The godd*mn DOMA-loving Obama DOJ mess

why is anyone surprised by this?

If anyone bothered to paid attention during the campaign (Donnie McClurkin, Rick Warren) they wouldn't be surprised by this. I'm sorry but everyone was so busy sucking his proverbial d__k and getting caught up in his glamorous campaign to notice the homophobic stances he was taking (ie "marriage is between a man and a woman")

You get what you pay for, folks.  

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by: Popeye @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 21:59:54 PM CDT

All elections are bought and paid for

The only question is: who is footing the bill? Obama's backers were exactly the same backers that kept Bush in office for eight years, and Clinton in office for eight years before that. I do not understand why so many people thought that things would be any different this time around.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même merde.

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by: TechBear @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 00:39:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

And Obama's stance was different from Clinton's and McCain's stance how, exactly?

At least he made the effort to lie to us that he was on our side.  And voting for anybody other than Obama was a vote for McCain.  All that's changed is now we know that no matter who won the election, we were screwed.

Act accordingly in 2012, but don't kid yourself that we made the "wrong" choice in 2008.  We know now that there was no right choice.  

Instead of pretending that McCain or Clinton wouldn't have screwed us over when they both promised they would, why don't we figure out what we're going to do about it now that Obama has?

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by: diablorobotico @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 02:00:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Choices

We could try and elect more progressive oriented people in congress, maybe get someone famous to challenge Pelosi and some other Democratic Party stalwarts.

I bet the anti-war people are not happy with Obama either.
The anti-war and the LGBT equality folks have a shared collation.

And I think someone like Andrew Tobias needs to speak with Obama to come up with ways he could mend the fences with the LGBT community and still appease the people in the midwest and south at the same time. If he could get DADT repealled and ENDA and the hate crimes bill done before November 2010, the LGBT community would not feel like they have been betrayed.

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by: mmunson @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 02:47:28 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Waitaminiut

The Midwest is pretty solidily Obama with the exception of Indiana and maybe Ohio. Think: Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa...

That's the next front for marriage equality, you know.  

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by: kevinchi @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 03:05:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

No, Obama doesn't get off that easily. He made specific promises that he is now breaking.

I paid attention during the campaign - every step of the way. That means that I spoke out about Donnie McClurkin, Obama's participation in Rick Warren's charade, all those clues to Obama's conservative opinions about human rights.

I also paid attention to Obama's very specific campaign promises to repeal DOMA and DADT and to advocate for gay rights. I knew that he wasn't going to support gay marriage, but he promised not to stand in the way. He promised to be a "fierce advocate" for our rights, and now he's advocating against our rights.

That's a campaign promise broken. That's a lie. And I will not forget.

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by: night owl @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 09:04:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Trying

I'm trying to figure out the response to this.   Do we, or any of our orgs, have contacts at the WH or the DOJ that can get them to withdraw this motion and at least amend it?

Has there been any effort in that direction?

As disgusting as the whole thing is, the economonic argument seems to me the most dangerous as it undermines even federal rights for civil unions.

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by: suigenerousla @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:01:06 PM CDT

Trying to figure out the why

 Obama is doing what he is doing is senseless.  Simply because the only thing that makes sense is Obama is a Politician and has become no better then the rest we have had in the past.

Yeah it hurts being betrayed by someone who promises you alot and that change is on the way.  Well we got change alright, Obama changed his mind on LGBT issues.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:33:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yes, but

..there must be a way to for us to respond to this to get this motion or future ones written in a friendlier fashion at the least.

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by: suigenerousla @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:29:38 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

actually

it's one of the weakest when civil rights are concerned, because it's not enough to say we are discriminating to have more money; you need to say why are you discriminating in that way. And there's just no rational answer yet.

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by: avocado @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 01:19:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Said it before & I'll say it again

Call Obama Out - A starting point  

EQCA is getting a mass e-mail going against this action:
http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?...

You can also post on the The White House's official facebook fan page that you oppose this defense of marriage inequality:
http://www.new.facebook.com/ho...

These are a few things you can do that won't take long at all, of course we all have to do more, but these are a few simple steps.

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by: Jake Gellar-Goad @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:38:16 PM CDT

The eqca action center sucks

It never works for me, I get error messages, this has happened  since I joined up several years ago.  

