Dogwhistling to oblivion

Nobody is better at dogwhistling than Republicans. When Newt Gingrich calls Barack Obama "The Food Stamp King", it's clear what word he wants to use. When Sarah Palin puts targets on a map to denote elected Democrats, it's clear what she's saying. Republicans know how to send signals to their followers that give them what they want.

So it makes us wonder exactly what Rick Perry is saying in his recent anti-gay ad:



I mean, there's Rick Perry...with his great hair intact, walking up a mountain...wearing Heath Ledger's jacket....



OK, it's not EXACTLY the same:



Perry's jacket has seaming across the upper chest and Ledger's doesn't. Ledger's jacket has flap pockets, Perry's has just patch pockets. Ledger's is probably vintage from the time period portrayed in the movie, and Perry's is your standard garden-variety Carhartt Sandstone Thermal Jac. And Carhartt uses similar "cowboy" imagery to sell its products:



And maybe the people Rick Perry is trying to reach won't make the connection, because they too wear Carhartt jackets. Maybe it's just that weird Republican cowboy drag thing that Texan men do to try to demonstrate that they are manly-men. But when you're Rick Perry, and gay rumors have been swirling around you for years, and this particular jacket also comes in Moss, Midnight, and a lovely chocolate brown, you'd think someone on Perry's staff would have made the connection.

Unless it isn't evangelicals to whom Perry is really dogwhistling.

(lifted unashamedly from here.)

Piss off Fox. Buy something from J. Crew

I'm not a J. Crew shopper. Frankly, I don't think much of their stuff, at least not from what I've seen on their web site; I don't care that Laurent Hutton DOES model for them. Usually you'll find me on the sale pages of J. Jill or the 30% off all clearance pages at Coldwater Creek. But tonight, I'm making a statement against idiocy by buying a shirt from J. Crew. In fact, I'm buying two. Want to know why? Here's why:

Use code MUSTHAVE to get 30% off all clearance through tomorrow night.

I realize it's Seth MacFarlane's world and we just live in it, but come on...

You'd think that with all the problems there are in this country right now, we could grow the fuck up already.

But you'd be wrong:

A story headlined "Tired Gay succumbs to Dix in 200 meters" was the most popular story on Reuters.com this year, Reuters insiders Ernest Scheyder and Ken Li say on Twitter.

How punny.
My colleague Jay Yarow puts it this way: "Whoever spent tireless hours working on some investigative report for Reuters is silently weeping right now."

What the hell kind of kids are people raising in this country today?

Earlier this week, Pam wrote about what a miserable September it's been for gay youth around the country. Now, late today, comes word that a promising young musician and student at Rutgers University, Tyler Clementi, jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and another student videotaped him having sex with a male classmate and posted the video on the Web:

It started with a Twitter message on Sept. 19: “Roommate asked for the room till midnight. I went into molly’s room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay.”

That night, the authorities say, the Rutgers University student who sent the message used a camera hidden in his dormitory room to broadcast the roommate’s intimate encounter live on the Internet.

And three days later, the roommate who had been surreptitiously filmed — Tyler Clementi, an 18-year-old freshman and an accomplished violist — jumped from the George Washington Bridge into the Hudson River in an apparent suicide.

The Sept. 22 death, which the authorities disclosed on Wednesday, was the second high-profile suicide this year that followed alleged incidents of cyber-bullying. In January, a high school student in South Hadley, Mass., hanged herself in her home after months of reported harassment by a group of students on Web sites and in text messages.

[snip]

The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office said that Mr. Clementi’s roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and another classmate, Molly Wei, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., had each been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image” of Mr. Clementi. The most severe charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Mr. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy for attempting a similar live feed on the Internet on Sept. 21, the day before the suicide. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, James O’Neill, said the investigation was continuing, but he declined to “speculate on additional charges.”

There have always been bullies, but nothing like what we see today. What kind of a sick, twisted fuck do you have to be to do something like this?

