The Bilerico Project

Did the Obama Campaign Just Snub Barney Frank?

Bil Browning — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:10:00 -0500

The blogosphere is alight today with the new video from the Obama campaign to kick off their LGBT outreach efforts for pride month. But did the campaign snub retiring gay Congressman Barney Frank in the process?

At last month's National Stonewall Democrats event to honor the Congressman for his long service and tenacity in fighting for LGBT rights, the Obama campaign sent a "video message" from the President to play at the event. With all eyes on Representative Frank that evening, it was expected that the video would feature the President actually saying something about Barney Frank.

Instead, several attendees and party insiders complained after the event that the video wasn't a tribute to Representative Frank. In fact, the Congressman's name wasn't even mentioned in the campaign montage of Obama's achievements in office. The only "Barney Frank moment" came when a photo of Obama and the Congressman flashed on screen for a brief second.

So when I saw the campaign's "new" video to showcase the President's history on LGBT rights, I was blown away at the sheer audacity on display. While there are a few extra scenes at the beginning about Obama's new-found support for marriage equality and Jane Lynch now narrates the video, it is the same video sent to "honor" Barney Frank's retirement and legacy.

Not only did the campaign snub Representative Frank at his own retirement party by sending over a campaign video instead, now they're pawning it off on the rest of the community as new outreach.

Bilerico contributor Karen Ocamb ruminates on her own site, "Timed to coincide with the new Obama Pride launch Wednesday from President Obama's re-election campaign, this is an extraordinary video that I suspect LGBT activists fighting in North Carolina might have wished had come out before their state passed the horrid antigay constitutional amendment." The sad truth is, it was available - or at least 99% of it. The President's support of marriage equality was still missing before the amendment passed.

Video is after the break.

Continue reading "Did the Obama Campaign Just Snub Barney Frank?"...

Even Colin Powell Supports Marriage Equality

Bil Browning — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:00 -0500

When I have to report stories like Indiana Democratic candidates touting their support of a marriage amendment and loudly proclaiming how much they want to discriminate against the LGBT community, it makes me incredibly angry and ashamed. You often hear from Hoosier progressives that "Indiana Democrats are more like moderate Republicans."

But now the truth is coming out. They're not like moderate Republicans; they're more like the conservative Republicans who've been pushing their brand of religious extremism for years. For some reason the Dems have decided that conservative voters will choose a wannabe conservative Republican with a D after their name than an actual conservative Republican.

The proof is in the pudding. Moderate Republicans like Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor (and former Senator) Lincoln Chafee, Rep Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, and even super conservative former Vice President Dick Cheney all support marriage equality. Now former Secretary of State and Republican statesman Colin Powell has joined their ranks.

Where are Indiana's gubernatorial candidate John Gregg and Senate hopeful Joe Donnelly? The Democrats are still pounding the pavement with their anti-gay animus. Come November, they'll be wondering why they lost as the country moves beyond their outdated views.

After all, if your candidate can't keep up with the times, how are they going to solve any problems? Imagine if your doctor tried to cure you with leeches. Instead, Gregg and Donnelly are leeching off of the LGBT community by demanding our money and votes while simultaneously prescribing a bloodletting.

It Could Be a F--king Trap!

Bil Browning — Thu, 24 May 2012 09:00:00 -0500

I have no idea who Skweezy Jibbs is, but he's got a very important warning for "THA GAYS." Yes, Obama supports same-sex marriage now, but what if it's a trap?!?

Indy's Tea Party Mayor Supports LGBT Benefits

Bil Browning — Thu, 24 May 2012 08:00:00 -0500

"He understands it could help attract talent to the city. Many of our larger employers do offer those benefits, so if the council passes the resolution extending benefits it's something he'd take a look at."

-- Marc Lotter, spokesman for Indianapolis' Republican mayor, Greg Ballard, about a recently introduced proposal to provide domestic partner benefits to city employees. Ballard was the first of the Tea Party candidates to sweep an incumbent out of office. John Gregg and Mike Pence, the Democrat and Republican running for Indiana governor, have both announced their support of a constitutional amendment that would not only ban same-sex marriage but also take away all domestic partner benefits in the state.

