[Here are two open tabs in my browser that I can combine into one blog post, said the blogger.]
Frank Rich has had quite a lot to say about the march toward full LGBT equality in the past few days. In his column on Sunday, he looks at the state of the movement right now, with all the victories that are being won, and cautions us not to whitewash the actual history of some of our allies while we’re popping out the champagne:
In the outpouring of provincial self-congratulation that greeted the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York, some of the discomforting history that preceded that joyous day has been rewritten, whitewashed, or tossed into a memory hole. We—and by we, I mean liberal New Yorkers like me, whether straight or gay, and their fellow travelers throughout America—would like to believe that the sole obstacles to gay civil rights have been the usual suspects: hidebound religious leaders both white and black, conservative politicians (mostly Republican), fundamentalist Christian and Muslim zealots, and unreconstructed bigots. What’s been lost in this morality play is the role that many liberal politicians and institutions have also played in slowing and at some junctures halting gay civil rights in recent decades.
[...]
The history of liberal culpability in such government-mandated discrimination should not be locked in a closet now. To forget any history is to risk repeating it. To forget this particular history is to minimize or erase the struggles of gay men and lesbians whose lives and fundamental rights were trampled routinely for decades in America, with cruel and sometimes deadly results.
He discusses the evolution of the Cuomo and Clinton political families on these issues, citing Mario Cuomo’s governor’s race against “confirmed bachelor” Ed Koch, all the way up to DOMA and DADT. He does this, though, not to be unappreciative of the support we now have, but to encourage liberal and Democratic leaders to TRULY step up and advocate as fiercely as possible for LGBT equality, as a way to truly exorcise the demons of past discrimination which liberals and Democrats, unfortunately, aided and abetted.
Read that whole column if you have a minute.
Last night, Frank sat down with Rachel Maddow and turned his attention to the hypocrisy of gay and gay-friendly Republicans in continuing to put up with a party which panders to the basest instincts of its most rank bigots to score votes. Andy pulled this quote from the interview:
“There’s a complete disconnect. I guess it’s just a kind of desperate, craven relationship to the base of that party. We now have a base of the Republican party that is so radical that they can be pandered to by calls for elimination of public education…the hypocrisy…someone like Ken Mehlman is in a long tradition, I hate to say it, of Republicans who were closeted homosexuals in power, actually enabling homophobic policies and in some cases the real demonization of gay people. And then as soon as they’re away from it…then he comes out and does the right thing. Comes out as gay, but also comes out of those policies. But where was he when it really mattered within his own party?…There’s a real pathological disconnect and they’ve really got to be called on it.”
He also discusses Dick Cheney, who lobbied behind the scenes for marriage equality in Maryland, yet refuses, like so many pro-gay Republicans, to loudly condemn the party itself for supporting hatred and bigotry.
Out Magazine has named Ken Melhman as one of its “Out 100,” an “annual salute to the year’s most inspiring people.” Out credits Mehlman for his role lobbying politicians to pass marriage equality in New York and continuing to fight for marriage equality in other states. But as Joe.My.God. points out, Mehlman still supports anti-gay politicians…
The rest of that quote is not necessary. “Still supports anti-gay politicians” should do it, I think. No, wait, I’ll let Joe Jervis talk a little bit more:
Because Ken Mehlman finally came out as a millionaire gay banker and then played a “quietly instrumental role” in New York’s marriage equality battle, the folks at Out Magazine have forgiven his days as the head of the Republican National Committee, where he orchestrated numerous successful statewide campaigns to demonize and make illegal the lives and loves of LGBT people.
For all those millions of people made miserable by Ken Mehlman? Forgiven. The kids who killed themselves because of relentlessly vicious campaigns spawned by Ken Mehlman? Forgotten. The anti-gay politicians funded last year by Ken Mehlman? Ignored.
It seems to me that Ken Mehlman is benefitting a lot from Ken Mehlman’s newfound love for pro-gay advocacy.
Last month, an equality advocate named Sai launched a new viral site called gayhomophobe.com. The site (which is already receiving critical acclaim, even from across the pond!) features a countdown tally at the top of the page listing the number of days since a prominent homophobe was caught in a gay-related scandal (the currently-featured ex-homophobe is John Smid of Love in Action, who came out of the closet and recanted his “ex-gay” teachings eight days ago) along with a list of previous notables including Eddie Long, George Rekers, Larry Craig, and Mark Foley.