An added twist to this case is that the two perpetrators of this heinous act of bullying are both minorities. Dharun Ravi appears to be of Indian descent and Molly Wei appears to be of Chinese descent. They are from Plainsboro, NJ, a diverse town in which 16.97% of residents identified as Indian-American in the 2000 census (second only to Edison) and 8.55% self-identified as of Chinese ancestry. It's an affluent town as well, with median family income of $102,586 as of a 2007 estimate. (source) You'd think that a diverse town with a high median income and one of the top school systems in the country wouldn't be raising a bunch of bullies. But then, the haves bullying the have-nots is nothing new, is it.

Not much information about Ravi and Wei has been released as yet, though I suspect that will change. I'm sure that there are those who will be tempted to insist that their own lily-white Anglo-Saxon children would NEVER do something like that, or worse, that because Tyler Clementi was gay, he somehow "deserved it". But those who are tempted to think this should read about Phoebe Prince, a high school student who was bullied into suicide in Massachusetts earlier this year; about Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, or any of the other gay kids who have seen no way out but suicide.

Being bullied is always traumatic for a child or adolescent. Those of us who were small, or fat, or jut plain weird, have always been bullied. But today, when the bullying can take place in front of a huge audience, and when you throw in the anti-gay rhetoric being spouted by right-wing politicians, which gives an imprimatur of approval to homophobic bullying by straight young males who no doubt have issues about their own sexuality and send a signal to gay teens that the very power structures in this country will hound them even if their classmates aren't at the moment, it's not difficult to understand how a young man like Tyler Clementi might be driven to not just talk about jumping off the George Washington Bridge, but actually do it.

To get a sense of how distraught this young man was, consider that Fort Lee, where the bridge is located, is at least an hour drive from Rutgers. How determined do you have to be when you can spend an hour driving and not reconsider? But what's more frightening is what kind of kids are people raising these days that they think surreptitiously videotaping another kid's private activities and posting them without consent is OK? Do kids have NO sense of consequences whatsoever? I don't care what celebrities get away with.

The next time a Congressman or Senator gets up before Congress or goes on a cable news show and talks about the "homosexual agenda", I would hope that they would think about Tyler Clementi -- a talented musician with a brilliant future ahead of him who saw nothing but taunting and persecution in that future and decided it was too high a price to pay and that death looked good by comparison.

I'm surprised they didn't make him wear a pink triangle

In case you needed any more reasons NOT to shop at Wal-Mart, here you go:

Back in March, 18-year-old Fernando Gallardo got a seasonal job at a Las Vegas Walmart, hoping to make a few extra dollars. But a few weeks into the job, Gallardo says, his immediate supervisor asked him "point-blank" in front of four of his coworkers if he was gay, and from then on alienated him from the 50 other associates at that location.

"I told her yes, and after that she was very rude and short with me," he tells The Advocate.

Gallardo says that soon after the incident, he was stripped of many of his daily duties and asked to wear a yellow vest and walk around the store. By mid May his supervisor and two other managers stopped talking to him completely.

"I was completely ignored and shunned," he wrote in a complaint to the Nevada Equal Rights Commission. "I had nothing to do all day but wander around the store wearing a yellow vest no one else had to wear, much like Jews had to wear a yellow star of David in Hitler's Germany."

Gallardo says he went to a human resources manager and filed a report, but to no avail. He also accuses the store's management of attempting to bribe some of his temporary coworkers with permanent positions, in exchange for saying he volunteered the information about his sexual orientation. However, Gallardo says he felt pressured into telling his boss that he is gay, by the pointed way in which she asked.

"It shouldn't even matter what my personal life is, but what was I supposed to say, other than the truth?" he says. "I didn't want to lie. This is who I am."

Saturday Big Blue Smurf Blogging: What They Said - Special How Did I Miss This Edition

This morning I was trying to find video of figure skater Johnny Weir's hilarious alter-ego, "Vyacheslav Romanov", a Russian gossip (what else?) journalist who bears an amazing resemblance to Orly Taitz (who is now running for Secretary of State in California so she can investigate Barack Obama's citizenship) to accompany the link to the story. And while clicking around, I came across this amazing article by LZ Granderson about Weir, sports, and homophobia written last month after the Olympics over at ESPN.com, of all places.

