Advice

      Dick Smothers: What could President Johnson do to encourage people to stay in the U.S.?
      Tom Smothers: He could quit.

The John on the Rhode Island Avenue Cesspool (and the effect – if any – that Joe Solmonese regenerating into Chad Griffin will have):

I’m at the age where I’m just not sure they can be any better than they are.

Its called math.

Zero is greater than a negative number.

HRC can be better than it is now (and better than it ever has been) by going away.

Mitt the Trans-Basher-Lover

 

Kudos to The John for being willing to ‘go there’:

Eric Fehrnstrom is called Mitt Romney’s “most trusted” adviser. Well it seems that Mr. Romney’s most trusted adviser is alleged to have “glee”-fully outed a transgender women, ending her career in politics.  This from GQ:

Fehrnstrom saved his cheap shots for smaller-time Massachusetts pols. When a political activist and gadfly named Althea Garrison was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the fact that she was transgender was an open secret in Boston political circles. But Fehrnstrom was the first one to put that information into print—“I can remember his glee when he found the birth certificate,” says former Herald reporter Robert Connolly—thus bringing a swift end to Garrison’s future on Beacon Hill.

Two things need to be added.

(1) The term “gadfly” is actually a bit of an understatement for a description of Garrison the politician (plus, though not out, she is – as far as anyone knows – the first and only trans person to serve as a member of an American state legislature.)

(2) Garrison is African-American.

 

And, as a bonus, Mitt (or, rather, his “brain”) isn’t just homophobic, transphobic, and racist…

there’s also a nice dose of misogyny:

[Fehrnstrom’s] biggest scoop of all came in December 1989, when he received a tip that Evelyn Murphy, Dukakis’s lieutenant governor, who was running to succeed him, was vacationing on Sanibel Island in Florida during budget talks. Together with a photographer, he flew from freezing Boston to sunny Sanibel and staked her out. They eventually ambushed Murphy while she was jogging, leading to an unflattering picture of her in her running shorts on the Herald’s front page—”her middle-aged thighs flouncing across 300,000 newspapers,” as Fehrnstrom would later describe it. The photograph helped end her political career.

Etch that sketch, Mittens.

Ever Notice…

Re: the demanded re-election suicide gay marriage plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform:

Several Democratic sources working with the committee have acknowledged that conversations were already underway about how to placate the pro-same-sex marriage majority inside the party without alienating culturally conservative Democrats in states like Ohio and North Carolina, where the convention is being held.

The usual apologists are giving the usual excuses. The DNC’s LGBT caucus isn’t even on board yet. Pathetic. Read the full article by Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel. They did some very good reporting on this one.

This could all be solved if the President would just evolve already. Instead, it’s clear we can expect more political kabuki as the DNC and OFA try to avoid doing what everyone knows should be done.

And, in case the DNC forgot, there’s an anti-gay referendum on the May 8th ballot in North Carolina, with which we could use some help. It’s called Amendment 1. I think the convention will be a lot more fun for people if Amendment 1 loses

Ever notice how unlikely it is that you’ll ever see non-trans gays and lesbians deploy, much less accept, phrases such as “incremental progress” and “the politics of the possible” and “more education is necessary” when it comes to expecting that everyone – from President Obama down to Dog Catcher Dave in Doofusville – accept gay marriage now and nothing less than gay marriage now?

In November, gay marriage will be on the ballots of Washington (12 electoral votes), Minnesota (10), Maine (4) – and in all likelihood Maryland (10).

In all but Minnesota, the issue will be there not solely because of anti-constitutionist theocrats forcing the issue.  In Washington there will be an anti-marriage ballot question in response to the pro-marriage law that the state’s legislature passed.  In Maryland there will be (in all likelihood) an anti-marriage ballot question in response to the pro-marriage law that the state’s legislature immorally ramrodded through without making any legitimate effort to address the far more basic civil rights needs of people who all who stand to benefit from Maryland gay marriage currently (and will continue to) have the legal right to discriminate against.

And in Maine, it will be on the ballot solely because gays forced a pro-marriage ballot question…

during a presidential election year.

If Rick Santorum is elected president in November by an electoral college margin traceable to any combination of those states going Republican via anti-marriage turnout, what will the “incremental progress for thee, but not for we” crowd do?

Blame black voters in California?

