaign. The new 20-second video was released a week in advance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, a day to memorialize those killed because of anti-transgender violence or prejudice. GLAAD hopes the PSA will encourage viewers to treat others with dignity and respect regardless of gender identity/expression or sexual orientation.The video features transgender actress Alexandra Billings (Grey’s Anatomy, ER), as well as T.R. Knight (Grey’s Anatomy), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Rex Lee (Entourage), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) and retired NBA player John Amaechi.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded nine years ago to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered November 28, 1998. The annual event is designed to raise public awareness of anti-transgender hate crimes and to encourage people to be allies to the transgender community.

What George Bush Doesn’t Know About Brian Muller

George Bush doesn’t know Brian Muller, but Brian knows George, rather intimately. Brian has been to Bush’s Crawford, Texas house many times when George wasn’t around. Brian searched everything that entered the ranch, from food to packages. Following the President outside the ranch, which is of course always guarded, Brian made sure that anywhere George went was safe. He looked behind artwork in restaurants. He examined the pews at church. He touched all the chairs and telephones and files in conference rooms.

If the President knew about Brian, he would likely be alarmed to know that he had been watched so closely, because Brian is a gay man. As a soldier who wasn’t asked, and didn’t tell—at least until the end—Brian kept his orientation under wraps while he went about his mission to uncover any dangers in Crawford, so that George could safely continue his reign of discrimination and exclusion, using his power to deny gay Americans basic rights at every opportunity.

Brian served in secrecy in the U.S. Army for eight years. Before Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell put an end to his military service, he put his life on the line every day as a bomb technician. He went to Bosnia three times. He was in one of the early waves of soldiers who went into Afghanistan in the late fall of 2001, just a couple of months following the tragedy on September 11. In Afghanistan, Brian’s unit searched for old Soviet munitions that had been left behind after Russia’s war effort there. What they found they destroyed, to prevent the bombs and chemicals and guns from ending up in the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists. They hiked high into the Afghan mountains and went into the infamous caves. More than once, they would evacuate small villages and destroy a cave full of unexploded shells.

In Afghanistan, Brian risked his life for his fellow soldiers and for ordinary Afghanis, even though it was often hard to tell which locals were innocent civilians and which were plotting against America. When a young Afghani boy rode a bicycle up to a group of soldiers, got off and walked away, Brian was the one who rushed to the bike and diffused the IED, at risk to his own life and limb, saving his fellow soldiers from becoming another on the Pentagon’s list of Americans killed in service to their country.

Among the lethal remnants the Soviets left behind were tanks of fuel air explosive. The Americans came in to remove the tanks, hoping to prevent the locals from killing themselves out of ignorance of the volatile nature of the high explosive liquid rounds in the tanks. The Afghanis would excavate high explosives out of abandoned, unexploded bombs to heat their homes and cook their families’ meals.

While loading the tanks on military transport, one tipped and spilled the explosive on Brian. He still fights a skin condition that resulted from the accident, five years after being kicked out of the Army for being gay. He struggled to get treatment from the VA. Apparently Brian’s injury was less deserving of healthcare because his skin is stretched across a gay man’s body.

After his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Brian was assigned to the Presidential detail with the Secret Service back in the states. His job was to clear deliveries to the Crawford estate and secure other locations of any danger before the President could enter. The technique for ensuring an area is safe for our leaders is alarmingly simple. It’s called “find or function.” Soldiers and agents touch and move everything. Any hidden explosives are either noticed and diffused, or they are touched and detonated. Anything Brian examined would either be deemed harmless or could be the last thing Brian touched before dying for a man who does not value Brian’s service.

Brian provided the same service to Vice President Cheney, traveling with him overseas to protect him in airport hangers, at press conferences and during speeches. Mr. Cheney doesn’t know that one young gay man risked his life to protect him, even though Cheney believes it’s okay for his daughter to be gay, but sits by passively as his party works to ensure that it’s not okay for the sons and daughters of other Americans to enjoy the same tolerance.

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Honor All Veterans–Including Gay Veterans

The Georgia Veterans Day Parade Association of Atlanta will honor American veterans tomorrow, unless those veterans happen to be against the war in Iraq and/or queer. The Atlanta Progressive News reports that the parade association initially denied applications to participate from The Veterans for Peace Chapter 125 (VFP) and American Veterans for Equal Rights Georgia (AVER), a national Veterans Service Organization created by and for LGBT veterans and service members. AVER is the only queer-focused organization recognized by the Veterans Administration, according to their Website.

The story is confirmed by a press release issued yesterday by VFP Greater Atlanta Chapter 125.

The parade association then later said that both groups can march but cannot display any messages of peace (by VFP), or exhibit any “public displays of affection” (in the case of AVER).

Apparently, the powers behind Atlanta’s Veterans Day Parade are willing to honor only those troops not threatened by the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. And even if you’ve served your country in the armed forces, you should not be recognized unless you agree with Bush Administration policy on the war. Those who put themselves in harm’s way to fight for freedom, that lofty American ideal for which our President believes the terrorists “hate us for,” should be rewarded with the right to exercise those freedoms themselves. And that should include freedom of speech, to object to an unnecessary war that has costs thousands of lives, strained our military, racked up billions in debt and damaged America’s reputation around the world. And it should include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even if it happens to be a gay life.

To learn more about how you can support and honor LGBT veterans and currently-serving troops, visit AVER and the Servicemember’s Legal Defense Network.