Summer Bilerico Internships Available

Bil Browning — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:30:00 -0500

We're currently accepting applications for interns to assist with running the site and learn the ropes of online publishing and marketing. We're seeking a couple of brave souls who'd like to learn about communications and marketing.

The details are after the jump if you're interested.

Continue reading "Summer Bilerico Internships Available"...

Anderson Cooper: 'I Think You're Dreadful'

Bil Browning — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:45:00 -0500

During an episode of Anderson Cooper's talk-fest he interviewed Sarah Burge, the woman in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most plastic surgeries. After the woman says she's encouraging her daughter to take up pole dancing and undergo her own cosmetic procedures, Cooper tells her she's "dreadful" and says he has nothing left to say to her.

White House LGBT Pride Reception: I'm on the List

Bil Browning — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:00:00 -0500

Yesterday I was honored to discover that I've been invited to the White House on June 15th to celebrate LGBT Pride Month with President Obama. Last year I was lucky enough to be Jerame's +1 at the event and wrote about meeting Dan Savage briefly for my "31 Days" series.

The Plight of Gay Republicans in 2012

Bil Browning — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 -0500

Yesterday, Bilerico co-founder and National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director, Jerame Davis, appeared on the Thom Hartmann Program to talk about the plight of gay Republicans in the 2012 presidential election cycle. Noted politico Karl Frisch guest hosted the show and the conversation is an interesting back and forth.

You can tell that Jerame is getting more and more comfortable with all of the media appearances he has to do for his job now. He's done interviews with publications around the nation now and made television appearances from stations as far away as the United Kingdom. Now he's taking his brand of LGBT politics to America's #1 progressive radio show.

With Obama coming out in full support of LGBT rights, how can gay Republicans continue to shill for a candidate who wants to institute McCarthy-style investigations into our community for "religious persecution" and keeps crowing about his support for a federal marriage amendment?

You won't want to miss it. Listen in after the break.

Continue reading "The Plight of Gay Republicans in 2012"...

Concentration Camps for Queers

Bil Browning — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:45:00 -0500

"Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there...Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out...and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out...do you know why? They can't reproduce!"

-- Pastor Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, NC in a disgusting sermon last Sunday that would make the Phelps clan proud.

A Song for Harvey Milk Day

Bil Browning — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Sean Chapin has a new song and video out honoring Harvey Milk Day. What a great way to start today's big day. He builds off of Milk's famous quote, "I have tasted freedom."

88% of Baptist Univ Faculty Quit Over Anti-Gay Pledge

Bil Browning — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:00:00 -0500

Shorter University, a Baptist college in Georgia, is losing scads of faculty and students after requiring all teachers to sign a "Personal Lifestyle Statement" that requires them to reject homosexuality, pre-marital sex, public drinking, adultery and drug use and mandates that they attend church regularly.

In an anonymous survey in April, only 12 percent of faculty and staff said that they planned to stay at Shorter University, a 139-year-old Baptist school, reports Inside Higher Ed. More than 50 resigned before the new contracts were even distributed, and certain departments, such as science and fine arts, have been "eviscerated," according to Michael Wilson, a tenured librarian for the university who's worked there for 14 years.

"Where is today's American Taliban? At Shorter University," tenured Shorter professor Sherri Weiler wrote in the Rome News-Tribune. "Religious fundamentalism in any form (Muslim or Christian) is sheer lunacy in today's divided, fractured, and tormented world. True peace is only to be found in opening the doors, not closing the gates."

Wilson had planned to stay at Shorter until retirement, but essentially resigned last week. He signed the "lifestyle statement," but crossed out the line: "I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality."

Leaving Shorter is "wrenching," said Wilson, who claims that many of his co-workers knew he was gay. "I'm a pretty quiet person. But I perceive this as a great injustice." He is part of Save Our Shorter, which is a campaign against the changes.

I applaud the faculty for standing up to these "American Taliban" tactics, but Wilson's comments give me pause. I wonder to myself why this is the straw that broke the camel's back. A gay professor at a Baptist University shouldn't be surprised to find out that the school doesn't like the LGBT community - especially if he's had to stay in the closet to the majority of his co-workers.