Funny…

HRC head Solmonese to join Obama campaign. Hmm…

…

Did HRC under Solmonese try to curry favor with the White House so that the President would speak at their dinners (i.e., help them fundraise) and, ultimately, offer Solmonese a cushy job in the campaign, and then the administration?  Well, it’s certainly a concern a number of us have expressed publicly before, and now it seems to be playing out just as we feared.

Whether it’s appearance or reality….

…but when trans people connect these sorts of dots (five gay male bloggers – including that one – as well as the zombie quasi-publication that used to be the Advocate lying about what a news report said, seemingly doing the lying for no other reason than to churn the existing anti-trans sentiment among the dregs of the already-overly-privileged gay elite?) we’re branded as paranoid and, even worse, not-team-players.

No appletini-laden HRC water bottles for us, eh?

How Many of the People Who Are Complaining About Sam Arora’s Flip-Flop on Marriage in 2011-12 Were Okay With St. Barney’s Flip-Flop on Trans-Inclusion in 2007?

After all, St. Barney did co-sponsor the 2007’s legitimate ENDA, HR 2015.

That would appear to be some sort of crossing-of-the-rubicon, no?

What distinguishes Arora from other no voters is that Arora campaigned 2010 not only on the promise of voting yes, but even going so far as to promise to sponsor the bill.

And for a time, he delivered. He was among the introductory sponsors in 2011.

…

Friday when marriage equality finally did reach the floor of the Maryland House of Delegates, Arora voted no.

At this point, I’d like to run out and grab some White Castle hamburgers…

…but, I forgot: restaurants – even White Castles – are public accommodations.

When Five Equals One (or, That Just About Sums it Up for the Andrew Breitbarts of Gay Blogging)

When I watched Countdown last night, I had a strange feeling of deja vu when Keith got to the segment in which he conclusively proved Andrew Breitbart to be a deranged con artist.

No, the deja vu wasn’t over thinking that it wasn’t the first time that I’d seen Andrew Breitbart demonstrated to be a deranged con artist; it, of course, wasn’t the first time because, well, he is – but for this post, that’s actually beside the point.

Yes, the video of Dimbart shouting at the protesters outside of the neo-fascist convention this weekend – which is nice evidence of Dimbart being deranged – is an element of this, but only tangentially.  Mediaite’s false-equivalency-laden description of the video:

Breitbart walked outside the hotel hosting the [CPAC] conference to attempt a chat with irate Occupy protesters, demanding they “behave yourselves” and “stop raping people.”

…

For those sympathetic to the Occupy movement, the image of Breitbart being held back while yelling the same sentences over and over at a somewhat bewildered crowd will resonate as more evidence that Breitbart is angry and not worth listening to. For those on the right, it will confirm exactly why they love him– he expresses absolutely no fear in standing before large crowds of people that view him negatively and telling them what many people have written and said in the safety of their homes: that many Occupy “camps” have serious problems with sexual harassment and unreported rape, that it is often entirely unclear what they are protesting; that ambiguous protests are annoying; that their image is sometimes aesthetically unappealing. This exchange isn’t really going to change anyone’s opinion on anything, but it is certainly a dramatic and inevitable confrontation of protest movements in the country.

Keith dissected a list that Dimbart put together to – supposedly – justify the “stop raping people” exhortation.

Mr. Breitbart and his websites have now promulgated a list of what his people boast are 17 rapes at Occupy protests between October 16th and November 19th. 17 stories and links, headlined “Rapes and Various Sexual Crimes” and all of them attributed to Occupy.

It turns out Breitbart and his people have padded this, by listing some stories twice. And in nearly every case, Breitbart’s crew has twisted nearly every one of the allegations in the stories.

Hmmm….

More deja vu….

The idea seems to have been to … assume that your supporters will never bother to link through to the stories, let alone follow-up to find their true outcomes.

And the outcome of this one?

• “dumbassery“
• “the trans community created the environment in which the attacks on Dan have happened – it’s because the trans community thinks he’s the enemy that this is happening.  Now you can quibble about whether these are just some activists in the community and/or their NGLTF-loving gay buddies“
• “They are self-described ‘trans-activists’ which is exactly how I labeled them.”
• “Stop your fucking lying, you fucking liar.”
• “Trans mafia leader Katrina Rose continuing her online cascade of conspiracy theories claiming several gay bloggers defended Dan Savage to prevent gender identity nondiscrimination laws from passing in Maryland. Rose regularly savages gays and lesbians and stirs up trans animosity on both sides. By spinning the glittering of Savage into a trans vs gays issue, Rose is able to breed friction while attracting attention to herself.”

