Ruby-Sachs: Is Laura Bush giving us too little too late?

[1]

Laura Bush is touring with her new memoir. Inside are all sorts of Bushy juicy tidbits, but the interviews about the book have recently focused on her admission that she believes gay committed couples deserve the same legal rights as everyone. It’s incredible really, that the first lady from an administration famous for pushing for a Consitutional amendment banning gay marriage would come out for gay marriage.

Or maybe it isn’t.

We have seen a numbers of conservative politicians have come to Jesus moments after they are out of power. Colin Powell supported the repeal of DADT after his administration fell. John McCain’s wife came out for gay rights after the election run was over. And now Laura Bush decides that it is safe to admit that she disagreed with her husband when he used his Presidency to attempt to combat the gay rights movement.

The first question is, what does this do for them? The answer, they get the benefit of a progressive label, even if their position isn’t particularly radical, because of their previous conservativism. The alienation they might experience amongst the more conservative base doesn’t matter because they are risking nothing. Basically, they get all the credit with none of the risk.

The second question is, what does this do for them? Joe Solomnese from the Human Rights Campaign thinks it indicates a shift in the hearts and minds of Americans. I think fighting for hearts and minds, while important and valuable, has very little real value. What if we had waited for the hearts and minds of the racist Southern governors during the civil rights movement? We would never have made the strides in equality that we take for granted today. The same is true for gay rights. We don’t need Laura Bush’s heart and mind, we needed her to stand up when her voice had some power.

It’s not that Laura Bush should not vocalize her support for equality. She should. But we should hold off congratulating her for seeing the light. The gay community can turn around and say, “good thing you have your head on straight, wish you had a backbone to go with that quick analytical ability you are so keen to show off.”

It’s just not sufficient to believe in equality. You have to do something about it too.

*Credit for all the good ideas in here goes to Jane Saks – who is among the breathing!

[1] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/blog-laura-bush-top.jpg

Monday Watercooler: Ellen is no fan of America….which is news to her

Polish president dies in plane crash. It’s been a horrifying past few days for Poland. The country lost Lech Kaczynski [1], its president, his wife, and dozens of military and political leaders in a plane crash. As his country mourns the tragedy, we should note Kaczynski was an unrepentant homophobe. During a 2007 visit to Ireland [2], he opined gays and lesbians were going to end the human race. I’ve never danced on a grave in the past. Won’t do it now. Peace to his family, the families of the others who died, and those Poles who are grieving.

[3]

Ellen hates America. A few questions: 1) Family Feud is still on the air?, 2) is it wrong to miss Richard Dawson [4] and his lecherous ways?, and 3) who knew Ellen DeGeneres [5] doesn’t like America much? At least according to a family patriarch in the “Name something that everybody knows about Ellen DeGeneres” category. A friend suggested maybe the confused Daddy was thinking of Rosie O’Donnell, which makes him a bigger fool. Only a old straight man would confuse Ellen with Rosie.

[6]

Sen. John McCain has no clue about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Look at this interview with the senior senator from Arizona about DADT [7]. He rolls out Colin Powell’s 15 year old thoughts, and talks as if there has been no fluctuation in troop support [8] about the ban. Also he doesn’t think too much of gay soldiers. He loves their service, but needs them to be quiet about anything with the gay. And he uses a superb rhetorical trick. When Adm. Mike Mullen [9] says DADT needs to be repealed, he’s giving only his “personal opinion.” However, the theories of Marine Commandant General James T. Conway [10] are nothing but professionally objective. Nicely done, senator. Nicely done.

[11]

RIP Dixie Carter [12]. The Designing Women star died this Saturday. Was there a television character with a sharper tongue than Julia Sugarbaker [13]?

[14]

Treme. If you’ve never heard of David Simon [15], or The Wire, [16] it’s time to leave your wonderful gay ghetto. The writer and producer of the best drama [17] in TV history, returned last night with Treme [18]. As a TV free fool, I’ll have to wait for it to come out on DVD.

[19]

Another site to bookmark. After you check out our sister sites for your “pop culta” fix–AfterEllen [20], AfterElton [21], and NewNowNext [22]—make sure you head over to Gay.com’s new daily.gay.com [23]. The site is edited by good peoples. The more places for LGBT news and culture, the better people are served.

[24]

Was South Africa’s biggest racist also a big old queen? The murder of South African white supremacist Eugene Terre’blanche [25] has put the country on edge. Two black farm workers are charged with the crime, and initially it was assumed Terre’blanche was killed over money allegedly owed. A lawyer for one of the defendants has said the victim tried to have sex with one of the culprits. Both are men, one 28 years old and the other 15. Terre’blanche’s allies are vehemently denying the claims. This story is not going to end well.