According to the site, Sai’s goal is to list people “who used a position of power to promote or support an anti-gay agenda, and turned out to be a closet case,” regardless of political or religious affiliation. He also includes people such as Ken Mehlman and Roy Ashburn who reversed their anti-gay views after their respective scandals and came out publicly in support of LGBT rights, in order to show that people can change (not from gay to straight, but from self-loathing to self-accepting). Check it out — it’s a very handy resource!
And now, for some news: Truth Wins Out is honored to announce that Sai has decided to donate all of the ad revenue from gayhomophobe.com to TWO in support of our work fighting anti-LGBT religious extremism and the “ex-gay” myth. Additionally, equality supporter and Google employee Lee Colleton used his employer’s gift matching service to double Sai’s contribution.
All of us here at Truth Wins Out — Wayne, myself, Evan, and the rest of the team — are humbled by and grateful for the investments that Sai, Lee, and all of our other contributors make in our work for LGBT equality. We very truly could not do it without your support.
My sincere hope is that every time Truth Wins Out stands up to anti-LGBT extremism, breaks a major news story, and fights “ex-gay” lies with facts — every time we strike a blow for equality, whether it’s convincing Apple to nix an “ex-gay” iPhone app, holding celebrities like Tracy Morgan accountable for homophobic remarks, or exposing the Bachmann clinic for its use of “ex-gay therapy” — our contributing members like Sai and Lee are aware of how great a share they have in each and every victory, and how truly thankful we are that they help to make them possible. Thank you!
To visit Sai’s site, go to gayhomophobe.com
If you’d like to join Sai, Lee, and many others in contributing to Truth Wins Out, click here.
In all those battles to defeat anti-gay constitutional marriage amendments at the state and national level, millions of dollars were drained from the LGBT community. This was money given by wealthy donors that could have gone to gay causes — or non-gay charities, such as feeding hungry children.
There were also tens of thousands of people without means that sacrificed comfort and quality of life to give what they could. They reached deep into their near-empty pockets to defeat the tyranny represented by Ken Mehlman, Karl Rove and George W. Bush’s anti-gay amendments. Surely, there were vacations not taken, meals not eaten, drug prescriptions not refilled for a few extra days — just so these good people could give a little in defense of their freedom.
Just something I began thinking about following Rich Tafel’s comments about Mehlman. I’m glad Mehlman made out like a bandit, but the rest of us lost money we could have used, while he advanced his career.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Ken Mehlman’s coming out. I said that in order to be accepted he had to apologize and work to undo the damage. It turns out, to my surprise, that I was much more charitable than former Log Cabin leader Rich Tafel, who kneecapped Mehlman in The Washington Blade. Over the years, I’ve had my differences with Tafel’s politics. But, at least the guy was out of the closet and living openly and honestly.
“It pisses me off that people will put their ambition ahead of the truth, and then, when it’s convenient, play the gay card and hope that everybody [can] raise money and get money and then expect everybody to say, ‘Everything is great.’”
“You do have to show moral courage in coming out when you work in politics. And if the message is stay ambitious, and stay in the closet, even work with anti-gay stuff, and then come out and everybody’s supposed to forgive him — I’m just not there.”
The most interesting part of the interview was to learn that there were different ways Republican closet cases deal with their precarious situations. Most, according to Tafel, try to help from the inside. Mehlman was the other type — the dishonorable kind.
“I would say there are two types of people in the closet. There’s one type of people in the closet who were extremely helpful to me, and then there were the other ones who weren’t. Ken was in the very small category of people who weren’t.”
“Most people actually tried to help … wherever they were in their life. They tried to help you, but he really never lifted a finger for us.”
Ouch.
Tafel also disputed — as did I — that Mehlman only recently figured out that he was gay at the age of 43. The former Log Cabin head concluded by saying that Mehlman’s coming out may have been orchestrated to help his dating life in Chelsea, New York, where he now lives.
“But the whole thing strikes me as a little almost picture perfect PR timing to do it now when it’s probably going to affect his social life if he wants to live in New York and go out and date and so forth, so I’m a little suspicious.”
Good for Rich Tafel. I’m glad to see that he is speaking freely and not regurgitating the party line.
