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Written by Brian Miller
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Tuesday, 24 March 2009 00:00 |
I was skeptical when told by a friend that The Advocate had an article claiming that the AIG fiasco would delay Obama's LGBT community promises, but I went to the web site and there it is.
Talk about a new low of ridiculousness in excuse-making.
Ignoring all the socialism (health care, income redistribution) mixed in with the gay rights issues in the article, you have to be at least somewhat amused that they're trying this latest tactic.
In the early 1990s, the Democrats' inaction (and eventual anti-gay laws, DOMA and DADT) were blamed on Republicans -- despite a Democratic Congress for Clinton's first two years.
In the mid 1990s, it was blamed on Newt Gingrich. Until he disappeared. Then it was blamed on Tom DeLay.
By the 2000s, it was Bush's fault.
In 2001 and onwards, the issues couldn't be addressed because of terrorism, we were told. We couldn't put the queers ahead of national security, after all!
When Democrats retook the House a couple of years ago, Democrats claimed they had "more important" items on their agenda that unfortunately, LGBT issues just couldn't make it into a packed congressional calendar. However, important matters such as renaming federal buildings, passing new agreements to allow water authorities to swap jurisdictions, and other matters of vital importance were catapaulted straight ahead of LGBT concerns.
By your friendly blogger's count, this charade has been going on for 18 unbroken years, nonstop -- always a variation of a "sadly, we wanted to but other things intervened" excuse, with the same end result of Democrats abandoning their electoral commitments the day the election ends.
There has been some angst about the direction of the gay press as of late -- whether it has a future in the brave new world of citizen journalism and online ideation represented by entities like the blog you are reading.
If The Advocate and other gay periodicals want to assert fresh relevance and a resurgent role in the community, they should start by critically confronting politicians and their lame two-decade-old excuses rather than simply reporting them as fact.
If LGBTQ Americans, their friends and their families want to assert fresh relevance in the political process, they should start by informing Democrats that all political contributions -- donations, votes, and volunteer time -- will sadly be halted until the Democrats deliver on equal treatment in marriage, adoption, military service, and taxation. After all, there are so many priorities for LGBTQ individuals that are far more important than continuing to support calculated political cowardice.
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