Money quote:

After all, "gay" simply means you're attracted to the same gender. It doesn't mean you're graceful on skates. If it did, the NHL should consider some rebranding.

Being gay can't mean you're overly dramatic, because Brett Favre is the biggest drama queen in all of sports, and besides, after nearly 20 years in the NFL, he's probably slapped more man booty than all the gay men in San Francisco combined. Do we question his sexuality?

Am playing devil's advocate? Of course I am. But it's not just for the sake of being a contrarian. I'm suggesting a slight paradigm shift with regard to our views of what it means to be masculine. Society adopts terms like "metrosexual" so men can clip their nose hairs in peace. Talking heads coin phrases like "bromance" so men can have real friendships. There's so much posturing and projection happening on a daily basis that sometimes I wonder if straight men suffer from the effects of homophobia more than gay men do.

Look, I know a lot of guys who love women in the Eros sense of the word but who don't follow sports and couldn't pick Kobe Bryant out of a lineup of dwarfs.

Conversely, I have a friend who once had to be physically restrained from beating the snot out of a ref during a league basketball game, and he's been with his boyfriend for more than 10 years.

These are not examples of anomalies. These are examples within the kaleidoscope of life, and if some of us would take off our black-and-white blinders long enough -- and perhaps stop acting the way we think we're supposed to act -- we might actually begin to see and appreciate the diversity within the lexicon of manhood. This philosophy isn't just about creating an environment in which it's comfortable for gay men to compete in sports. It's also about creating a space in which it's OK for straight men not to.

Word.

Scott Hamilton, we expected better from you

I guess we should have known when Scott Hamilton appeared on The Colbert Report and referred, in a segment discussing Johnny Weir, to there having been "a lot of fabulousness" in skating for a long time.

But despite the fact that the out-and-proud Rudy Galindo skated in "Champions On Ice" (not the same tour) from 1996 to 2007 and even in the "Elvis Sk8" tour in 2002, was enough to convince International Merchandising Corporation (IMG) that a guy who isn't even out can skate on a tour without the world coming to an end. I wonder if "Stars on Ice" is going to refuse to allow women's Olympic champion Kim Yu-Na to skate because her coach, Brian Orser, is gay? I mean, if she hangs around with a gay guy, she's "family-unfriendly" by association, right? How does IMG explain the fact that Orser skated with "Stars on Ice" for years? Orser was outed by an ex-boyfriend in 1998 and skated with the tour until 2007.

Let me see if I have this straight (heh): An out gay man (Orser) can skate with "Stars on Ice" if he butches it up enough, but a an androgynous man of indeterminate sexual orientation who likes wearing sequins and makeup is somehow not "family-friendly":

GLAAD has learned from a source that wishes to remain anonymous that sponsors of the Stars on Ice Tour, which include Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have refused to allow 3-time US National Champion and 2-time Olympian Johnny Weir to participate because they claim that he is “not family friendly.”

To say that Weir is “not family friendly” would be a clear jab at his perceived sexual orientation. Weir is extremely involved with his family. He is putting his younger brother through college, and supports the family financially because his father’s disability prohibits him from working. Weir’s dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows him and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

Weir’s performance and costume style is sometimes considered flashier than those of other skaters, leading to questions about his perceived sexual orientation. While Weir has not officially announced his sexual orientation, he has garnered a significant amount of LGBT fans. He remains one of the most outspoken skaters today, and won an online poll asking fans “Who would you like to see guest star on Stars on Ice?”

Weir recently announced that he is taking a break from skating in order to “rework his technique.” This news does not release the Stars on Ice sponsors from asking him to participate. The door should be opened to him as one of the most influential skaters in the field today.

So what do you have to do to be "family-friendly" in sports entertainment these days? Assault a woman? Kill dogs? Take steroids? Cheat on your wife with everything that moves?

Someone please explain to me how someone who helps support his parents, mentors young skaters, and takes time for appreciation of the many young fans he has, isn't "family-friendly". At least for now, Johnny Weir is essentially closeted. Isn't that what the Christofascist Zombie Brigade wants gay men to do?

