Enough is Enough!

Kids, it's been a long few weeks.

The news has been running non-stop on the many celebrity deaths of the last few weeks: Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Karl Malden, Billy Mays ... just to name a few of the biggies.

Last Friday Sarah Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska, causing quite a media frenzy on whether or not this is the end of her political career, or just the beginning.

The economy continues to plummet, with the United States seeing the highest unemployment rate in decades. Congress is already talking about a second stimulus plan.

We began a new military surge in Afghanistan, and brave Americans are losing their lives daily. Seven just yesterday.

I thought to myself, what other unpredictable tragedy could bestow this great nation? How many more horrible things could we as a nation take? And just what will be the one thing to throw me over the edge, to complete my nervous breakdown?

Then it happened. The most tragic thing I read about in months. Nay, years.

Joyce DeWitt was arrested for DUI.

Janet Wood. Arrested. For drunk driving. Probably coming home from the Regal Beagle.

I can't talk about it. I have to go.

Until I return, maybe this will cheer you up:

Perez Hilton is Not a Homophobe! He's a Racist!

See, he wanted to call will.i.am a n*****, but whatever brain function he operates under switched to "faggot" at the last second. Isn't that so much better? Actually, no, and not just because both words are hateful and disturbing. Our man Perez, who is still trying to position himself as some sort of voice of the gay community, choose a gay slur over a racial one because the gay slur is "even worse." You can parse that sentiment a million different ways, but it still leaves me feeling nauseous. Ponder, for a moment, how Perez's brain ranks "faggots" below "n******," or why he would choose to verbalize that concept to a reporter for a gay publication. You can read all about it (if you really want to) in Benoit Denizet-Lewis's interview from The Advocate .

PEREZ HILTON, GO THE FUCK AWAY!

The Pursuit of Happiness

Living in Philadelphia, we sometimes take the city's rich history for granted. Old City has its charms, but it's congested with tourists by day, and bar-hoppers at night. Not that we have anything against either; we're just hopelessly jaded locals. Sorry, but we've had our fill of Betsy Ross impersonators, and the South Jersey West social scene doesn't hold much interest for us. Still, it's hard to miss the historical importance of Independence Hall, where the founding fathers declared our independence from an empire, and formed a new nation. The Declaration of Independence, first read publicly 233 years ago today, deemed all men equal, and asserted the inalienable rights of the people, including "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It was revolutionary.

Radical, even, which makes what happened on Independence Hall 44 years ago all the more fitting. In 1965, a group of gay men and women picketed Independence Hall, protesting the federal government's discriminatory policies against homosexuals. 39 people took part that day, members of homophile groups, the precursors to modern gay rights groups. These groups met secretly, many members requiring extreme caution and discretion. Imagine the courage of people like Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin, holding signs in public that identified themselves as homosexuals, at a time when it was dangerous to do so. They decided a conservative dress code would present the best image; men wore suits and women wore dresses. They picketed silently for 90 minutes that afternoon, in front of Independence Hall on the Fourth of July, enduring hostile taunts from the public.

Despite snide comments and dirty looks, the protests were peaceful. They repeated each year after that, until the last one in 1969. The Stonewall riots in New York City had broken out less than a week earlier, and silent picketing suddenly seemed a too passive form of protest. In 1970 the first gay pride parades were held, and new, more open and aggressive activism was leading the charge for equality.

The pursuit of happiness is an interesting concept; it's been invoked in legal cases that stuck down anti-miscegenation laws. Judges have recognized that "happiness" includes love, and marrying the person of your choice, regardless of what societal norms or historic precedent dictate.

As our nation continues to strive for a more perfect union, and a better realization of equality, we honor all the great Americans who have worked to achieve those goals. We remember our founding fathers, and the brave and radical colonists who first fought for our freedom, and we remember the brave and radical men and women who first fought for our rights as gay people. Happy Independence Day!

Um, thanks?

We've already written a few posts about Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT), but this latest development in the saga deserves some attention.

This CNN headline "Defense chief giving 'don't ask, don't tell' a closer look" makes it seem that perhaps, just perhaps, top Pentagon officials are finally starting to acknowledge how ridiculous this policy is. So, good news for gays?

Not really.

What Defense chief Robert Gates wants to do is make the policy more "humane" ... now, how does one make pure and simple discrimination more "humane?"

