Archive for WTF?

HRC: Send Me Your Money, Well, Just Because

October 14, 2009 Bitch Slap, DADT, LGBT, WTF? One comment

Fellow blogger Jay Morris and I have been brewin’ for hours about the HRC’s latest post-NEM move. Even though we originally vowed to play nice and refrain from making nasty comments about the HRC in mixed company, their latest move encouraged us both to take off our gloves.

Piggybacking off the success of the National Equality March, this morning the HRC distributed an email to its mailing list. They patted themselves on the back for a job well done this weekend, even though the organization’s involvement with (and support of) the march was minimal – at best. Conveniently moving their annual fundraiser from its usual first Saturday of October to the second Saturday just to make it appear as if the HRC was somehow involved in the march was a shadey move that most people barely noticed. Now, the HRC is asking people to help them raise $200K so they could can supposedly continue the momentum established by the NEM’s organizers.

What.the.fuck?

The HRC just had a fancy celebrity fundraising event this weekend in DC. Where did that money go – and why do they need another $200K? And did you and every other average Joe get an invite to that event? I’m guessing you didn’t.

The HRC’s email implies that they were more involved in the NEM than they really were and it also implies that only the HRC knows how to take this momentum and run with it (all links removed – bold emphasis is mine):

After this weekend, we have a burst of momentum.

But without a major advocacy push now, it could be lost.

Watch this video and help us raise $200,000 to capitalize on this moment.

Click here to watch the video!

This weekend was big.

From President Obama’s speech at our National Dinner to final House passage of hate crimes to the National Equality March, the nation’s attention is on LGBT equality – we have a burst of momentum.

But this is no time to grow complacent. We need your help to capitalize on this moment.

The next month and a half will be tough – while we fight against anti-LGBT ballot initiatives in multiple states, we must also act NOW to push our federal agenda to its tipping point, or we could miss this window.

We need to raise $200,000 for a renewed effort to seize this opportunity and advance our federal agenda and fight for marriage equality in the states without delay. Will you be part of this fight? (see full email document here)

Oh, I will be more than happy to be a part of the gay rights fight, but I’m not playing on the HRC’s team. It’s been almost 30 years since the HRC’s formation and the LGBTQ community has not seen a single federal law passed that protects our community from workplace discrimination, nor have we seen a repeal of DOMA or DADT. Instead, we’ve watched the HRC encourage the LGBTQ community to continue supporting politicians like Bill and Hillary Clinton, the folks who gave us DOMA and DADT.

Now why, I ask you, would any queer with half a brain continue to send any of their hard-earned money to this organization?

It is my hope that the new generation of LGBTQ activists we saw come out in droves this weekend in DC are committed to supporting true progressive organizations that want our money for something other than: paying their president his $390K annual salary, hosting celebrity galas that the average gay American can’t afford to attend and smoozin’ with big shots in corporate America who talk the talk way more than they walk it. Please, I ask you to send your money to campaigns like No on 1 in Maine and other local organizations that are willing to get out, pound doors and speak to our supporters and opponents face-to-face.

I agree with those who say gay organizations should learn to work together and stop all the bickering amongst themselves. I wish I didn’t feel compelled to bitch slap the HRC and air my grievances with the oldest “gay rights” organization in the country via this blog post. But, keeping quiet means the HRC will continue to take valuable dollars from gay rights supporters who mistakenly assume the organization is working to secure full equality on both a federal and state level for the LGBTQ community. It’s time for those dollars to go elsewhere – maybe then we’ll see some real progress.

Related:
We The People and the HRC
Boycott the HRC

Web Site Supporting Gay West Point Grads Blocked by AZ Army Base

October 6, 2009 iQreport, LGBT, WTF? No comments

I just received this in my email box:

Officers stationed at Ft. Huachuca, AZ, report that the Knightsout.org website – supporting the organization of gay & lesbian West Point grads co-founded by Lt Dan Choi – has been BLOCKED. Other gay and lesbian websites are accessible, but not Knights Out. Is this Army-wide or just Ft Huachuca?

Do any of my military readers know if this is Army wide?