[26]

White Party 2010. A few weeks ago the Black Party came and went. This past weekend, revelers were all about the White Party [27]. Anyone go? How can people afford to attend these soirees during this lousy economy? I can barely get my drink on at my local bar. And if I can’t drink, what’s the point of a liver?

[28]

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/europe/11poland.html
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6383897.stm
[3] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Lech-Kaczynski-top.jpg
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawson
[5] http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/04/08/ellen-degeneres-family-feud/
[6] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/news-ellen-degeneres-top.jpg
[7] http://azstarnet.com/news/local/article_8931f508-4431-11df-a1d2-001cc4c002e0.html
[8] http://www.365gay.com/blog/021710-a-closer-look-at-dadt-survey/
[9] http://www.365gay.com/blog/020310/
[10] http://www.365gay.com/news/military-experts-separate-living-quarters-will-affect-unit-cohesion/
[11] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/John-McCain-top.jpg
[12] http://www.afterelton.com/people/dixie-carter-obit
[13] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tikaHHRIWM
[14] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Dixie-Carter-top.jpg
[15] http://nymag.com/arts/tv/features/65235/
[16] http://www.hbo.com/the-wire/index.html
[17] http://www.slate.com/id/2149566/
[18] http://www.hbo.com/treme/index.html#/treme
[19] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Mardi-Gras-Indian-top.jpg
[20] http://www.afterellen.com/
[21] http://www.afterelton.com/
[22] http://www.newnownext.com/
[23] http://daily.gay.com/
[24] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/newspaper-top.jpg
[25] http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2010/04/11/world/international-uk-safrica-terreblanche.html
[26] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Eugene-Terreblanche-top.jpg
[27] http://www.jeffreysanker.com/
[28] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/White-Party-top.jpg

Sarah Palin steps down as Alaska governor

(Fairbanks, Alaska) At times, it seemed like a flashback to the 2008 presidential campaign.

Sarah Palin stepped down as Alaska governor on Sunday with a fiery speech reminiscent of her days as running mate to Republican John McCain – when she frequently revved up crowds while attacking Democrats and the news …

Time To Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

During his campaign for the White House, President Obama pledged that he would push to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) — the military’s policy that bars gay men and women from serving openly. Since taking office, however, Obama and other officials serving in his administration have pushed the issue to the back burner. When asked about addressing DADT in March, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “I feel like we’ve got a lot on our plates right now and let’s push that one down the road a little bit.” Ret. Gen. Jim Jones, Obama’s national security adviser, told the President recently “not to add another controversy to his already-full plate.” On ABC’s This Week, host George Stephanopolous asked Jones if the policy would be overturned. “I don’t know,” he replied. In fact, the White House website recently watered down language on repealing the policy, replacing the administration’s commitment to “repealing” DADT with a commitment to simply “changing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a sensible way.” (The more definitive “repeal” language has since been reinserted.) At the same time, Obama has indicated that he remains committed to repealing the policy. Sandy Tsao, an Army officer who told her superiors last January that she is gay, wrote to Obama urging him to act on repealing DADT. Last week, Obama personally responded to Tsao, writing, “I committed to changing our current policy. Although it will take some time to complete. … I intend to fulfill my commitment!”

DADT STILL CLAIMING CASUALTIES: DADT continues to weaken our nation’s military. Last week, the Army sent National Guard Lt. Daniel Choi — a West Point graduate who served in Iraq and is fluent in Arabic — a letter informing him that he is no longer welcome in the U.S. military because he is gay. The Army said it was dismissing Choi for “moral or professional dereliction,” specifically for admitting “publicly that you are a homosexual, which constitutes homosexual conduct. Your actions negatively affected the good order and discipline of the New York Army National Guard.” Choi is one of more than 13,000 U.S. military personnel to be discharged because of DADT. This number includes those with special skills deemed “mission critical,” such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists like Choi. The Government Accountability Office found in 2005 that the cost of discharging and replacing servicemembers fired because of their sexual orientation during the policy’s first 10 years totaled at least $190.5 million — roughly $20,000 per discharged service member. While DADT cannot be repealed without congressional action, University of California associate professor Aaron Belkin notes that as president, Obama has the authority to suspend enforcement of the policy. Though it is unclear whether Obama will take this route (especially based on Jones’s advice), Choi said on MSNBC last week that he plans to “fully fight” his dismissal “tooth and nail.” “I believe that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is wrong, and what we really need to be encouraging soldiers to do is to don’t lie, don’t hide, don’t discriminate, and don’t weaken the military. That’s what we need to be promoting,” he said.