Figure skating gave Scott Hamilton chances that most people who were sickly kids never got. He's universally regarded as one of the "good guys" of figure skating. Unless he steps up and demands that Johnny Weir be invited to participate, he no longer is.

The first time someone gay is killed by the state in Uganda, these Christofascists will have blood on their hands

There just are no words:

Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about “curing” homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda’s capital to give a series of talks.

The theme of the event, according to Stephen Langa, its Ugandan organizer, was “the gay agenda — that whole hidden and dark agenda” — and the threat homosexuals posed to Bible-based values and the traditional African family.

For three days, according to participants and audio recordings, thousands of Ugandans, including police officers, teachers and national politicians, listened raptly to the Americans, who were presented as experts on homosexuality. The visitors discussed how to make gay people straight, how gay men often sodomized teenage boys and how “the gay movement is an evil institution” whose goal is “to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.”

Now the three Americans are finding themselves on the defensive, saying they had no intention of helping stoke the kind of anger that could lead to what came next: a bill to impose a death sentence for homosexual behavior.

One month after the conference, a previously unknown Ugandan politician, who boasts of having evangelical friends in the American government, introduced the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009, which threatens to hang homosexuals, and, as a result, has put Uganda on a collision course with Western nations.

[snip]

The three Americans who spoke at the conference — Scott Lively, a missionary who has written several books against homosexuality, including “7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”; Caleb Lee Brundidge, a self-described former gay man who leads “healing seminars”; and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus International, whose mission is “mobilizing the body of Christ to minister grace and truth to a world impacted by homosexuality” — are now trying to distance themselves from the bill.

“I feel duped,” Mr. Schmierer said, arguing that he had been invited to speak on “parenting skills” for families with gay children. He acknowledged telling audiences how homosexuals could be converted into heterosexuals, but he said he had no idea some Ugandans were contemplating the death penalty for homosexuality.

“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”

Mr. Lively and Mr. Brundidge have made similar remarks in interviews or statements issued by their organizations. But the Ugandan organizers of the conference admit helping draft the bill, and Mr. Lively has acknowledged meeting with Ugandan lawmakers to discuss it. He even wrote on his blog in March that someone had likened their campaign to “a nuclear bomb against the gay agenda in Uganda.” Later, when confronted with criticism, Mr. Lively said he was very disappointed that the legislation was so harsh.

Bullshit. Laughable bullshit. Scott Lively has a peculiar obsession with manly men. In this screed (h/t), he gives us a peek into what clearly makes him all sweaty and tingly:

Where is the masculine Jesus of the Bible in the life of today’s church? The Jesus who threw down the tables of the moneychangers and drove them out of the temple with a whip? The Jesus who faced down and tamed the Gerasene demoniac? The Jesus who, to their faces, excoriated the cultural and political leaders of the day as a “brood of vipers ” and “whitewashed sepulchers full of dead men ‘ s bones?” This masculine Jesus has been ejected from the American church. In His place is a false and emasculated Christ, as submissive and fearful of controversy as the men who now lead His flock.

Mmmmmmm.....Jesus with a whip. But it gets worse:

The church and this nation cry out for a revival of masculine Christianity, which is to say that we church leaders need to stop being such, for lack of a better word, sissies when it comes to social and political issues. We need to spend as much time confronting perpetrators as we do comforting victims. We need to do less fretting and more fighting for righteousness. For every motherly, feminine ministry of the church such as a Crisis Pregnancy Center or ex-gay support group, we need a battle-hardened, take-it-to-the-enemy masculine ministry like Operation Rescue (questions of civil disobedience aside). For every God-hating radical in government, academia and media we need a bold, no-nonsense, truth-telling Christian counterpart: trained, equipped and endorsed by the local church.

Yes, friends, misogyny and closetry in one hiding-behind-a-cardboard-cutout-o'Jesus package.

Now let's look at Caleb Lee Brundidge, shall we? Brundidge is on the staff of Richard Cohen's so-called "International Healing Foundation." Remember Richard Cohen? He's this guy:

Brundidge is the "staffer" mentioned and pictured in Rachel's introduction.

Ted Cox of Box Turtle Bulletin went undercover in Cohen's organization and spent some time with Brundidge, who also claims to be able to raise the dead.