Oh.No.They.Didn’t – So Sick of the HRC Cock Blockin’

October 6, 2009 LGBT, WTF? 2 comments

Ever since I heard the news about Obama addressing a group of gay rights “activists” at a dinner planned by the [I-once-loudly-criticized-the-National-Equality-March-but-now-that-it's-receiving-favorable-media-coverage-I'm-pretending-I-support-it] organization HRC, I’ve been a cranky bitch. I’m noticing lots of uninformed media outlets conveniently associating the march with the HRC’s name, claiming the HRC dinner marks the beginning of the march and making it appear as if the march is all the HRC’s doing. (please note the schedule of events) Besides asking uninformed queers for their hard-earned money for unnamed and mysterious equality projects that never really amount to a damn thing, the HRC’s involvement in this equality march has been extremely minimal, unless you count the time they spent encouraging their parrot bloggers to bad-mouth the march every chance they got.

Originally I promised my partner (and myself) that I would withhold all nasty HRC comments until after we return from the march, but, well . . . I lied. It ticks me off beyond belief that this “gay rights” organization is riding the NEM’s coattails and planning their annual fundraising dinner (complete with a performance from Lady Gaga) in conjunction with a march they never supported and still only pretend to support. The HRC’s annual dinners are usually the first Saturday in October: the 2008 dinner was October 4, the 2007 annual dinner was October 6 and the 2006 dinner was October 6. This year the dinner was conveniently moved to the second Saturday of the month. Coincidence? I think not. If that doesn’t annoy me enough, this group encouraged its parrot bloggers to spend weeks and weeks insisting the gay community should stay home instead of going to DC this weekend.

Today, I told a group of colleagues the following:

WHEN (not IF) the LGBTQ community has full equality, the role organzations like the HRC play in the equality movement will be moot and a whole lotta people will be out of a job. No more fancy galas. No more smoozin’ with the gay elite. No more Lady Gaga “fundraising parties.” It’s always been my belief that organizations like the HRC and NAACP (in their recent years) talk the talk for fundraising purposes only.

With that said, I have to remain focused on what we’re heading to DC to do – and that’s NOT to argue with the HRC groupies of the world. I’m excited about what we’re doing and I need to hold on to that excitement.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know there are more than a few queers who will give me the whole “stop hatin’ on the HRC, we need to work together” lecture. Save it. I’m not the one who needs that lecture.

So, I need to make a cocktail and read a few chapters from The Secret. Maybe I’ll re-discover my happy place. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have a few more cocktails and surf the ‘net for some porn.

Related:
Boycott HRC
I LOVE the WTF? comments in the thread here: Obama to Speak at HRC Dinner on Eve of National Equality March

Some Pro Caster Semenya Feminists Are Annoying the Hell Out of Me

September 11, 2009 Gender, WTF? One comment

A quick thought regarding the Caster Semenya gender identity scandal . . .

I am completely outraged that Caster had to undergo embarrassing and degrading scrutiny because some people were bothered by her less than traditional feminine qualities.

But . . . (and there’s always a but)

I’m even more annoyed by the self-proclaimed pro-female feminists who are crying foul about Caster even though they continue to support the Michigan Women’s music festival – an event that is known for its longtime ban of transgender male-to-female women because they were not born a “womon” (that means they don’t have suitable genitalia).

Do these pro-Caster/anti-MTF feminists think they’re foolin’ anyone? What gives?

In my opinion (and this is JUST my opinion), anyone who is outraged by the Semenya gender scandal would be equally outraged my Michfest’s ban on MTFs. I don’t know. Call me crazy.

Related:

Event: MichFest Halfway Soiree

Caster Semenya Gets A Makeover

Caster Semenya: Questionable Gender

Right Wing Nutcases Encourage Kids to Skip School – And Make Signs Protesting the Gay Rights March

September 2, 2009 Bitch Slap, Parenting, WTF? 9 comments

One of my Facebook friends posted a link to a right wing nutcase forum post promoting September 8, 2009 as National Skip Day because (on that day) President Obama will deliver a national address directly to students on the importance of education:

Apparently, Our Beloved Leader, Barack Hussein Obama, the most merciful, Lion of the Masses, Protector of the Common Man and Omnipotent Parental Figure, will give an address on September 8 to America’s school children. The audience will be all children, preK-12. In protest of the forced ObamaTV viewing in classrooms across the nation everyone is encouraged to participate in a National Skip Day and keep your kids home. Take the opportunity to teach your kids true life lessons and not subject them to Obama propaganda. Maybe even use the day to make protest posters for the 912 March on DC!!

