NYT editorial on the DOMA hate brief: 'A Bad Call on Gay Rights'

Pam, excellent statement

It shows that civil rights of an oppressed group are easily cast aside by those who claim to be your supporters if there is any perceived political risk to them. History, sadly, repeats itself.

This is precisely how Kennedy performed when he was elected.   He campaigned heavily on civil rights which bought him ~70% of the African American vote.  But, once in office he was silent. It wasn't until the civil rights movement had exerted so much pressure that he finally got on board.

 

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by: Donna @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 07:52:09 AM CDT

Kennedy didn't campaign that heavily on civil rights

He simply returned a call to Coretta Scott King when MLK was in jail (whereas Richard Nixon did not, and King had courted Nixon). MLK, Sr. never even formally endorsed JFK, though he did say a kind word for him and that did deliver the black vote in several key states.

Percenatge wise, the black community voted 68% Democrat in 1956. It wasn't a big difference, really.

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by: kevinchi @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 08:44:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Excellent!

We need to increase the pressure to get something accomplished.  Contact our friendly Reps and Senators and put pressure on them too.  Keep asking why the Administration's so darn tone-deaf.  Make noise so loud that we can't continue to be ignored.

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by: BobbiCW @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 08:00:37 AM CDT

"This DOMA brief story has blown up in the MSM, receiving coverage by CBS and the Wall Street Journal"

Good. We need to 1) expose Obama as the homophobe that he certainly seems to be, and/or 2) force Obama to stop kowtowing to the Talibangelicals and get him to do what he promised he would do.

When even the Wall Street Journal is reporting on a push for rights, you know the pressure is building.

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by: TechBear @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 08:26:48 AM CDT

MSNBC

has also been covering the disgruntlement all morning. Nora Donnell speaking with Politico's Ken Vogel, as these run below:

"Liberals Fed Up With Obama?"

Bill Mahar: Obama not standing ip to the health care industry  

Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi call for no compromise on public health insurance option

WH under fire for backing defense of DOMA

Criticism grows from the left as president heads towards the middle

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by: Louise @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:10:58 AM CDT

Not quite sure how

Obama can head towards the middle, unless he's operating on some sort of non-Euclidean geometric system.  Of course, maybe he'll take the popular DNC approach and move further to the right, knowing that the MSM will re-define "the center" to adjust.

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by: M @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 13:23:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The bad news continues

Obama's position on secrecy pre-election and post is radically different.  Rawstory reports that he's going to withhold access to White House logs.  In many sad ways, we are getting Bush Lite.

My spouse isn't saying "I told you so," but he could.  Given our reading of Chalmers Johnson's amazing The Sorrows of Empire, Nemesis and Blowback, he predicted Obama would likely hold onto as much presidential power as he could.  

So it's not just gay rights that are taking a hit, it's everybody's civil rights, our freedom to know what's happening inside the administration, and our privacy.  Not a sterling record so far.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:11:30 AM CDT

As I was reading the NYT editorial this morning

I found myself thinking, who could have expected that Barack Obama would turn out to be the George Wallace of the gay civil rights movement?  But then I realized: a lot of us.  When Obama packed his administration with right-wing evangelicals and committed to continued federal funding of their agenda, the writing was on the wall.  (It's easy to want to blame Rahm Emmanuel, and I do think he must have played a role in this, but let's not forget Josh Dubois and the outsize influence he seems to have with this president.  Not to mention Jakes, Warren and the rest.)

I commented last week when this story broke that the telling factor would be whether Obama instructs his flunkies to withdraw and/or amend the hate brief.  So far, he has made no move to do that.  Instead he and his stooges are digging in their heels and standing by it.  That says it all, in my mind.

It is so gratifying that the MSM is getting on this story.  The Times editorial is good.  Rachel, with Howard Dean last night, was terrific.  But so far I haven't heard any MSM figure call Obama outon the depth and ugliness of his bigotry.

The American people, taking one with another, are the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goose-steppers ever gathered under one flag in Christendom since the end of the Middle Ages.
-H.L. Mencken

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by: QScribe @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:13:27 AM CDT

Who

I'm not defending him--but his administration is "packed" with "right-wing evangelicals"?  Who?  In which major positions? This is news to me, so i'd love to have a list.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 12:59:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Josh Dubois, for starts.

You know--the guy who engineered the McClurkin and Warren fiascos.

Plus T.D. Jakes and the rest of the "gang of five" who are serving as his "spiritual advisors."  (Guess what advice they give him about the LHBT community.)

Plus scores of holdovers from the Bush administration in key positions throughout the executive, including large numbers of Monica Goodling hires at DOJ (including the shit who wrote the hate brief).

The American people, taking one with another, are the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goose-steppers ever gathered under one flag in Christendom since the end of the Middle Ages.
-H.L. Mencken

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by: QScribe @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 16:30:50 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Spiritual advisors don't count

They're not in his administration.  We've got plenty to criticize him about--let's stick to the facts, they're appalling enough.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 06:50:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They are his kitchen cabinet

and he clearly listens to them much more assiduously than the the gay people who are actually on his staff.  That is the fact.