REPEAL DADT: Supporters of the discriminatory DADT often argue that repealing it would weaken the military (despite the fact that Arabic-linguists who are in short supply have been discharged because of it) and fragment unit cohesion. However, a bipartisan study commissioned by the Palm Center at the University of California last year found that “the presence of gays in the military is unlikely to undermine the ability to fight and win.” Choi said that “the biggest thing” he is “angry about” is that the Army claims that his unit suffered “good order and discipline” because he is gay. “That’s a big insult to my unit,” he said. After he came out as gay and before he was discharged, Choi said that “so many people came up to me, my peers, my subordinates, people that outranked me, folks that have been in the Army — and this is an infantry unit, infantry men that — coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey, sir, hey, Lieutenant Choi, we know, and we don’t care. What we care about is that you can contribute to the team.’” Indeed, a December 2006 survey of servicemembers who had served in Iraq or Afghanistan found that 73 percent of those polled were “comfortable with lesbians and gays.” Moreover, the American public doesn’t care either. According to a recent Quinnipiac poll, nearly two-thirds disagreed with the argument that “allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the military would be divisive for the troops and hurt their ability to fight effectively.” Ret. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Hugh Aitken, who participated in the Palm Center’s study, has criticized Obama’s plans to allow the Pentagon to review the policy before deciding to act on any repeal. “There’s been enough studying throughout the years,” he said. “Creating a new study will not change the facts.”

RIGHT WING STILL OPPOSES A REPEAL: The ultra-conservative Center for Military Readiness (CMR), a group that opposes women and gays serving in combat, is leading an effort against repealing DADT and even trying to block gays from serving in the military altogether. The group’s president, Elaine Donnelly, told Congress last year that having gays serve in the military “sexualizes the atmosphere” because they “engage in passive aggressive behavior.” CMR also tries to muddy the waters with “gay horror stories” from the military, despite having acknowledged that such stories are “very difficult to find.” Prominent members of Congress continue to obstruct as well. When asked about DADT last Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) offered his support for it. “Right now the military is functioning extremely well in very difficult conditions,” he said, adding that “the policy has been working and I think it’s been working well.” Other members of Congress, such as Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), disagree. Sestak, himself a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, said of DADT recently on MSNBC, “We have to correct this. It’s just not right.” “I can remember being out there in command, and someone would come up to you and start to tell you — and you just want to say, no, I don’t want to lose you, you’re too good,” Sestak said.

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Joe the Plumber: “I wouldn’t let gays near my children”

(New York City) Samuel Wurzelbacher, the Ohio man hailed as “Joe the Plumber” by Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign last year, said he believes gays are “queer” and said he won’t allow them near his children.

Nevertheless, Wurzelbacher said the decision about whether to allow same-sex couples to marry should be …

Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP

WASHINGTON — It was only five years ago that opposition to same-sex marriage was so strong that Republicans explicitly turned to the issue as a way to energize conservative voters. Yet today, as the party contemplates the task of rebuilding itself, some Republicans say the marriage issue may be turning into more of a hindrance than a help.

The fact that a run of states have legalized same-sex marriage in recent months — either by court decision or by legislative action — with little backlash is only one indication of how public attitudes about this subject appear to be changing.

More significant is evidence in polls of a widening divide on the issue by age, suggesting to many Republicans that the potency of the marriage question is on the decline. It simply does not appear to have the resonance with younger voters that it does with older ones.

Consider this: In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, released Monday, 31 percent of respondents over the age of 40 said they supported same-sex marriage. By contrast, 57 percent under age 40 said they supported it, a 26-point difference. Among the older respondents, 35 percent said they opposed any legal recognition of same-sex couples, be it marriage or civil unions. Among the younger crowd, just 19 percent held that view.

Steve Schmidt, who was the senior strategist to Senator John McCain of Arizona during his presidential campaign, said in a speech and an interview that Republicans were in danger of losing these younger voters unless the party came to appreciate how issues like same-sex marriage resonated, or did not resonate, with them.

“Republicans should re-examine the extent to which we are being defined by positions on issues that I don’t believe are among our core values, and that put us at odds with what I expect will become, over time, if not a consensus view, then the view of a substantial majority of voters,” Mr. Schmidt said in a speech. See Political Memo Same-Sex Marriage Holds Peril for GOP

New York Times

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Deb Price: More Republicans embrace gay equality

Rumblings of change are beginning to be heard from deep inside the Republican Party.

The gay Log Cabin Republicans’ recent national convention offered a tantalizing peek at a possible not-so-distant future when the Republican Party has finally — and firmly — turned the corner and embraced equality for gay Americans.

Marquee speakers were Steve Schmidt, former senior campaign strategist for 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and former New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman, a founder of the moderate Republican Leadership Council.

Representing the youth vote that will determine the GOP’s fate was Meghan McCain, 24-year-old daughter of Sen. McCain and a contributor at TheDailyBeast.com.

Each supports marriage for same-sex couples.

That puts them firmly in the minority of today’s Republicans, but definitely not of future Republicans if the party is to grow, appeal to young voters, and be competitive beyond the south.