As for Don Schmierer, Tim Kincaid outlines BTB's attempts to let Schmierer know exactly what he was getting into in Uganda, which makes his protestations that he had no idea what he was being used for more than a little bit disingenuous.

I'm getting sick and tired of watching a bunch of closet cases hide behind the Giant Phallus of Jesus as they spread hate and death around while talking about love and redemption. These people are trying to deal with their own issues about their own sexuality by using the language of therapy in conjunction with a love-based Christianity they DO NOT PRACTICE in an attempt to remove all temptation that might cause them to have to examine their true selves. All this twisting themselves into pretzels may now have real world consequences for real people. And when it does, Scott Lively, Caleb Lee Brundidge, Don Schmierer, and the hypocrites of "The Family" will have the blood of these real people on their hands. They don't care, though, because in their view of Christianity, a Jewish guy was nailed to a cross over 2000 years ago so they could get a free pass and do whatever they damn please with no consequences.

Woman of the Year

I don't know how Rachel managed to retain any composure at all talking to this guy:

You see, MSNBC is NOT just like Fox News. At MSNBC, they confront the opposition with reality, not crap they pull out of their asses. Especially when the opposition DOES just pull crap out of their ass.

In case you're not familiar with Richard Cohen, check out this CNN segment from 2006:

(If you live in New Jersey, contact your legislators and let them know that you realize that gay marriage doesn't mean the apocalypse is nigh. Garden State Equality makes it easy.

Coming soon to America

This one's via John Cole: It seems that our old friends The Family (you know, that fuck joint in Washington DC that's the DC home of good, moral, Christian Republican men like John Ensign, Zack Wamp, Mark Sanford, and other laughable hypocrites) also have a member in the Ugandan Parliament who has introduced legislation in that country to make homosexuality a death penalty offense:

Members of the Family have occupied seats in both houses of Congress going back to the 1930s, but for all but its most recent history, the hallmark of the Family has been secrecy. In the past year, however, three sex scandals involving highly placed associates — Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.; Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.; and Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss. — have thrust the group and its C Street house into the national spotlight.

And just this month, Family members Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat from Michigan, and Rep. Joe Pitts, an evangelical Republican from Pennsylvania, brought more attention to the secretive group when their Stupak-Pitts Amendment passed as part of the House health-care reform bill, threatening to further restrict abortion funding for the poor, if it remains in the final bill. (Pitts, like all his GOP colleagues, voted against the bill, even though it included his amendment.)

But what many people may find surprising is that the Family has branches around the world. In fact, yesterday, Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family: Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,” reported on NPR’s “Fresh Air” that it was a Family member in the Ugandan parliament who introduced a bill that would increase the punishment for homosexuality from life imprisonment, which is the maximum sentence today, to death:

SHARLET: [The] new legislation adds to this something called aggravated homosexuality. And this can include, for instance, if a gay man has sex with another man who is disabled, that’s aggravated homosexuality, and that man can be – I suppose both, actually, could be put to death for this. The use of any drugs or any intoxicants in seeking gay sex – in other words, you go to a bar and you buy a guy a drink, you’re subject to the death penalty if you go home and sleep together after that. What it also does is it extends this outward, so that if you know a gay person and you don’t report it, that could mean – you don’t report your son or daughter, you can go to prison.

And it goes further, to say that any kind of promotion of these ideas of homosexuality, including by foreigners, can result in prison terms. Talking about same sex-marriage positively can lead you to imprisonment for life. And it’s really kind of a perfect case study and the export of a lot of American largely evangelical ideas about homosexuality exported to Uganda, which then takes them to their logical end.

And who is David Bahati?

SHARLET: [The] legislator that introduces the bill, a guy named David Bahati, is a member of the Family. He appears to be a core member of the Family. He works, he organizes their Uganda National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which the Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda…

Looking at the the Family’s 990s [IRS records], where they’re moving their money to – into this African leadership academy called Cornerstone, which runs two programs: Youth Corps, which [it] has described in the past as an international “invisible family binding together world leaders” and also, an alumni organization designed to place Cornerstone grads – graduates of this sort of very elite educational program and politics and NGO’s through something called the African Youth Leadership Forum, which is run by – according to Ugandan media – which is run by David Bahat…

If you think that this mindset can't take hold in this country, guess again.