Oh wait…

That was (part of) the hydra-headed outcome an incident in which Joe Jervis, Bil Browning, The John, Andy Towle and Queerty (as well as Raw Story) apparently assumed that their supporters either would never bother following the link upon which they were relying to stir up anti-trans hatred among gays by claiming that “trans activists” raped, er…, glitterbombed (my mistake) Dan Savage in Vancouer or would be of the same mentality as they are and, upon finding out that the story at the far end of the link didn’t back their claims, declare that facts really don’t matter and/or just start making more shit up.

My mistake.

Oops.

Here’s what Keith ascertained about Dimbart’s so-called seventeen:

Seventeen stories Breitbart claims are cases of Rape at Occupy. Just reading the stories, googling the names of those identified, following up – this only took me about 70 minutes. The final result:

— Two stories on the list were duplicates.
— One story turns out to have been about consensual sex.
— One case, in Scotland, led the Occupy group to disband for the sake of safety.
— One case of an arrest for child porn, with Occupy immediately banning the alleged perpetrator.
— One case of a girl disappearing — ignoring the fact that she was home and unharmed a month later.
— Four cases in which police said neither the victim nor the assailant were apparently even associated with Occupy.

That leaves seven others stories, all of which show police identifying Occupy participants as the victims, six of which show police identifying the alleged assailants as not being Occupy participants.

That is the evidence that Andrew Breitbart has submitted to rationalize his irrational attempt to smear the Occupy movement and Occupy members, as rapists, and to brand anybody who points out his dishonesty, his twisting of the facts, and who bothers to actually read the stories that disprove his own contention, as a rape denier or rape apologist. What Mr. Breitbart and his fellow propagandists have done, in fact, is to take at least eight women, eight members of Occupy, who were raped or otherwise assaulted, and blamed them.

In short, Dimbart is “perpetrating the classic fabrication con of the dishonest man for whom facts are malleable and can be ignored when they are inconvenient.”

Now….

Find me the daylight between Andrew Breitbart, Joe Jervis, Bil Browning, The John, Andy Towle and Queerty.

Crickets…

Crickets…

Crickets…

Pot, Kettle…Same Old Story

What website would contain a statement like this?

They don’t think they did anything wrong. I suspect a lot of them aren’t sorry, but they are really annoyed that they are being held responsible.

Well, refresh your memories about this and then ask yourselves this: Just how much can (intra-blog, multi-author) irony burn?  Can it give the sun a run for its money?

Demanding That We Forget is STILL Transphobia

Has it been a year already?

Actually, its only been 10 1/2 months or so – for this, anyway (for others, well…) – but let us go there nevertheless…

A comment by laughriotgirl on one of the threads at PHB wherein refusing to bend over and take gay transphobia is branded as homophobia:

What bothers me Is that we are expected to just forget things happened

That was in response to yet another attempt to exercise control over what trans people are allowed to remember in polite company:

What has John Aravosis said recently that is offensive? If you can show me….

…

Why hasn’t there been anything 2007-ish from The Mouth of The John of late?

Well, one possibility is that he’s actually changed.

So much for that, eh?

Demanding that we forget about 2007 was transphobia last year – and it is now.

Demanding that we forget about New York and 2002 was transphobia last year – and it is now.

Demanding that we forget about Maryland and 2001 was transphobia last year – and it is now.

Demanding that we ignore not only whatever might have been the goal in misrepresenting the reportage about whatever might have happened in Vancouver on Jan. 21 but also the unwillingness lift a finger in opposition to what the misrepresentation of the reportage about whatever might have happened in Vancouver on Jan. 21 unleashed was transphobia last week – and it is now.

Remember…

This comes from the wing of transphobic gay purity that chastises uppity trans scum for not accepting the revealed wisdom which holds inter alia that Dan Savage is an unquestionable ally of trans people:

I will not support Barack Obama with my money, my time, or my vote until he decides that I am a full equal and endorses marriage equality. Period.