He is proposing that if a member of the military is outed due to "vengeance" or a "jilted lover" then the policy can be flexible. Here's the thing that drives Alex and me crazy: if the policy was enacted to protect those poor, innocent heterosexual soldiers from the discomfort of serving with us horrid gays, then why does it matter how the person was outed? They're still gay. The other soldiers still know it.

How about this for something more humane: drop the policy.

I still feel hope that the very fact that top officials are now talking about the policy will eventually lead to it's total repeal. Perhaps even during the Obama administration. As Alex posted the other day, Obama has already reinstated his plan to overturn it, after massive criticism from the gay community.

We'll see.

Foul

Andy wrote a while ago about how we hate when people use the word gay as a synonym for stupid or weak or weird. We hear it all the time in public, like every other gay person, and not just from teenagers. Many who do this claim it's not meant to slur actual gay people, because they're not using the word to refer to someone or something that is actually homosexual. Um, ok. Is that sorta like saying it's ok to call someone a n----- if they're not actually black?

The whole argument is rendered bogus by signs and t-shirts Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper saw at the Sox-Cubs game last weekend. The word gay isn't used, but the two male pictograms holding hands under a rainbow make the message clear: Cubs fans are gay. And not just in the stupid or weak or weird sense, but in the literal sense as well. Cubs fans like holding hands with men under rainbows. Cubs fans are fags.

Well, sports fans are assholes. OK, that's wrong, because Alex and Andy are sports fans, too, and in a city renowned for its vicious fandom. Booing Santa is one thing, but this element of jock culture is bullshit. We get it: trash talk is about cutting your opponent down, and in a testosterone-fueled battle that usually means attacking his "manhood". Fine, play your little reindeer games, but leave us and our lives out of it. It would be nice if the assholes selling this crap realized their market of sports fans actually includes gay people, but clearly they're going for the lowest common denominator.

We'd expect as much from the mouth-breathers in the nose-bleed seats, but Roeper claims some of the people displaying this image may actually be liberals who support gay rights, which is what really disturbs us. This kind of casual homophobia (and don't tell us it's not) from people who should "know better" is what keeps this bigotry alive. Kids see and hear it from their parents, and mimic it on the playground, and another generation of gay kids grows up thinking they're stupid, weak and weird.

No More Promises

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail reception for gay leaders Monday, ostensibly to mark the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. Observers know that this was really an attempt at damage control, after gay activists have criticized the President's lack of effort to fulfill campaign promises to end DADT, overturn DOMA, and pass ENDA. The President gave a speech where he reiterated those promises, receiving polite applause from those present. He went on to say that, by the time he's done, most of us "willl have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration." The crowd cheered.

WTF? No, seriously. He's not running for President anymore. He IS the President. While overturning DADT with the stroke of a pen might shock the system, he easily has the authority, the political capital, and the support of the public, to issue an executive order that would stop the discharges while the policy is under review. As for DOMA, he still says it's unfair, but why did his Justice Department defend the law recently, using language comparing us to incest and pedophilia that came straight from the far-right's playbook? As for how we'll feel when he's "done" fulfilling these promises: we'll believe it when we see it. Get back to us then if you want cheering from us.

Why are these champagne-sipping suck-ups cheering? We've mentioned before that it pains us to criticize this President; we know there are big problems facing the country that he's trying to deal with. Wars, the economy, healthcare; all impact far more people than the issues the gay community is focused on. Yet we still see these issues all intertwined; isn't discharging qualified soldiers in a time of war a matter of national security? Wouldn't granting marriage benefits to same-sex couples help insure vulnerable families? Shouldn't protecting a class of people from job discrimination be a priority in an economic downturn?

We're not cheering anything until this administration finally starts keeping its promises.

To hell with the suck-ups: we're takng our gripes straight to Washington for the National Equality March on October 11th. I doubt we'll be sipping cocktails in the East Room with Barack and Michelle, but we'll make sure they hear from us! Don't forget to register for the march, and we'll see you in DC!

Board Recommends Firing Gay Iraq Veteran

Lt. Dan Choi faced a panel of military officers for violating the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy yesterday, as we mentioned. The board recommended firing Choi, who plans to appeal. More than 150 letters of recommendation were presented to the board, and every witness, on both sides, testified that Choi was "an asset to the unit." Choi is a West Point graduate, Iraq War veteran and Arab linguist.