These anti-Obama and anti-gay religious nutcases are also encouraging parents to keep their kids home and let them make anti-gay protest posters they will use at the DC gay rights march in October. They might as well go all out and encourage their kids to make KKK costumes as well – costumes they will wear while carrying their protest signs at the gay rights march. I’m guessing a lesson on how to light a gay-friendly church on fire will be a part of these people’s September 8 National Skip Day, too.

So, here’s what anti-Obama parents will teach their kids on National Skip Day:

1. Some white folks really hate the fact that our nation’s leader is NOT white
2. Education is only important when a white man says it is
3. Gays don’t deserve full equality
4. The president’s message is only important if said president is white

I don’t know about you, but that looks like some really shitty homeschoolin’ to me.

With Gay Rights ‘Leaders’ Like These, We Sure Don’t Need Any Enemies

August 30, 2009 Bitch Slap, LGBT, WTF? One comment

Recently, a great op-ed discussing October’s gay rights march was published in the Washington Blade (bold emphasis is mine):

March supporters, meanwhile, like to portray themselves as modern, progressive, tech-savvy 21st century activists disdainful of the “old ways” of doing things. Indeed, the “old ways” haven’t yielded a single LGBT-related federal law in 40 years of trying. Then again, there’s something to be said for knowing your history.

Some supporters have wondered why the Human Rights Campaign and other national organizations haven’t taken a more aggressive role in planning the march. HRC did issue a press release announcing tepid support (what else could they do?) while others have taken the lead on planning.

But there’s a reason HRC and others in Washington are nervous about the prospect of another LGBT march — the fiasco of the Millennium March on Washington in 2000.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars went missing after that event, much of it cash stuffed into trash bags and hauled away. There were stiffed vendors, shady last-minute emergency loans and mismanagement galore. The theft triggered an FBI investigation, unflattering coverage in the mainstream media and proved an embarrassing debacle for the movement.

So it seems – according to the op-ed’s author – the HRC and its parrots are afraid of another embarrassment; but instead of saying that, learning from past mistakes and gettin’ back on the saddle, these anti-march folks have used a pseudo bullhorn to bad-mouth the march and encourage LGBT activists to skip it and head to Maine. W.T.F?

With “leaders” like that, we sure don’t need any enemies.

New Anti-Gay Religious Organization Says Sexual Relationships Belong to Married Heterosexuals

August 18, 2009 LGBT, Religion, Sex and Sexuality, WTF? 5 comments

On GayWallet.com this afternoon, I saw an ad for The Lighthouse Covenant, the newest anti-gay religious organization (like we needed another one, right?). I thought it was strange that the ad was running on a gay web site, so I clicked it. Here’s what I found:

If you affirm the following, you are welcome to partner with us:

We covenant to teach a high view of Scripture. We trust the Bible as the only final authority for all aspects of life.

We affirm an aggressive, positive stance on kingdom expansion and congregational growth.

We choose to advance the use of all spiritual gifts through unleashing the priesthood of all believers.

We teach and practice that a full sexual relationship belongs exclusively within the biblical boundaries of a publicly committed marriage between one man and one woman.

We believe that mission and ministry is best accomplished within the context of congregations. Facilitating that mission and ministry should be the central focus of all expressions of the church.

I was so tempted to encourage GayWallet.com members to click on that ad just to blow the organization’s daily Adwords budget, but I opted to block the site instead. After blocking the site, I went back to see if they’re much of a threat. They’re not – at least not right now. It looks like a fairly new organization designed specifically to encourage its members to stand against gay rights issues. They made a rather lame (and confusing attempt) to justify point 4 in their mission statement:

Why do you make #4 a point? The rest sounds so missional. This sounds legalistic.

Answer: Every generation has its defining issue. In 1860, you had to say were you stand on slavery. Someday the sexuality issue will go away and there will be another defining issue. Clarity on the defining issue of the day frees a group up to do other things. Un-clarity leads to yet another round of discussion and lack of focus, therefore, on mission. It is ironic but true that clarity on divisive issues leads to less focus on them.

Anybody else confused with all that babble?

Perhaps The Lighthouse Convenant wants to take over as the new, younger generation of those old folks in the anti-gay religious organization AFA.