And, John, you’re going to get blasted for correctly observing that “it probably wouldn’t be a [gay-rights] disaster” if Romney were elected. We’re not allowed to step out of hyper-partisan homo-orthodoxy and give a realistic assessment. We’re not to question the Democratic Party’s perpetual tactic of hysterically fear-mongering us into endorsing and subsidizing our own Dem-declared inferiority. We’re supposed to sit in our closets–trembling in fear of GOP concentration camps–and slide checks out to the Dems while they loudly declare us second-class citizens and prepare Rick Warren for his next inaugural performance.

Six of Rick Warren, yet a half-dozen of:

Perhaps I’m a transphobic bigot, but I honestly think waiting a measly 36 months to cut your dick is a sacrifice any father should be willing to make for his 15-year-old son. Call me old-fashioned.

Unfortunately, your ex wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice (selfish tranny!), or it never occurred to him to make that sacrifice (stupid tranny!).

…and the all-gay-marriage-all-the-time stormtroopers goosestep onward.

Let me ask you one question.
Is your money that goood?

Don’t bother answering.

I know what the answer is; the problem is that AmericaBlockHeads think that they do.

This is Not America

No, I’m not referring to the song.

Rather…

Wow…

Someone pointed out how claiming that “trans activists” were responsible for the alleged glitterbombing in Vancouver was, at the very least, an error in reportage…

And the party making the claim actually followed up and acknowledged that the claim was inaccurate and – perhaps most importantly – did not thereafter claim that it was still okay to brand trans people as being responsible for the alleged incident.

That was Xtra – from Canada.

This, however, was Queerty:

Canadian gay paper Xtra reports that six members of a group calling itself Homomilitia were behind the rainbow raid. Activist Fister Limp Wrist accused Savage of “ableist, racist, transphobic, fat-phobic, sero-phobic and rape-apologist attitudes and views.”

Hmmm…

That actually seems to be accurate reportage of what Xtra had originally had to say.

However, this appeared a few lines above that quote:

Dan Savage got glitter-bombed by trans activists at an appearance in Vancouver.

WTF?

Oh…

Silly me.  There is much more anti-trans hatred among gays that needs to be whipped up:

• Amen. I’m so tired of trannies trying to crucify people who actually aren’t their enemies. It’s foolishness and they’re only further isolating themselves
• [T]he REAL people who demonize the trans community seem to get off glitter free by the trans commnity activist
• glitter bomb the trannies
• Now u have gone and done it… this thread will be up to 100 responses in an hour or two… The Trans community will be typing like crazy
• After listening to a year’s contempt of trans people for gay culture and gay leaders, I’m done. If I had my way, we would remove the trans protections from enda. That was probably what destroyed it last time it was considered. And the trans community don’t deserve any more help from us
• Sometimes it seems its easier for trans activist to glitter Savage than actually fight for the passage of ENDA
• Radical trans activists are some of the most anti-gay human beings I’ve ever seen. They demand that we stop pushing our own agenda, drop everything, and rush to aid them in their pathetic little war on the heteronormative cisgender patriarchy. Any gay male who dares to speak up and tell them, “no, fuck off, it’s not our job to fight your battles for you” is immediately attacked and bombarded by a barrage of buzzwords like “ABLE-BODIED WHITE MALE PRIVILEGED CISSEXIST!” It’s sickening. Adding the T to the acronym was the dumbest, most politically suicidal decision gay activists ever made
• Someone explain why T is even included in GLBT?
• what a buncha hormonal bitches

This is just serving to convince me that the Democrats’ October (or whenever) surprise to shore up gay support going into the election is going to be a push for a gay-only ENDA.  These (now) five major American gay blogs that have – in the process adding glaring trans-specificity and trans-exclusivity that in no way is factually supported by the text of the original report – amplified that original Xtra piece with such complete disregard for facts that they have to be an advance move to manufacture a faux-gay-populist uprising against trans-inclusion.

50,000,000 Elvis fans can’t be wrong….

and (now) five major gay blogs can’t be this wrong without any expressed remorse (remember: The John not only isn’t concerned about being wrong; he tried to justify it and to justify maintaining his factually inaccurate phraseology) over being wrong without some organized objective underlying it. 

Maybe its not a push for a gay-only ENDA.

Maybe its just to thoroughly undermine any possibility of any gay energy being expended on Maryland’s trans bill until (years after) Maryland gets gay marriage to go along with its existing gay-only rights law.

Or, maybe, its because, when it comes to entrenched, organized gay transphobia…

it really doesn’t get better.