Go ahead and tire tho people.

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:18:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

DON'T WASTE TIME WRITING WHITE HOUSE

That train has left the station!!!

Mass mail/call the NY Times and other MSM that have criticized his gay betrayals themselves...threaten to withhold gay money in 2010 and 20102.

Inspire THEM to embarrass him.

DEMAND HRC et al. take out full page ads in USA Today, etc., denouncing these betrayals and giving readers reasonable explanations why.

Remember this case was NOT about the fight to call our relationship "marriages" but about the issues that the majority of voters DO support.

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by: Michael Bedwell @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:34:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm done

I've always suspected that the Democratic leadership is more than willing to throw us overboard if it would gain them one extra percentage point in the polls. Here in Illinois we've been stabbed in the back on several occasions, the most recent of which was the failure of the Civil Unions bill that a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic governor just couldn't seem to find the time to bother with. With guys like Rahm Emmanuel it's all about getting into power and benefiting their friends rather than any real ideology. They're more than willing to support so-called "blue dog" Democrats like congressperson Melissa Bean in my district who vote consistently against progressive causes just to get the votes needed to retain power and keep the money flowing to their pals. Now these liars and glad handers are doing the same thing on a national scale. They've stabbed the anti-war movement, the human rights movement and now us in the back because they think that if they move to the "center" now and ditch us they can remain in power for years. Maybe they're right. Maybe we've just been useful idiots. But I'm not playing the game any more. After 35 years of voting for Democrats as the lesser of two evils, I'm done.  

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by: xeric @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:38:16 PM CDT

I'm done -- again

I voted for Obama only because I feared the Bush, but I have to admit I was getting caught up in the b.s. as well, near the end. Waiting... waiting... ("oh, he'll still come through, I'm sure, as soon as he gets some other stuff taken care of first..."). I guess I just really want to hope. I really need to hope.

And that's exactly what Obama and The Buds at DemoRepub Inc counted on, wasn't it? They counted on me needing to hope that I could count on someone in traditional politics to make the world just a tiny bit safer for myself and my family -- and that in return for their help I would give them my vote.

Well, I've fallen for this nonsense through - how many elections now? I've been voting since I was 18, so... divide 30 years by 4ish. And if anything happens that's good, it's never because the Big People (no matter who they were) helped.

So, I'm not doing this any more. No more wasting my hope on Democrats, no matter what they promise, no matter what they plan. There's got to be something better for us, and I'm going to start hoping for enough of us to start working on that.  

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." Martin Luther King, Jr.

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by: whynot @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:48:28 PM CDT

Advisors from hell

The buck stops at the top, ie. Big O, but I'm realizing more and more that Obama's top advisers and handlers like Axelrod and Chief of Staff Emanuel don't let him have much discusion on the issue of GLBT rights....

Support local pro equality elected officials.  

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:23:07 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm done -- again

I voted for Obama only because I feared the Bush, but I have to admit I was getting caught up in the b.s. as well, near the end. Waiting... waiting... ("oh, he'll still come through, I'm sure, as soon as he gets some other stuff taken care of first..."). I guess I just really want to hope. I really need to hope.

And that's exactly what Obama and The Buds at DemoRepub Inc counted on, wasn't it? They counted on me needing to hope that I could count on someone in traditional politics to make the world just a tiny bit safer for myself and my family -- and that in return for their help I would give them my vote.

Well, I've fallen for this nonsense through - how many elections now? I've been voting since I was 18, so... divide 30 years by 4ish. And if anything happens that's good, it's never because the Big People (no matter who they were) helped.

So, I'm not doing this any more. No more wasting my hope on Democrats, no matter what they promise, no matter what they plan. There's got to be something better for us, and I'm going to start hoping for enough of us to start working on that.  

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." Martin Luther King, Jr.

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by: whynot @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 22:48:29 PM CDT

Shouldn't we ask the DNC

how come they claim to support pro-LGBT legislation while comparing our relationships to incest? Time to demand accountability. NOW.

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by: Kokas @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:04:32 PM CDT

exactly -- and state and local Dem groups

In addition to writing to the White House, write local, state and national Dem groups and explain why this was so profoundly offensive and why they will get neither queer votes nor queer dollars.