Dear Teenage Son: No, You Can’t Have Sex In My House

August 18, 2009 Parenting, WTF? 6 comments

I haven’t done a parenting post in ages, but that doesn’t mean my teenage boys haven’t given me plenty to write about, like: the time my 16 yr-old was placed on electronic monitoring, or the time I locked my 16 yr-old outside with his pillow and sleeping bag because he missed curfew, or the time the same 16 yr-old was picked up by the police at 8:30am for skipping school, or the time . . .

My son (let’s call him Juvie Delinquent – JD) is very popular with the ladies. I often ask him to turn the ringer off on the house phone because I get sick of hearing it ring. JD has a very jealous girlfriend who completely flips out when he takes more than 60 seconds to return her call (because she’s sure JD’s on the phone with another girl). JD and his girl (we’ll call her Nutcase) bicker constantly and sometimes I’m forced to send Nutcase home because they get so loud and obnoxious. Last night, JD and Nutcase decided it was okay for Nutcase to spend the night – in JD’s room, in JD’s bed.

What.the.fuck?

Since when . . .

What.the.hell?

Last night I went to bed pretty early and I told JD and Nutcase that she would have to leave no later than 10pm. I woke up pretty early this morning (5am) to get some work done. At about 8am, I noticed Nutcase was sleeping in JD’s bed. I woke him up and asked, “Did she spend the night here?” He said, “No, she came back really early this morning.” I said, “Really? How early? What time?” He paused. I waited for him to answer but he kept quiet. I said, “I was up at 5am so unless she came before then, she’s been here all night.”

I sent Nutcase home and told her she couldn’t come back for awhile.

What’s going on with kids these days? I was talking to my ex-girlfriend a week ago and she told me her girlfriend’s 18 yr-old son moved out the house because he was mad he couldn’t do the nasty with his girlfriend in his room. It’s his room, right – so he should be able to use it for the nasty, right?

Wrong!

No one gets to do the nasty in my house but me. I pay the bills, so I get to do the nasty where I pay the bills. That’s pretty much the way it works; but, for some reason, teenagers don’t get that.

I’m wondering about Nutcase’s mom. She didn’t notice her 16 yr-old daughter wasn’t home last night? Probably not, since I didn’t notice she was in my son’s bed all night.

Police Officer Bodyslams 80 Year Old Woman

August 18, 2009 WTF? No comments

Oh.my.gawd.

You decide if the police officer’s behavior was necessary.

Last year, another cop used excessive force and his superiors thought his behavior was unnecessary. His fellow officers believe he used excessive force, too.

Arizona Man Brings Military Style Assault Weapon to Obama Protest

August 18, 2009 Barack Obama, Bitch Slap, Politics, WTF? 4 comments

I support a person’s right to bear arms, but seriously, since when is it okay to bring a gun near the president? Oh wait . . . this president is Black so it’s perfectly acceptable, right?

About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they’re exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday’s event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn’t need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested. [source]

Who wants to bet if someone brought a gun anywhere near a white Republican president, these anti-Obama Arizonians would call the gun-toter unpatriotic and demand he was arrested for threatening the president’s life.

Several Tweeters have suggested that if a Black man had shown up at a presidential protest with a gun, the media would be all over that shit – calling it a Black-on-Black hate crime. I’m willing to bet he’d probably be in jail, too.

Update: 4:15pm

I just found some great commentary on this issue:

Arlington, Va.: While I support gun ownership rights (within the legal framework), I see protesters “exercising their right” to carry a firearm at town hall protests as a form of intimidation. The reason for this is that I doubt (yes, I don’t have the facts) that they carry their firearms everywhere (home, work, supermarket, church, etc.). If they don’t, then they’re doing it to make a point, and that point seems to be the threat of violence.

I’d like to get feedback from you and others, in particular those with differing opinions, on this.

Rick Perlstein: Carrying a gun to a political meeting is an obscenity. Anyone who does it, even if they are within their legal rights, should be ashamed. Our founders fought a revolution (and, yes, took up arms) to build a society where political disputes are not settled through force or intimidation–and that’s the only purpose of bringing a weapon to a political discussion: to intimidate.

It is utterly unacceptable, and every politician should have the guts to say so. What worries me is that the people bringing weapons are hoping to have their weapons taken away, forcing a confrontation that will escalate; many of them, after all, quite frankly proclaim them “revolutionaries.”

I agree. The intent there was indeed intimidation. Unless he’s carrying his military style assault weapon with him to church, the grocery store and to pick up his kids from school, he was just being a bully when he carried that very weapon to an Obama protest.

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