The American people, taking one with another, are the most timorous, sniveling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goose-steppers ever gathered under one flag in Christendom since the end of the Middle Ages.
-H.L. Mencken

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by: QScribe @ Wed Jun 17, 2009 at 09:51:27 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Boy the NYT has changed sine the Abe Rosenthal era

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by: David Ehrenstein @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 09:30:33 AM CDT

I know it's a bone of contention

whether we're to be "allowed" to compare what we're dealing with to the civil rights era, but here is why I know the comparison is amply fair: I keep having to put down "Why We Can't Wait" because it strikes a chord so chord that sometimes it is too painful to keep reading.  We are absolutely dealing with the same problems, even if the historical details are different for many (but not all) of us.

What a relief that NYT and other MSM are finally breaking through on this level.  Let's keep up the pressure and even increase it, because it's working.






Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 10:03:42 AM CDT

Talking is not doing

NYT: "The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much..."  Correction: has not done anything.  Literally nothing.  Talking is not doing.  They've done plenty of talking.

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by: scottspiegel @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 12:52:19 PM CDT

Action

For what it's worth, in addition to a personal visit to Stabenow's office, I wrote to her and carl Levin:

Dear Senator:

I'm a lifelong Democract and I donated more time and money these past two election cycles than ever before--but I'm done with the party for now.  I am deeply disgusted with the Democratic lack of movement on ensuring GLBT civil rights.  Until I see DADT and DOMA overturned, I will not support any Democratic candidate.  You may say our party is better than the GOP, but so far, it's GOP Lite, and the recent disgraceful brief filed by the Obama administration (http://tiny.cc/TZz0n) is proof. I do not want to wait any longer for my civil rights to be equal to my neighbor's. I deserve the same rights you and your family enjoy.

Sincerely,
Lev Raphael

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 13:00:23 PM CDT

We did it!

We took the Obama Administration off of message and disrupted the control of that message in the MSM.

Congrats to everyone who made an unjoyful noise unto the world!!!!!


I tell you Chica that no greater abomination exists than women denying their spirit of sisterhood and instead becoming the oppressor. -Rebeca, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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by: MauraHennessey @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 14:30:57 PM CDT

Ah, Kucinich

His positions matched mine (or vice versa), and I was sorry to see 1) the MSM treat him like a clown and 2) the Democrats sideline him.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 16:51:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

P.S.

I sent my letter (with spelling corrected!) to the Jewish Gay Network in Michigan which is going to distribute it to its members via the email list.  Hopefully it will bestir people to write letters, too.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 16:49:41 PM CDT

NOW makes statement Obama should withdraw brief

The government motion filed in Smelt v. United States of America states that the federal branch may discriminate against same-sex couples because all 50 states sanction the "traditional and universally-recognized form of marriage" and that DOMA is "a cautious policy of federal neutrality towards a new form of marriage"

"Neutrality is not what DOMA is about," said Gandy. "This law flat-out favors one form of legal marriage over another. The Obama administration has no business treating a discriminatory law as neutral, and should instead be working with Congress to develop legislation repealing this harmful law.

http://www.now.org/press/06-09...

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by: Karen in Kalifornia @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 17:24:56 PM CDT

Letter to My President

I sent this email to President Obama a little while ago.
(Caution: May Trigger)

Mr. President:

Several days ago, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act.  According to the New York Times editorial of June 15, 2009,

"The brief insists it is reasonable for states to favor heterosexual marriages because they are the "traditional and universally recognized form of marriage." In arguing that other states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages under the Constitution's "full faith and credit" clause, the Justice Department cites decades-old cases ruling that states do not have to recognize marriages between cousins or an uncle and a niece."

Mr. President, I am a 61-year old lesbian.  

I came out in 1974 at age 26.  Many years before I came out, when I was 12 years old, my uncle Bill sexually molested me.  

Sir, I know the difference between being molested by my uncle and the loving, intimate relationships with women I have known as a lesbian.

You, sir, should also know the difference.  And you should also apologize to every lesbian and gay man on earth for comparing our adult, consensual relationships to those that are incestuous.  That was a despicable position for your administration to take, Mr. President, and it was one that you did not need to take, even if you felt obligated to defend DOMA.  

Sir, in your heart I believe that you know this.  Please search that heart and offer us the apology that we deserve.  Thank you for your consideration.

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by: MadWomon @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 17:41:46 PM CDT

OMG! They're Debate Club Geeks!!!

Just had a flash from way back in my high school days. Remember the Debate Club Geeks? These people were totally insane. There was a kind of NFL for debaters which came up with The Official Question that would be debated at every meet (back in the '60s the topic was -- are you ready? -- Socialized Medicine! Meaning Medicare! Hard to believe, innit?) Anyway, you didn't know until you got to the meet whether you were going to take the Affirmative or Negative side, so you had to prepare for both. So all the DCGs would troop around school carrying TWO metal boxes full of 3x5 cards with all the notes they'd culled from the papers and the library, using every spare moment of study hall time beating each other up for practice.

And (this is what puts me in mind of the DOJ) if one of the sane kids asked a DCG what his own position was (they were almost all boys) he'd say it didn't matter; if he was chosen to do Affirmative he had to throw every card he had in the pro-Medicare box on the table, and if he had to do Negative he did the same with the anti-Medicare box. The point was to win the contest, that's all. And isn't that what these DOJ nits are saying? It doesn't matter what we believe regarding marriage equality. DOMA is the law and our job is to defend it without question, so we have no choice but to throw all the anti-equality cards we've got at it. But really truly we're fierce defenders of equality.

Piffle. They're just a bunch of high school Debate Club Geeks, and as such are at heart totally amoral.

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by: ChicagoMolly @ Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 20:41:57 PM CDT