It reminds me of Ken Mehlman complaining that the GOP is too extreme in their stance on marriage equality. Hello, Mr. Obvious... It's a problem Mehlman helped perpetuate. Wilson has helped to continue the Baptist university's indoctrination of young minds with anti-gay rhetoric and hate speech, but now he's worried because his own job is in jeopardy? Did he think he'd chosen to work for the Unitarians? What happened to personal responsibility for your own decisions?

As my grandmother used to say, "If you lie down with dogs, you'll get up with fleas."

The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves [Contest]

Bil Browning — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:30:00 -0500

We have a very special giveaway today that will warm the cockles of the grinchiest heart. Two winners will get their very own copies of The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves and an It Gets Better t-shirt courtesy of Scholastic.

They sent me a preview copy of the tome and let me tell you, my first thought as I read through it was "I wish they'd asked me to contribute!" This book is so fantastic I couldn't put it down. All of your favorite queer writers are in this book and the personal tone of all of the letters will show you their personalities and lives unlike you've ever seen before.

In this anthology, sixty-four award-winning authors and illustrators such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline, Woodson, Terrence McNally, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin, make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love, messages of understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.

So how can you win your own copy? Leave us a letter to your younger self in the comments section. That's it. The full rules and a video preview of the book are after the break.

Continue reading "The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes To Their Younger Selves [Contest]"...

Staying Alive: Robin Gibb Dies

Bil Browning — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:05:17 -0500

Bee Gees star Robin Gibb has died following a battle with cancer. Several aging disco stars have passed away recently - including Donna Summer who also died after a long fight against cancer. He'll stay alive through his music.

John Aravosis on Boycotts [Comment of the Week]

Bil Browning — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:00:00 -0500

In yesterday's open thread I asked the question, "Do boycotts work?" I posited that the time for using a boycott as a serious tool of grassroots organizing has come and gone.

Whether it's rightwing Christians or the LGBT community, both love to declare a boycott of some such company or another and then quietly let it fade away when nothing happens. Most of these kneejerk calls for boycotts don't consider the most important part - how do we declare victory?

John Aravosis weighed in on the thread and makes some good points. While we generally agree, I'd point out that - as he admits - the Dr. Laura campaign wasn't a boycott. Targeting a television or radio personality's advertisers is a completely different (and highly effective) method of waging war on an enemy's pocketbook.

John Aravosis · Subscribed · Editor at AMERICAblog
Boycotts often do NOT work, correct. And I too worry when people call for them, knee-jerk style, because they can make us silly if nothing happens in response to the call. Having said that, we were quite successful taking in taking down Dr. Laura, as Becky notes below, by targeting her advertisers until every big name company left her TV show and didn't come back. Now, we didn't call it a "boycott" of Dr. Laura, because even by the year 2000 the word was already getting a bit cliché. But it was effective.

As for Limbaugh, I think the campaign "could" have dealt him a knock out punch two months ago when they had a unique opportunity to take him on - all the forces were aligned with them. They didn't take full advantage of the opportunity presented to them - in part, by only targeting one city, NYC, rather than multiple US cities - and the campaign fizzled into obscurity.

Boycotts, or whatever you want to call them, "can" and "do" work. But like everything else in life, they take a particular kind of expertise to be done correctly, to "win," and most people calling for boycotts don't have that expertise.

So, you're not incorrect in expressing concern about the ubiquitous call for boycotts. But I think you have to keep in mind that the problem is the people who call for, and run, boycotts, not the efficacy of the boycott itself, or boycotts as a concept. They can and do work, when done correctly, and done at the right time (when the time is ripe).

So what do you think, folks? Is John right? Are boycotts still effective? What was the last boycott success that you remember? Feel free to check out the other comment thread too and continue that conversation as well.

Rightwing Christians Encourage Truancy

Bil Browning — Sun, 20 May 2012 17:00:00 -0500

Yet another clutch of rightwing Christians are encouraging childhood truancy. Harvey Milk Day?!? You better keep your kid at home or they'll learn dangerous things like diversity and history. *shudders*