So, apparently some Republican politicians, like John Cornyn and Pete Sessions, are going to be helping the Log Cabin Republicans out with a few things. Marc Ambinder explains:
Suddenly, it’s becoming less of a stigma for bigwigs to associate with gays in the Republican Party. Not only has former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman’s 9/22 fundraiser for gay marriage rights attracted numerous high-octane Republican donors and activists, but Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will help the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, raise money for its political action committee.
[...]
The LCR national dinner, which follows the private fundraiser, will include Sessions, Rep. Judy Biggert, Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. The Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson will serve as Master of Ceremonies.
Even Tucker Carlson! Anyway, it’s good to see that certain corners of the Republican party are starting to move into the realm of sanity on gay issues. But like I said, Peter LaBarbera does not like this, not one bit:
The liberal media just eat it up when a sin movement (in this case, organized homosexuality) officially goes “bipartisan.” Check out this excerpt from (the giddy) The Atlantic. I suspect that The Atlantic’s (and CBS News’) Marc Ambinder — while sympathetic to the Stupid Republican Party’s current pro-homosexuality tack — wouldn’t agree with our description of homosexuality as sinful. Just a hunch, though.
When he says “sin movement,” I imagine some moralistic prude in the 1960′s going on and on about Kids These Days, what with the way they do the Frug and the Watusi, without shame. And no, Marc Ambinder probably doesn’t agree with you that homosexuality is “sinful,” as that is an asinine, unprovable notion put forth by bigots and accepted as “truth” by an ever dwindling and bodily deteriorating segment of the population.
Anyway, so that is what The Peter had to say about that.
New York times op-ed editor Tobin Harshaw had an extremely irritating piece in today’s New York Times, where Ken Mehlman was portrayed as a victim of harsh, unforgiving LGBT bloggers. According to the op-ed:
Until this week,Mehlman was mostly known for being the wonkish young man who managed George. W. Bush’s re-election campaign and then ran the Republican National Committee. Now, he’s mostly known for what he shared with The Atlantic’s Mark Aminder: “Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.”
Well, it’d be tough enough for most of us to have that conversation with Mom and Dad — imagine it with Karl Rove.
Maybe Harshaw hadn’t noticed, but Karl Rove is not Mehlman’s father. He was Mehlman’s boss — and one that made his political reputation through dirty tricks, particularly gay baiting opponents. In other words, Mehlman carefully and willfully chose his dubious career and association with this known, political gay bashing Republican hack. Mehlman was an adult at this time, so he knew exactly what he was doing when he teamed up with Rove. Together, these cynical men chose power, fame, and riches by exploiting the prejudices of social conservatives, at the expense of LGBT people, particualrly youth, some of whom surely blew out their brains after they were rejected by their churches and families.
Instead of focusing on the damage created by Mehalman and his power-hungry cohorts, Harshaw demonizes bloggers who want to hold the former RNC chairman accountable, as mean and unreasonable. After upholding apologists, such as Gay Patriot B. Daniel Blatt, as voices of moderation, the author concludes that, “given the commentary of the last two days, that [forgiveness by liberals] doesn’t seem to likely.”
Harshaw is just flat out wrong.
As I wrote on this site and The Huffington Post, LGBT people will forgive Mehlman, if only for the sake of pragmatically bringing out other Closet Ken’s. We need conservatives on our side — such as Ted Olson and Laura Bush — to win this culture war. However, we will not be treated like tools by writers like Harshaw, who demand we have amnesia about Mehlman’s ignoble history. We will also not have our intelligence insulted by pundits who want to infantilize Mehlman, by pretending that he was not able to “figure things out” until his mid-40′s.
Mehlman did not just realize he was gay — in the same way he might suddenly discover he likes pistachio ice cream. It doesn’t work that way.
So, highly paid spin doctors or media outlets who sell their souls for access should stop dutifully regurgitating this lie. Unless there was something physically wrong with Mehlman’s equipment — and there has been no indication their was — he knew he was gay for decades. This is a very sophisticated, politically powerful individual. Unlike former Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), Mehlman grew up in a time where there were gay role models, LGBT people were represented in the media and there were countless activist groups. An astute individual possessing his high level of intelligence, knew exactly who he was and what he was doing. Mehlman was aware of the gay rights movement. He had likely had sex or romantic relationships with men. He had certainly heard of Ellen, Rosie and Will and Grace.
Yet, while millions of gay people chose to live with integrity and self-respect, Mehlman chose to profit from the virulent vestiges of anti-gay animus that remain a force in the hinterlands. He teamed up with Rove to win infulence, power and riches at the expense of his own people.
