Thursday, December 27, 2007

"THERE'S A SUCKER BORN EVERY MINUTE"

In an article in the Bay Area Reporter, the following was reported:

"[Tobias] Wolff [a gay man who's chair of the national LGBT policy committee for the Obama campaign] also discussed the fallout from Obama's decision to include the anti-gay gospel singer Donnie McClurkin on the program for a series of concerts in South Carolina this fall. Obama came under heavy criticism from many in the LGBT community because McClurkin has proclaimed himself 'cured' of homosexuality and now rails against it. In an essay that Obama wrote for members of the National Gay Newspaper Guild, he discussed the McClurkin episode and reiterated his support of the LGBT community.

"'It was a mistake,' Wolff said of the McClurkin episode, but he added that Obama has taken responsibility for it and has worked in coalition 'long before McClurkin' with the goal of bringing about 'real, progressive change.'

"'A lot of people run away ... Senator Obama issued a series of statements on how he intends to take those positions to people,' Wolff said. 'That, to me, is real proof that he is an effective champion for us. Both the senator himself and everyone in the campaign found out four or five days before the concert."

[For the full article, see here.]

It boggles my mind how people, Gay and Straight, are so willing to settle for crumbs of promises that usually mean absolutely nothing, and serve to keep the status quo comfortably in its place.

The old saying, "The more things change the more they stay the same," is solidly hammered home by those who think that there will be any significant changes to the status quo by supporting either Clinton or Obama.

Clinton supported the invasion of Iraq; she voted to give the Bush administration money to continue funding the war with no strings attached; Obama used Gay people as fodder to enhance his base among conservative Black churchgoers by using Donny McClurkin [an "ex-gay" who says that Gay people can change their sexual orientation] in his campaign, and allowed him to speak and perpetuate this lie; neither Clinton nor Obama is for full and equal civil rights for LGBT people! So, why are they gaining the support of anyone who truly seeks change of direction in this country?

Rather than get solidly behind Dennis Kuchinich who, along with Mike Gravel, is the only one who is running for President who is in favor of full and equal civil rights for LGBT people, many, if not most, LGBT people, if they are politically interested at all, are competing whether to support Clinton or Obama, both of whom couldn't care less about Gay people and their rights!

Dennis Kucinich, a true progressive and strong supporter of Gay rights, deserved better than that! He deserved the strong support of Gay people and all people who seek to reclaim our democratic republic!

So many who are victimized by the powers that be are more than willing to drink the Kool Aid for empty promises by the lesser of two evils. And that fact assures the continuing decline of our democratic republic, and the imminent downfall of all of us!
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2 comments:

genevieve said...

Equality is not gained by taking someone else's crumbs that they don't even want. It is a long and sometime ardous road. There are things that are NOT negotiable. We have to keep working and striving until that day comes.

Genevieve

Jerry Maneker said...

I agree Genevieve, but I don't see any fire in the belly "to keep working and striving" until full and equal civil rights are achieved. By not supporting Kucinich, for example, and having Log Cabin Republicans, and LGBT people who support Clinton and Obama to the exclusion of Kucinich, coupled with the apolitical nature of many LGBT people, shows us how far removed we are from seeing "that day."

Gay rights organizations will not be aggressive unless there is grassroots activism like there used to be, and I don't see any movement in that direction, so therefore those organizations, clergy, and assorted politicians can "safely" use LGBT people as fodder to enhance their own careers.

And political naivete and settling for the crumbs of incrementalism merely emboldens those people to continue their selfish gains on the backs of LGBT people.