Right now.  Do what I say.

Here’s how Mike sets it up:

Don is so completely enthralled at being out, and you can hear it in his voice. We talked about the issues in the book, but also a lot about the closet in the media, in television journalism, and how his coming out might affect other, closeted TV anchors; what the impact will be in the black community and what it means for young people of color; and how it feels to now be out, on a show with his boyfriend and a gay radio host. Don got a little bit weepy on that last topic.

I stayed up an hour later than I had planned last night listening to it, because it was so enjoyable. There’s a moment about fifteen minutes into the first clip where Don starts talking about a phone call with his mother on the first day he came out publicly. She told him that his aunt had called asking why he was “airing his dirty laundry” in public, and that she had suggested that there were churches in Atlanta who could “counsel” Don about being gay. Don’s response was just amazing. He calmly explained that he has a beautiful, happy life, with a beautiful home and a happy boyfriend, and that quite frankly, his life is probably happier than those of the people who are urging him to seek “counseling.”

That’s one of the things that religious fundamentalists never can get through their thick skulls — that happy, healthy, well-adjusted gay people are just as happy, and often happier and more fulfilled than they are. We create beautiful lives, and the last thing we need is their “help.”

Anyway, go listen to it.

And the audio is up, so pop some popcorn and listen. Here’s what Michelangelo had to say about it:

Barron has come on the show several times in he past. My program was among the first media outlets to give his group any attention when it first broke off from the Log Cabin Republicans. We’ve had spirited but respectful discussion, as we disagree on just about everything. He seemed to revel in it, enjoying the back and forth, and certainly was not as angry and defensive as he is in this interview.

Not only did GoProud always come on the show when asked — either Jimmy LaSalvia or Barron would come on — but they reached out to my producer to come on the show at other times when we did not ask and we declined, as it wasn’t the best time or was not about something we were interested in. I say that because Barron outright lied in this interview, claiming that he often doesn’t come on my show (implying I asked and he declined), supposedly because of the way I treat him. That’s when I ended the interview. I’m not going to put up with a liar who had clearly become flustered because he was caught in a contradiction so now was changing the subject.

And more. Click over to The Gist to hear it for yourself.

Michelangelo thinks this is much ado about nothing.  Joy disagrees.  There’s another guy in the video, but he’s not helpful to the discussion.

[h/t Dan Savage, who also thinks this is much ado about nothing]

I’ll let commenters argue about this, but my initial thoughts are that, though words are indeed powerful and can be very hurtful, it’s always useful to choose one’s battles wisely. Somebody, somewhere on the internet, said of this controversy, “If Glee and Susan Sarandon are our enemies now, we’re doomed.”  That struck me as sane.  It could be used constructively as a teachable moment, though.

Unbelievable.  Short-sighted.  But it’s significant to see that this sort of logic exists, regardless of how wrong it is.

I just posted Dan Savage’s smackdown of an Evangelical Christian woman who feigns having her fee fees hurt because people are connecting the dots between children bullying gay kids and anti-gay adults.  ”But I would never hurt nobody!”  Yes, you would, and you do, no matter how sweetly you think you do it, you do.

Continuing along those lines, here’s Michelangelo Signorile talking with “James,” who swears up and down that he would never hurt gay people, that he respects Mike, etc., but of course he believes all gays are going to hell.  He is so dense that he has no clue how this could be a sign that he fundamentally disrespects gay people and thus, is part of the problem.

I agree with Joe Sudbay here:  they have no concept of how pissed off we are right now.  I have never seen the LGBT writing community so universally pissed off, on such a deep level, about the same thing, and it’s a righteous reason — that of protecting our children.

Speaks volumes, I think.  And it leads me to believe that the fundies know/understand something that Marin’s water-carriers in the gay Christian community don’t. Guess who else speaks highly of Andrew Marin in this report? Mark Yarhouse!

The rhetoric is so nice. Unfortunately, all he seems to be telling Fundamentalist Christians is that they should try to stop hurting people, which is of course good, in theory. But where is the message about actually affirming the dignity of gay people, our lives, and our equality?

Not there.

As Kyle at Right Wing Watch notes, Michelangelo Signorile has been sounding the alarm about Marin for a while.

As far as I can see, the jury is still out on whether or not Andrew Marin is a force for good or evil. Hopefully that question will be answered satisfactorily at some point. Until then, I would advise taking everything he says with a full shaker of salt.

Ken Blackwell, a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, said that and more to gay columnist Michelangelo Signorile in September.

On his blog, Signorile comments:

It’s a far cry from the days when the RNC was led by the 38-year-old “bachelor” of questionable sexual orientation, Ken Mehlman, but, according to The New York Times, Blackwell, a failed Ohio gubernatorial candidate who compared homosexuality to arson and kleptomania at the height of the campaign, may well be the RNC’s next chair.

Signorile has posted audio from the complete 13-minute interview along with transcribed excerpts.

Here are some selected clips:

Ken Blackwell: What I said is that, in that regard, you can choose, people choose to be who they are, as they choose to break civil law and God’s law…I think you can choose not to be homosexual…

Michelangelo Signorile: Did you choose to be heterosexual? Did you wake up one day and say I want to be heterosexual?

KB: The answer is that I’ve never had to make the choice because I’ve never had the urge to be other than a heterosexual, but if in fact I had the urge to be something else I could have in fact suppressed that urge.

***

MS: But you realize people were insulted when you compared [homosexuality] to arson and kleptomania. I would like you to explain that because, how does that get into this whole “choice” issue? I mean, kleptomania is a compulsion.

KB: Well, the fact is, you can choose to restrain that compulsion. And so I think in fact you don’t have to give in to the compulsion to be homosexual. I think that’s been proven in case after case after case…

***

KB: Where you and I disagree is that I do not think homosexuality manifested in behavior is a behavior that should in fact make us change the laws of this land.

MS: But many laws have been changed already. The Supreme Court says that homosexual behavior is not illegal. Arson is a crime. If somebody burns your house down, that’s hurting you, hurting other people. The Supreme Court has said if it’s in your bedroom it’s not hurting anybody else.

KB: If in fact you would feel better for me to say to you that, one, I believe homosexuality is a compulsion that can be contained, repressed or changed, and that makes you feel better, then that is what I’m saying in the clearest of terms.

Blackwell’s factually challenged opinions are clear and direct — free of the obfuscation and deliberate confusion that Exodus International practices. Like Exodus’ leadership, however, Blackwell essentially denies the existence of sexual orientation and equates all sexuality with behavior, not romantic or physical attraction.

Blackwell’s prescription for America: Be celibate and unromantic for life — or marry someone to whom you’re not attracted and then fake a romantic and sexual relationship until your spouse demands a divorce.

Blackwell’s position regarding human relationships is anti-family, inhumane, egotistical, and disconnected from reality. In short, it’s an embarrassment to the GOP.

An appointment of Blackwell to lead the Republican Party could be very good news for the Democratic Party at a time when its base is beginning to question the party’s own commitment to “change.”

This weekend I attended the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association meeting in DC. On Friday evening I went to an exciting party. There were no closeted right wing hypocrites in line for dry martinis – as Mike Rogers and Michelangelo Signorile were in the house!