Gay voters should blame themselves for Prop 8, not black Californians.
Smart LGBT leaders knew our campaign couldn’t make Prop 8 a “gay” issue.
Must we appear as churchgoers or nationalists to deserve our rights?
In part, Prop 8 failed because of inept LGBT leadership.
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By MICHAEL LUCAS
Friday, August 17, 2007
MOMENTS AFTER THE Logo forum on gay-interest issues, news anchor Jason Bellini asked, “Did we learn anything new tonight from the candidates?”
Well, Jason, I suppose we learned that Bill Richardson thinks homosexuality is a choice. He’s since clarified that he does not. So we didn’t learn anything there. What’s more, Richardson has all the charisma of a greasy pizza box. His ideas jump up on you like a garlic and onion burp three hours after you’ve eaten the pizza. We also learned that he was, for real, only joking when he used the word maricon on a radio show. Ha, ha, ha! So funny I forgot to laugh, though I guess you could laugh your rear off at his candidacy.
We also learned during the Human Rights Campaign forum that Sen. John Edwards’ resistance to using the word marriage for gays and lesbians when they get married has nothing to do with his faith, even though he can’t say for the life of him what that obnoxious bit of bigotry might be based on. Edwards also clarified that he is not uncomfortable around (shhhhh!) homosexuals, though Melissa Etheridge, one of the forum co-hosts, read in a book that he was. Raise your hand if you think Edwards is going to win the Democratic nomination.
We further learned that Melissa Etheridge likes injecting religion into political discussions. Kept talking about “her creator,” as though that wasn’t her parents.
One of the troubles with bringing religion up in a political context is that the religious texts say what they do about us homos. It ain’t pretty. Can you say the A word? (Abomination). The people who really believe in the “holiness” of the religious texts actually think that some supernatural being either wrote or dictated them and that therefore, the texts are the ultimate authority on all human matters. Aren’t we as a nation intelligent enough to leave religion out of politics? Please don’t answer that.
Barack Hussein Obama only belongs to the Church of Christ, which supports gay marriage, yet he cannot bring himself to do so. ‘Nuff said.
WHAT JASON REALLY should have asked was, “Did we learn anything new that was worth learning?” A long resonating Bronx cheer please! Take the live audience for the event. There were some great souls in it, including my friend, the former Mayor of Hollywood John Duran. As a group, though, this bunch seemed to think they were the studio audience for Oprah and that she was about to give them all a new set of wheels. Almost everything said got applauded. I really wondered if a stage hand was holding up placards telling them when to clap.
Truth to tell, for me, this whole thing was the most boring and predictable event one could have imagined. I think any of the candidates could have taken a big stinking dump on stage and they still would have gotten applause. In a way, they did. Politicians, after all, wouldn’t hesitate to appeal to the radical scat fringe if they thought by doing so they could win.
The event was set up and conducted more or less like a talk show, and those posing questions were tough as wet noodles on the candidates. This was not shown on CNN; it was a strictly by gays for gays event. Who else in the country is watching Logo? Couldn’t these panelists have asked more pointed questions? How else is Sen. Hillary Clinton going to learn that we’re not going to automatically hand her oodles of dough?
THE SUBJECT CAME UP of the time Clinton made a blooper over a Peter. General Peter Pace. Hillary, you’ll remember, had been asked if, like Pace, she thought homosexuality is “immoral.” At the time she said, “Well, I’m going to leave that for others to conclude.” At the Logo forum, her excuse for having said that, instead of, for example, “No,” was that she wanted to talk about repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and that she should have “set it in a broader context.” What was that supposed to mean? A broader context? Huhn? When you figure that out, let Hillary know.
She should have gotten pinned to the mat over that Peter thing. It’s the kind of ambiguity toward us we don’t want repeated.
We should be realistic about what we face with Hillary Clinton. Elsewhere than the Logo forum, she is playing a religious woman for, I suppose, Ted Haggard’s followers, or whoever goes for that kind of thing. That doesn’t mean she is completely, totally and utterly insincere in some of her pro-gay statements, but it just might mean that she is conflicted due to religious brainwashing. Back in January 2005, she appeared in Boston beside the Reverend Eugene Rivers III, a rabid opponent of same-sex marriage. On that occasion, she actually praised so-called faith-based initiatives. So much for separation of church and state, boys!
She said she is a praying person and that had she not been she would have become one after a few months in the White House. I’m just saying. The real reason Clinton couldn’t just say “No” when first asked if she thinks homosexuality is “immoral” is that her religious upbringing wouldn’t allow her to. Her political cunning, however, did allow her to clarify her position after the dirt hit the fan.
Hopefuls Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former Sen. Mike Gravel, it is true, are for absolute and total equality. But I can’t get excited over a dark horse candidate in any event, and Kucinich’s ideas other than those he has about gay issues seem so ridiculous that I’m not going to waste my time saying why.
In sum, what we learned is that those who believe we are not still up against formidable odds are kidding themselves.
Michael Lucas is the president and CEO of LucasEntertainment.com. You can read more about his thoughts and his XXX movies at LucasBlog.com.
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