Gays in the Gulag and Other Futuristic Tales

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Someone I know only through Facebook but to whom I donated $10 to go as a delegate for Hillary Clinton to the Democratic National Convention, and who returned as an Obamabot, sent me a card yesterday. It was a picture of the Obama family and two pins with a picture of the Obama family on them, so I could wear them for Inauguration Day. Indeed, what I wear on inauguration day is important to a lot of people. Will I dress in black, wear my white knot symbolizing my right to marry, or will I don the Obama “Sun” and be a good Unity Player for the crumbling republic? I think I will probably wear jeans and a T-shirt and stay as far away from a television or the outside world as I can. I am getting ready for the Gulag, see.

Recently Obama ushered in Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia as the head of the Democratic Party. It’s a statement that is not so subtle, except that few people pay attention when the economy is in such a mess. Kaine is a gay hater, moreso than even some of the people Obama hangs with, although on par, I would say, with the close cabal of Rev. James Meeks, Doug Kmiec, and Donny McClurkin. Rick Warren gives the imprimatur to gay hate at the invocation at the inauguration, and thus we have a very public statement that it is OK to deprive gays of civil rights, call them pedophiles, akin to rapists and murderers, and so on, so that when the day comes to very publicly target gay people, the well has been primed, as it were.

Now, anyone reading this does not, in all likelihood, know me personally. I would say until this election my primary reputation was for being reasonable. Indeed, one of the most obnoxious of my colleagues asked me to defend him against a harassment charge in a grievance procedure, despite his knowing that I did not like him much. But now I am the crazy one, the one who can’t see Obama as Lincoln (except that Lincoln didn’t believe in total equality for black people, and Obama doesn’t believe in total equality for gay people, but that’s not what people mean when they compare the two–oh, yeah, and Lincoln was a Republican!).

I don’t mind being crazy. I have even wondered about myself. We have been seeing this steady, almost unbelievable, rise in gay rights. When I was a child, the idea that I could even live with a same sex lover seemed impossible, let alone marry my partner. That I could not be fired from a job or thrown out of housing was also like a gift from the gods. I live in a state where there are anti-discrimination laws covering sexual orientation, and I know all states don’t have these, but the national trend has been steadily good. And then Obama, before he is even elected, does more to stick it to gay people than any executive in recent memory. Indeed, George W. Bush, without a whisper, signed into law on Dec. 23 the first federal protection of same sex couples: he signed a law amending other laws so that the same sex partner of a deceased person could inherit a retirement account without paying a tax penalty. Bush did this at the same time that Obama announced he would stall getting rid of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

We have an interesting cabinet and other administration posts proposed by the Precious-Elect:

Tom Daschle for Health and Human Services: only a 50% rating from NARAL (which endorsed him before Hillary had even dropped out of the primary) (but at least he believes stem research is a good thing, unlike Gov. Kaine);

Hillary Clinton for Sec’y of State, who as a cost for getting this post had to have her husband reveal all his donors and curtail his own international presence;

Ken Salazar for Interior, the post that oversees the Nat’l Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Indian Affairs, a cattleman and rancher from Colorado who has never met an endangered species he was all that crazy about;

Lisa Jackson, EPA, who thinks science is overrated and who has a reputation for bullying;

Robert Gates remains as Sec’y of Defense. Nuff said.

Lawrence Summers goes to the Fed and his knock-off, Timothy Geithner, will Sec’y of the Treasury. Same old, same old song with plenty of misogyny to go around; and

Rahm Emanuel, architect of NAFTA and unswervingly pro-Israel and just as unswervingly anti-immigrant, as chief of staff (P.S.: I am not against Israel at all, but uncritical stances are never a good thing, IMO).

I am not going to name them all. You get the drift.

So why with all the problems in the world should we collectively give a shit about gay people? I mean, we can see why gay people might care, but what about other straight Americans or the world for that matter?

Scapegoating is a common thing. And Obama has been steadily moving toward putting gay haters right out in front where people can see them. Why do this? Bush was not as flagrant. No one thought he liked gay people, and he gave lip service to the constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, but that was the Republican position. Obama has just elevated to the chairmanship of the Democratic Party a man who favors that very same constitutional amendment and promotes it! Meanwhile, Obama maintains he favors civil union and will end DOMA and “don’t ask, don’t tell” someday. The Gay History Project interviewed Obama as “the most gay friendly candidate.” Nevermind that McCain was never unfriendly to gay people…and employed gay people on his campaign. But things have changed. Hate crimes against gay people are up 24% since 2005 (down for all other groups) and Obama is wasting no time in tapping into that hate.

What does the future hold? The gulag? The concentration camp? Medical clinics that will fix us all up to be straight? A steady dose of anti-depressants? I really don’t know. Perhaps America going the way of the Roman Republic.

I only know it can’t be good.

I came, I saw, I conquered--Woohoo!

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Filed under Culture, Obamanation, Politics, Sex, sports

Tags: Democratic Party, DNC, DOMA, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Fashion, GLBT, Hate Crimes, Inauguration Day, Lawrence Summers, Lisa Jackson, Obama, Politics, Queer, Salazar, Tim Kaine, Totalitarianism