You Just Cost Me Money

This guy is a clown:

RNC chief: Gay marriage will burden small business
By RUSS BYNUM

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Republicans can reach a broader base by recasting gay marriage as an issue that could dent pocketbooks as small businesses spend more on health care and other benefits, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Saturday.

Steele said that was just an example of how the party can retool its message to appeal to young voters and minorities without sacrificing core conservative principles. Steele said he used the argument weeks ago while chatting on a flight with a college student who described herself as fiscally conservative but socially liberal on issues like gay marriage.

"Now all of a sudden I've got someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for," Steele told Republicans at the state convention in traditionally conservative Georgia. "So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money."

As Steele talked about ways the party could position itself, he also poked fun at his previous pledge to give the GOP a "hip-hop makeover."

"You don't have to wear your pants cut down here or the big bling," he said.

Steele merely expressing national Chamber of Commerce view. Note that he doesn't tell how the college student reacted. A socially liberal (or even moderate) person supports equal rights in the form of civil unions or marriage, both of which extend (or ought to extend) the same basic spousal & family benefits in the workplace. In exacting civil union legislation like Great Britain has, the legal & contractual benefits & obligations are identical to marriage. Supporting marriage over civil unions tends to go to other matters. It also recognizes that America isn't Great Britain, & our tentative approach is resulting in a patchwork of conflicting & unfair laws. So the young "socially liberal" student would have to oppose both unions & marriage, which we can be certain she will not do on the counsel of The Party of Homobigots. Same sex marriage is better for small business than civil unions because it opens up the vast wedding industry to a new, affluent clientele.

The argument, "You just cost me money," sounds like the gripe of an unhappily married heterosexual man headed for divorce court. The young woman on the plane must have picked up on that tone & thought, "Here's an a-hole who won't pay his child support on time." Hey Mikey, remember, "It's cheaper to keep her."

Why don't we just make Jon Stewart the lead Democratic strategist already?

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Note in particular that even though Jon Stewart points out that no one is trying to make Mike Huckabee marry a guy, Huck ends the interview assuming that Stewart's support of gay marriage means that he's coming onto him.

Mike Huckabee, with his aw-shucks quiet demeanor and his rock 'n' roll bass playing, is going to be right out there in 2012 -- the "reasonable" alternative to the red meat-tossing of Sarah Palin. I hope Comedy Central leaves this clip up, because Americans will be reminded of what a reprehensible individual Huckabee is.

This is not a "Real Time With Bill Maher" campaign ad parody

Actual ad that ran in the Trenton Times on Saturday:



"Admitted homosexual"? You want better he should stay in the closet?

Print and clip this ad. And next time a Barack Obama supporter asks you why having a gay-basher emcee a fundraiser matters in the larger sphere of things, just whip this puppy out and show it as an example of what happens when you think that because your guy talks about "inclusion", it means you can let homophobes be the public face of your campaign.

(via Blue Jersey)

Quote of the Day

Dan Savage:

...if you’re 18 and closeted and gay and politically active, as Whitney was, you’re old enough and savvy enough to know that aligning yourself with anti-gay politicians, marching with assholes that carry “Straight Power!” signs at anti-gay rallies, and being best buds with a guy that thinks gays should be imprisoned is as good as painting a bulls eye on your back. You not only risk being outed, you invite it.

Hell, you’ve earned it.

You can serve your country if you're mentally ill or a felon, but gay? No way!

As the decimation of the U.S. military under George W. Bush continues, with criminals and the mentally ill being recruited in a desperate effort to fill the ranks, there is still one group that is judged unfit to serve: gay Americans. No matter how valuable your skills, if you're gay, this Administration of Closet Cases does not want YOU. If the miilitary is desperate for Arabic speakers, too bad. As far as this homophobic bunch is concerned, it is better for the U.S. to be attacked than to allow gay Arabic speakers to serve:

Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because they were gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuable language specialists go.