What Mehlman did was detestable. His behavior was despicable. His decisions were damnable.
While countless people — including terrified teens — made the right choices, he made the wrong ones. As a result, anti-gay laws were written into state constitutions, helpless teenagers were thrown onto the mean streets, some LGBT people were cruelly written out of wills, partners from different countries could not be together, brave veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were drummed out of the military, and long-term partners had their hearts broken because they could not visit each other in the hospital because they were not married.
Yet Harshaw breezily dismisses this reprehensible record and paints those — such as Pam Spaulding and Joe Jervis — who have embraced an honest version of history, as the “bad guys.” This is incredibly insulting and outrageous.
As I stated in The Huffington Post, Mehlman has three steps to take before he is warmly welcomed:
1) Repent for past sins (Hasn’t happened yet) 2) Be honest with the LGBT community (Hasn’t happened yet) 3) Work tirelessly to undo the damage and propel the LGBT movement towards equality (There has been a pledge to help. Good.)
What could Mehlman say to begin this process and satisfy critics? How about something like this:
“I was wrong and I am truly sorry for harming my own community — and by extension myself. The Republican Party had decided to exploit fears about marriage equality and the lives of LGBT people as a wedge issue to win elections. I could have spoken out against this strategy and demanded an end to the anti-gay rhetoric and actions of my Party. And, had they not heeded my advice, I should have resigned. Unfortunately, the desire to win at all costs — and enjoy the spoils of victory — seduced me into making poor, self-serving decisions. I acted in a way that was greedy and cowardly for personal gain. While I cannot take back the past, I can spend the rest of my life trying to make brave decisions to undo some of the damage that I am responsible for. Please find it in your heart to try to forgive me and offer me the opportunity to contribute to the LGBT movement and end discrimination for future generations.”
A little bit of contrition would go a long way. Mehlman will find that people will move on – but one can’t truly be forgiven and embraced, unless they first offer a sincere apology.
For at least six years, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins lied to the public about Ken Mehlman, the gay chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Mehlman’s homosexuality was well-known among Republicans, and he was outed to the general public by blogger Mike Rogers in 2004.
Perkins wasn’t alone in covering up Mehlman’s homosexuality, of course; CNN edited its news coverage to cover up Mehlman’s orientation.
Perkins danced around his own organization’s half-decade of lies this week, when he declared that he was “saddened” that Mehlman is now being honest. Instead of apologizing for the deception, Perkins
criticizes Mehlman for having “chosen to identify himself”
makes the unsupported and unsupportable claims that sexual honesty harms society and that safer sex has “negative physical and mental health consequences”
scapegoats Mehlman’s resistance to the GOP’s worst antigay hatemongers for the GOP’s war- and economy-related election losses in 2006 and 2008
lies about the percentage of the population that is gay, lesbian, or bisexual, offering an absurd estimate of “two percent” that is not exclusively heterosexual
Perkins concludes that it would be foolish for the GOP to adopt policies reflecting fiscal and social responsibility, policies that support real families, “thereby alienating the majority of conservative voters.”
Time for the weekly wrap-up and then some music, so let’s go.
Ken Mehlman is gaygaygaygayGAYgaysuper-duper gay. Ann Coulter made fun of Joseph Farah and his WorldNetDaily on Fox News, without shame. Exodus International has no money, and still, no shame. NOM and Ed Whelan figured out why Ted Olson is so gay for marriage equality: his hippie liberal wife made him do it. Gary Bauer came up with a measuring system where each and every 9/11 victim is three feet long, which helps Muslims figure out how far away from “Hallowed Ground” they have to build their mosques. Memphis gay leaders pulled an inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance because the City Council wouldn’t give it a fair hearing, which led one Memphis resident (and a personal friend of mine) to stay until the bitter end to give the Council a bit of what-for. And of course, Peter LaBarbera, Molotov Mitchell and Ugandan MP David Bahati are still insane. Oh, and Wayne put up a music post of his own last night, so if you haven’t been there, go.
