Good As You

Two dozen American Beauty roses to you, as Kate Smith used to say, for not wasting too much of your time, unlike so many others, on what the also-rans are doing or not doing.

But we have to take back 23 of them for your buying into the campaign to paint John Edwards as Fred Phelps Lite. At the risk of Jasmyne Cannick declaring me another racist member of the "Gay White Mafia," didn't it strike you as odd that that Black minister only waved his YouTube finger at Edwards when, as you acknowledged, Hillary's and Obama's position on gay marriage has been no better. And, in fact, contrary to exagerations of how Edwards has connected his religious beliefs to his position on gay marriage [one would think he had climbed atop the towers of Notre Dame like some latter day Charles Laughton yelling, "Sodomites! Sodomites!"], Obama is the one, as Black lesbian minister Irene Monroe has frequently and courageously pointed out, who has been wrapping himself in the Bible and the church and God's plan for "man and woman," etc., etc.

But now, miracle of miracles, Obama FINALLY has something official on his campaign Website about gays when, two weeks ago, all one could find were mentions of us by his lavender lemmings in the supporters pages and blogs. Compare that to the fact that Edwards' site included four separate official campaign press releases affirming gay rights in different ways, from calling for the overturn of DADT to praising the passage of domestic partnerships in New Hampshire to condemning the Bush Reich's homohating nominee for Surgeon General. [Hillary's site displayed two, and Obama's none; zero; nada; zip.] Recall, too, that Edwards bashed General Pace's attack on gays before Hillary and Obama. Maybe Edwards has yet to start blowing up balloons for a party the night of the forum because he's beginning to think there's nothing he can do to please the gays while Hillary and Obama get away with doing less.

Leland: Please give me more credit than what is implied in your suggestions about "buying into the campaign to paint John Edwards as Fred Phelps Lite." I dedicate 10 hours a day to studying LGBT politics; I don't "but into" anyone's ideas but my own.

I agree with you 100% that Rev. Longcrier's wuestion should not have been focused exclusively on Edwards, and have said so on multiple occasions:

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/07/video-rev-puts-.html
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/07/video-rev-puts-.html

Also, there has been no bigger critic of Obama's inability to separate religious from civil marriage than myself:

http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/02/thats_great_mr_.html
http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2007/03/come_on_obama_b.html

But what I said in the above entry is that John Edwards has rubbed some in the LGBT community the wrong way with his marriage stance. That is true. It's the way he keeps saying he's "struggling" with it, as if the situation is overly complicated and mentally draining. I hold out great hope that he will step up, and think in many ways that he is in the best position to do so. And it should noted that I have defended the candidate on several occasions. So if you want someone who paints him as "Fred Phelps lite," then you are looking in the wrong place.

The above entry focuses exclusively on how the candidates are PRing the event. It is not a gauge of who is th best on our issues. Hell, Kucinich (who you've made it quite clear you are not so fond of) is the lone supporter or full marriage equality, yet he gave it no mention. So it's not meant to be a testament to the candidate's progressive views on our issues, only their handling of the Aug. 9 event.