Where Are We?

A full year has passed, and promises are at a snail pace towards being kept. Not unexpected . . . it's the nature of politics: the leadership is ALWAYS lagging behind the populace. So time has proven once again that the elected officials are slowpokes when it comes to keeping promises. The only remedy is to redirect financial support to gay lobbyists, instead of donating to democratic candidates. I've heard time and again - even from President Obama on TV - that the lobbyists control the fate of American Citizens. So Be It. The facts of life are spelled out for us. Let's rally for our goals by supporting our Gay Lobbyists.

We are still not really getting to the bottom of it, how to find solutions to the problems we have. It doesn't matter if you are on the left, right or center, the government, parties or people. Everybody is responsible for the mess we are in. So attacking and counter attacking will not solve problems. The problem is almost impossible for either Mr. Obama or a Republican president to tackle and solve in one or two years. It is just not possible. What then should we do? Can we start to look at things without emotionally and financially attached to any ideologies or beliefs, looking at things without judgment and prejudices, because they are conditioning from memories and because of fear? Can we go beyond our conditioning, our indoctrinations and whether other people agree/disagree with us, and rise above our own self-hood, and look at the whole picture beyond the boundaries of a family, a country, but as humanity on earth as a whole?

My experience as a grassroots activist for more than 15 years, including leadership roles and many, many hours of volunteer recruitment and management, is that newcomers to political activism generally expect a quick fix. I agree with the the writer, that we've come a long way and that the Obama administration oversaw some important moves forward for us already, and that there is such a thing as a smart strategy. Politics is messy and the battles are protracted. How do we think the abortion rights advocates are feeling right now about the healthcare bill passed in the House? Some people want to throw hissy fits about Maine; I say, let's figure out why the 53 percent who voted against us did so. That is a responsibility on the shoulders of all of us, not something that we can fix with marches and incendiary letters.

As someone who made his first congressional lobby visit in 1993 I admit that progress has been slow and frustrating. But now we are at the tipping point and must work even harder to push ourselves over the edge. I think it is also premature to use the words "empty promises" when we are 10 months into an administration that has faced more acute crisis at one time than any president since Roosevelt. My fear is that a strategy like the one presented on Americablog will cause more people to disengage than become more active. With this tactic our list of enemies becomes longer and our list of friends shorter. Somehow that doesn't seem like the right direction to be moving in to me.

It's worth noting what has been done while not forgiving or forgetting what hasn't been done, especially what has been promised. So I agree, in part, with part of Chris' article, but I'm also withholding from the DNC, OFA, etc. and giving to specific LGBT-rights-promoting organizations and other progressive organizations that are specifically working on such interests - so funds still go to the goals I think are right, but not rewarding weak behaviour. This doesn't make Chris an apologist, it's just a difference in viewpoint. Do try to learn what that means, kiddies.

We all know why DOMA and DADT have yet to be resolved, its the same reason the president was silent on the Maine marriage equality issue. He is riding the fence to get into a second term. He is trying not to anger any group that might prevent this from happening (Republicans). However, because of this he has turned his back on the civil rights of the Gay community and sadly, if he is not reelected, we will once again be abandoned without any significant move forward. We seem to take one step forward and two steps back in this political environment. Being a gay man this county does not stand for truth, freedom, and my pursuit of happiness. This country is far from what our forefathers wanted with religious zealots using their power and positions to discriminate against a small minority. We are Americans...we contribute to society and have our place in the natural order ordained by God.... we deserve our rights and anyone who prevents us from doing so will be judged by history.

Thesaurus: Chris Geidner is a synonym for Apologist. While Chris's essay above is well written, it completely over looks the reality of applying pressure to our elected representatives and party of choice to encourage them to work on our behalf. Quite Frankly, I can visualize Chris sitting at his keyboard wearing an Obama "Hope" t-shirt, with of course reality no where in sight. Basically, Chris is saying to not apply pressure to our party and its leaders who we helped to get elected and who made promises of change and advocacy to us. Sorry Chris. Love your work at LawDork, but you are way off target with this one.

Chris Geidner is a professional Obama propagandist. He is a sell out to our community for his own benefit and he is a flat out liar. No surprise that the Advocate is giving him a voice.

Name: Doug: VB , yep, the DNC have the numbers now ... along with our money. It's up to us to stop leaning on their broken promises and do our work for ourselves.

bottom line- the Democrats have the numbers NOW- they've made the promises for years- it's shit or get off the pot time- they won't have these numbers at the rate they are going in 2010...Bush got everything he wanted with significantly less numbers- this just shows the complete lack of guts the democrats have and what failures they are at governing/living up to their promises- Bush launced a war in less time, LBJ got civil rights in less time...if they can't do it now, they won't- next year..'oh, it's too close to the election' the year after...'the presidential campaign has started' I'm done- they won't see a dime