And post to progressive blogs and ask our allies for support putting the squeeze on.  We will get nowhere without our allies.  Tell your straight friends and allies IRL what is going on and ask them to write and call on your behalf.

And keep up the pressure on national LGBT orgs to draw a line in the sand at this moment about this motion.  Our non-cooperation needs to be immediate and loud and draconian.

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by: 555catnap @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:27:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

i love how DOMA means that i get to pay for other people's benefits

but that if i request equal access to those benefits, i'm told that it's too much of a drain on the federal reserve.    

you know, perhaps it is time for me to just give up this whole "gay" thing and marry a woman, as the brief suggests, and ruin both of our lives.  just how, pray tell, will the federal reserve deal with that?  because it's a strain if i marry a man, but if i marry a woman it's not?  does money just magically appear for people playing at hetero?  

i suppose the additional funds could be procured by overturning the enormously expensive and wasteful DADT...oh but wait, obama won't do that either.  

what a class act.  

The gays stole my lunch money

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by: matt in mpls @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:18:07 PM CDT

and i see the figures

California state income tax returns are pegged to the Federal, so if you're registered domestic partners you must, under state law, file a joint return and a ghost 1040 with the state. Under DOMA, you file two individual 1040s.

The difference is that we pay roughly $5000 more to the Feds because of DOMA, and I suspect we're typical. Damn right we're paying for someone else's benefits.

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by: coram nobis @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 12:04:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

DoJ's DOMA Defense

What is clear about the Obama Administration is they did not learn anything from mistakes made by the Clinton Administration. Given that the military discrimination and marriage issues hit the national political scene 16 years ago, you would think that Obama would be a smarter politician. It is clear he is not. Rahm was a big hater of the LGBT community then--ruthless actually.  So, he is driving this legislative agenda.  I can not believe that the administration is so tone-deaf that it would submit such an offensive legal brief.  Perhaps they do NOT CARE?  Maybe they even want to provoke the community.  Bottom line is that what they have done is indefensible. I really don't think that Obama has "empathy" toward our community--such an irony since he said he has been looking for this quality in a SCOTUS justice nominee.  I agree with many of the suggestions for actions offered here.  I also think with the continuing anti-gay behavior of the White House that we do need a March on Washington this year.  I totally support such a March. When you are this boxed out of the WH, even if HRC has so-called access, we have to march.  There is no other place to go to make ourselves heard.  I give many bloggers, starting here with Pam, and so many other journalists for being relentless by keeping our issues visible. I never did buy that Obama was our supporter. We must organize, write, demonstrate, march, organize, lobby and demand our rights to such an extent that the politicians feel compelled to act, finally.  

Tanya Domi
"Well behaved women never make history."  

Tanya

"Well behaved women never make history."

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by: CaptainAlpha12 @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:51:28 PM CDT

Why do we have to march?

We helped win the election for these assholes. Why are we standing outside while they stuff their pockets and pad their resumes with the money they suckered out of us? If they didn't mind taking our money and stabbing us in the back why would they give a flying fuck if we march around Washington? THEY DON'T CARE. THEY'VE GOT WHAT THEY WANT. I've seen this all before here in Illinois. They've played us. The ONLY thing they care about is money and the power it takes to get it. They have no other ideology.  

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by: xeric @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 00:01:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Cleve Jones got the permit

For the Oct. 11 MOW.  His interview on JoeMyGod.blogspot.com.  The circumstances have changed since before yesterday, and I am making plans to march due to the insults and lies hurled at us with this brief.    

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

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by: CharlesMerrill @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 03:41:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Is it time for civil disobedience?

I think so.  We should block access to all Democratic hqs until they pressure Obama to work on our issues.  

And we shouldn't be timid about calling Obama what he is: A homophobe.  

http://www.notonenickel.blogsp...

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by: Gary SF @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 00:12:39 AM CDT

A view from inside the DOJ

http://www.dailykos.com/story/...

Here's another little secret: I work with conservatives.  People I would clearly classify as conservative ideologues.  I have a guy next door with some pretty zany views on some things.  He walks into a booth and likely pushes every candidate button I do not.  The guy is Hannity lite.  He's a nut bag.  