Seizing on the latest discharges, involving three specialists, members of the House of Representatives wrote the House Armed Services Committee chairman that the continued loss of such "capable, highly skilled Arabic linguists continues to compromise our national security during time of war."

One sailor discharged in the latest incident, former Petty Officer 2nd Class Stephen Benjamin, said his supervisor tried to keep him on the job, urging him to sign a statement denying that he was gay. He said his lawyer advised him not to sign it, because it could be used against him later if other evidence ever surfaced.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Benjamin said he was caught improperly using the military's secret level computer system to send messages to his roommate, who was serving in Iraq. In those messages, he said, he may have referred to being gay or going on a date.

"I'd always been out since the day I started working there," Benjamin said. "We had conversations about being gay in the military and what it was like. There were no issues with unit cohesion. I never caused divisiveness or ever experienced slurs."

He was discharged under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law passed in 1994. The law allows gays to serve if they keep their sexual orientation private and do not engage in homosexual acts. It prohibits commanders from asking about a person's sex life and requires discharge of those who acknowledge they are gay.

Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan, who has pushed for repeal of the law, organized the letter sent to Skelton requesting a hearing into the Arab linguist issue.

"At a time when our military is stretched to the limit and our cultural knowledge of the Middle East is dangerously deficient, I just can't believe that kicking out able, competent Arabic linguists is making our country any safer," Meehan said.

The letter, signed by about 40 House members, says that, with the latest firings, 58 Arab linguists have been dismissed from the military under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. It said Congress should decide whether this application of the policy "is serving the nation well."

For Benjamin, 23, the discharge ended a military career he had hoped to continue.

He said he was particularly frustrated that he was among about 70 people investigated at a base in the state of Georgia for using the computer to send personal notes, and others who are not gay still are in the Army, even though they were caught sending sexual and profane messages.

He said investigators from the Defense Department's Inspector General's office pulled the message logs for one day and reviewed them for violations. Some workers, he said, received administrative punishments for writing dirty jokes, profanity and explicit sexual references.

According to researchers at the California-based Michael D. Palm Center, which tracks these issues, three Arabic linguists were fired as a result of the computer reviews. Their names were not released, but Benjamin agreed to discuss the incident publicly.

DADT is one of the biggest black marks on Bill Clinton's administration. It's pointless, insulting, and counterproductive. But instead of taking the "opportunity" presented by a war and the need for personnel, the Bush Administration has instead capitulated to the Christofascist Zombie Brigade and is punishing those it needs most.

Most. Offensive. Opinion. Column. Ever.

In case you missed it elsewhere:

Michael Medved, a repulsive, mean little man who prides himself on his piety, but is every bit as much a repulsive piece of feces you'd want to wipe off your shoe as Bill Donohue, James Dobson, and the other Religious Cops of the Right:

There is no rational basis for discomfort at playing with athletes of another race since science and experience show that human racial differences remain insignificant. The much better analogy for discomfort at gay teammates involves the widespread (and generally accepted) idea that women and men shouldn’t share locker rooms. Making gay males unwelcome in the intimate circumstances of an NBA team makes just as much sense as making straight males unwelcome in the showers for a women’s team at the WNBA. Most female athletes would prefer not to shower together with men not because they hate males (though some of them no doubt do), but because they hope to avoid the tension, distraction and complication that prove inevitable when issues of sexual attraction (and even arousal) intrude into the arena of competitive sports.

Tim Hardaway (and most of his former NBA teammates) wouldn’t welcome openly gay players into the locker room any more than they’d welcome profoundly unattractive, morbidly obese women. I specify unattractive females because if a young lady is attractive (or, even better, downright “hot”) most guys, very much including the notorious love machines of the National Basketball Association, would probably welcome her joining their showers. The ill-favored, grossly overweight female is the right counterpart to a gay male because, like the homosexual, she causes discomfort due to the fact that attraction can only operate in one direction. She might well feel drawn to the straight guys with whom she’s grouped, while they feel downright repulsed at the very idea of sex with her.

Nice. It isn't everyone who manages to be both homophobic AND misogynistic in the same column. But this actually tells you far more about Michael Medved than it does about even Tim Hardaway.