Instead of picking one song and hitting the iTunes shuffle from there, this week is going to be a little bit different. As a songwriter and composer, I’ve always paid particular attention to lyrical narratives, and the way that songs can work together to form an arc. The other night, my iTunes did something that I found magical when it played three random songs in order, which I then listened to in that order again, and again, and again, about eleventy times. The three songs are “Transatlanticism” by Death Cab for Cutie, “1000 Oceans” by Tori Amos, and “Run” by Snow Patrol. Aside from being three amazing, heartwrenching songs, when played together, they indeed form an arc. Sometimes there are deep oceans, but there are also lighthouses.
So those three songs, and then we’ll hit shuffle on the last one and see what happens. Ready, set, go. More videos after the jump.
“Transatlanticism”
“1000 Oceans”
“Run”
1. Dar Williams – “In Love But Not At Peace”
2. Janelle Monáe – “Faster”
3. The National – “Racing Like A Pro”
4. Imogen Heap – “Tidal”
5. Damien Rice – “Eskimo”
6. Neil Young – “Harvest”
7. Suzanne Vega – “Blood Sings”
8. Marissa Nadler – “True Love Will Find You In The End” [Daniel Johnston cover]
9. Van Halen – “Dreams”
10. U2 – “Dancing Barefoot” [Patti Smith cover]
No word on where that Van Halen came from, but I’m okay with it if you are.
Peter throws so many temper tantrums per week these days, it’s hard to keep up. Yesterday, instead of reacting to the Mehlman Fever like everybody else, Peter decided to have a hissy fit at Michael Steele:
The Republican Party has a big and growing ”gay” problem.
One might call it “tumescent.”
The latest GOP hypocrisy: Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele’s congratulatory words for former RNC chief Ken Mehlman, who has confirmed longstanding rumors that he (Mehlman) is a practicing homosexual.
Michael Steele should have staked Ken Mehlman to death, like Buffy! Instead he is falling in love with the vampire with the soul!
Here’s what Michael Steele said about Ken, for the record:
‘I am happy for Ken,’ Steele said. ‘His announcement, often a very difficult decision which is only compounded when done on the public stage, reaffirms for me why we are friends and why I respect him personally and professionally.’”
That’s the way a friend would react. The problem, of course, for Peter, is that he doesn’t understand friendship or love, having fallen for the redefinition of those words favored by his religious cult.
Why couldn’t Mr. Steele just have kept quiet about this tragic revelation by which another sexually confused man seeks to rationalize his misbehavior (sin) by declaring homosexuality part of his inherent being?
Notice the inherent defeat in Peter’s question. He knows it’s way beyond the pale to even wish that maybe Michael Steele might agree with him on things. He can only hope for silence.
Michael Steele, of course, is showing support because they are friends, and also, because one of these days, Steele is going to reveal to the world that he is black, and he wants Ken’s support.
Nope, instead, like a three-year-old boy approaching a puddle, Steele just had to step in it.
OMG, and he made such a mess, what with the being nice to his friend! If Michael Steele was a good Christian, he would’ve made sure to avoid his friend entirely, for fear of getting wet!
Next up in the piece, Peter gets out his phone and calls Laurie Higgins for a quote, so it appears that this episode of The Naperville Grunting carries more weight by being endorsed by two organizations. Here’s what Laurie wants to know:
So, Steele is “happy” that Mehlman is homosexual and/or happy that he is public about it? Why would he be happy for a friend embracing immoral and dangerous practices or for a friend being public about his embrace of immorality? And why does he respect him for his “difficult” decision to announce his immorality publicly? What fecklessness or cowardice Steele’s comment demonstrates. And this from the leader of the Republican Party…
Oh, maybe Michael Steele is a grown-up and is thus not susceptible to the fever dreams based on dishonest “science” that support Laurie Higgins’ worldview.
It’s always amazing how delusional these people are. They actually still think there are lots people inside the Beltway who think just like them on issues such as these. Did the Bush administration teach them nothing? With the exceptions of a couple of rabid wingnuts on C-Street, and whatever coffin Michele Bachmann lives in when Congress is in session, Republicans in Washington think of fundamentalists like Peter and Laurie as useful idiots! It has been this way forever. So no, Laurence, it’s not “cowardice” when Michael Steele speaks in support of his friend. It’s him being supportive of his friend! My god.
The rest of Peter’s piece is an asinine conspiracy theory about how Ken Mehlman was actually a plant, undermining “turd-ish-nul val-yews” from inside the GOP, or something. No, Peter. He was just a closet case, and closet cases, due to their internal shame (which is not caused by their sexuality), tend to be the most willing to bash gay people for their own personal gain.