But you know what?  You put my legal writing next to his, and there's no difference in argument.  His position on certain sections of the law are the same as mine, and the same as everyone in our office.  Because it's the law.  It says A, we argue A.  Because in 90% of our cases, the law always says A.  And that's true even though we're doing some things in a relatively hot policy area.  Not to brag, but my office is not doing asset forfeiture work or postal truck crashes.  We are doing stuff in hot areas.  

But even where the law is not clear, and it's ultimately a legal policy call, neither I nor Dittohead McGee next door are making those decisions.  He could have been hired by Monica Goodling--Hell, he could have dated Monica Goodling, sired her spawn, and attended Federalist Society banquets together at a White House Prayer Breakfast with the Bushes themselves and burrowed so far in at DOJ that he is here for life--and he's not making those legal policy calls.  Not in small cases, and not in big ones.

Those calls go to our civil servant bosses, Assistant Directors and our Directors.  They are adept, perhaps more than anything, at knowing which way the political winds blow.  This, in addition to their legal skills and encyclopedic knowledge of the institution and the law, is why they have their jobs.  And while they will argue for a legal position (and in my experience they do so with the law--and not ideological wishes--in mind), they are not making a call that will go against their bosses: the political appointees.

None of those political appointees are Bush holdovers.  They are Obama appointees.  Even where the political slots are currently filled by acting assistants and deputies and whatnot--all civil servants--they are not going to be making big calls without the okay of a politico at some level.  Not if they like their jobs.

So the theories that Bush holdovers can jellydick an investigation at will is wholly and utterly unrealistic.  Cuckoo Bird Palin-Lover next door couldn't monkey-wrench a case if he wanted too.  too many levels of review and decisionmaking.  

Rest assured: the big calls are made by Obama's people, not Bush's.

There is no situation so complex it can't get even worse

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by: ZoeB @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 04:05:45 AM CDT

Forget the "Pedophile Protection Act" now.

ENDA too.

Obama's DOJ has not just stated that GLBTs are not legally a Suspect Class, but that they should not be made a Suspect Class, as they are either not being discriminated against, or if they are, it's in the national interest to do so, and within the Constitution.

All those wavering Congressional votes are changing as I write this. They know which way the wind is blowing from the White House.

Every Congresscritter is going to be asking themselves if they really want to risk opposing Obama on this. Their political opponents will use this against them if they do, just as "God is in the mix" was used in the Prop 8 fight. Far easier to let it die from neglect.

I don't think the ramifications of this have sunk in. It makes it politically impossible to move on DOMA during the Obama presidency, and cripples the effort for any GLBT bill in the same period.

It does however not only shore up Obama's personal base with the Black Evangelicals, but is bound to attract some of the other Christianist groups too. They have money, and they historically only get out to vote when there's a real issue to motivate them. And they usually vote GOP - so each vote counts double.

There is no situation so complex it can't get even worse

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by: ZoeB @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 06:28:23 AM CDT

THIS can only be GOOD!

PZ Meyers is upset with Obama over this.
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyn...

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by: Charles @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 07:22:28 AM CDT

oy

reading around all the blogs this morning, saw lots of nutty acrobatics trying to absolve OBAMA™ of all responsibility..."he didnt PERSONALLY write it!!!"
...like that makes it easier to swallow???
people are delusional.

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by: grover nerdkissed @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 07:43:42 AM CDT

The Silence of the Heterosexually-Privileged

What about THAT silence?  Deafening, ain't it?

HETS seemingly approve of us paying more taxes for less rights and the cruel (often inhumane) suffering we experience in times of death and crisis, while they constantly remind us how THEIR marriages and families are central to all of their lives.

Obama needs to be hearing from them also - this ain't just a "Queer" issue - this is about the human rights of all, including the rights of families and their children who depend on their parent(s) stability.

We Don't Deserve Our OWN Money?!
http://gaytaxprotest.blogspot....

Decades more of abuse? - OR - Stonewall.  Nationwide.  NOW!

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by: John Bisceglia @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:17:38 AM CDT

A new bumper sticker for the LGBT Republicans

Don't blame me. I voted for McCain.

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by: arsenalchick @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:39:37 AM CDT