“We were crushed by the Obama campaign with voters under 30,” Schmidt pointed out.

What distinguishes the youth vote, he continued, is “a greater acceptance of people who find happiness in relationships with members of the same sex.” One day, a majority of Americans will follow, and, he added, “sooner or later the Republican Party will catch up.”

Whitman, tackling the problem of broadening the party without scaring away social conservatives, said, “It’s not about saying to the Christian conservatives, ‘There is no place for you.’ It’s about saying, ‘Would you please stop saying there’s no place for us?’”

Afterward, Whitman told me, “It’s not going to threaten my marriage to have a gay couple marry.” She wants the issue out of the party platform.

Meghan McCain was blunter: “Republicans’ using Twitter and Facebook isn’t going to miraculously make people think we’re cool again. Breaking free from obsolete positions and providing real solutions that don’t divide our nation further will.”

It’d be easy to dismiss the trio of speakers as preaching to choir, but encouraging rumblings are coming from elsewhere as well:

Gay Republicans point with pride to the fact that eight Republicans in the Vermont Legislature helped override the governor’s veto of gay marriage.

Meanwhile, gay Iowans are set to begin marrying on Monday, thanks to a ruling written by a Republican appointee. A University of Iowa Hawkeye Poll conducted just before the April 3 unanimous Iowa Supreme Court ruling for gay marriage found that 58 percent of Iowans aged 18 to 29 favor gay marriage, 17 percent prefer civil unions, and only 16 percent oppose both.

That means fewer than one out of five favors the official Republican position.

Contrast that with Iowans 65 or older: 18 percent favor gay marriage, 31 percent civil unions and 42 percent neither.

If you were running a company that hopes to still be around in 20 years, which customers would you appeal to?

That question is being asked in elite Republican circles. In a survey of its Republican political insiders, National Journal magazine found in its most recent issue that only 50 percent think their party should oppose gay marriage, while 8 percent think the party should embrace it and 37 percent say it should steer clear of the issue.

Speaking freely behind the cloak of anonymity, one Republican insider said, “Perception of complete hostility to all gay rights is killing the GOP among voters under 29. Evolve or perish, Republicans.”

A growing number of Republican thinkers are concluding that their party’s future hinges on finding a way to comfortably embrace gay rights.

Reach Deb Price at dprice@detnews.com or (202) 662-8736

See More Republicans embrace gay equality

The Detroit News

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Senior GOP Consultant Backs Gay Marriage Washington Post

Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, today laid out the case for gay marriage, warning that the GOP will continue to lose young voters and the Northeast as long the party opposes it.

At a meeting in Washington of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights GOP group, Schmidt dismissed conservative arguments that allowing gay marriage would weaken the institution, as well as objections from religious conservatives, warning that they could turn the Republican Party into a “sectarian” party.

“For the party to be seen as an antigay, that is injurious to its candidates in places like California and Washington and New York,” Schmidt said.

He called heterosexual marriage “a tradition,”not a “creed.”

See Senior GOP Consultant Backs Gay Marriage Washington Post

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Top GOP Consultant Endorses Gay Marriage

If Steve Schmidt is for same-sex marriage, can Senate Republicans be far behind?
Well, yes. We don’t expect establishment Republicans in Washington — or establishment Democrats, for that matter — to suddenly endorse gay marriage. But in a possible sign of the momentum of the gay-marriage movement, Mr. Schmidt, who was a senior adviser to the Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain, last year, is promoting gay marriage this afternoon.
He endorsed same-sex marriage last month, in an interview with the Washington Blade.
Today, Mr. Schmidt, who also served as a top Bush aide, discusses the subject with the Log Cabin Republicans, a group that supports gay rights. According to CNN, he will call on conservative Republicans to drop their opposition at a lunchtime speech in Washington.
Mr. Schmidt, who has a sister who is a lesbian See Top GOP Consultant Endorses Gay Marriage
New York Times * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

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Tauscher moves to end gay ban

Walnut Creek Democrat Ellen Tauscher will move today to end the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on gays in the military, a 15-year relic of the Clinton-era culture wars.

Tauscher last summer had promised a full-scale push to end the ban this year. The Obama presidency clearly lifts the veto threat that had blocked any such move during the Bush administration. Obama promised to support repeal during his campaign. His Republican opponent Sen. John McCain remained opposed.

Polls show solid public support for lifting the ban, with as many as 75 percent backing repeal, a number that has climbed steadily during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The argument for the ban is that allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly would damage morale.

McCain made that argument last year, saying, “I believe the polarization of personnel and breakdown of unit effectiveness is too high a price to pay for well-intentioned but misguided efforts to elevate the interests of a minority of homosexual service members above those of their units.”

A General Accountability Office study in 2005 showed the military lost 800 service members in 161 occupations. The ban has led to the discharge of desperately needed linquists and translators during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. See