International News - Rex Wockner |
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posted Friday, July 17, 2009 - Volume 37 Issue 29 "Quote Unquote"by Rex Wockner - SGN Contributing Writer "I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that. It's not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. But I say this: We have made progress and we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps." -Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the White House June 29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. "As commander in chief, in a time of war, I do have a responsibility to see that this change [the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell] is administered in a practical way and a way that takes over the long term. That's why I've asked the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a plan for how to thoroughly implement a repeal. I know that every day that passes without a resolution is a deep disappointment to those men and women who continue to be discharged under this policy - patriots who often possess critical language skills and years of training and who've served this country well. But what I hope is that these cases underscore the urgency of reversing this policy not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it is essential for our national security." -Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the White House June 29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. "The president is goddamned wrong on this [not ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell via executive order now]." -MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, June 30. "If you had 20 Gay people together in a room and asked how many of them actually have reached out and either called, e-mailed or sent a letter to their member of Congress over the last two months, I would say the vast, vast majority of them will have done nothing. My suggestion is that people need to become strong activists, that we need to multiply by hundreds the number of activists we have in the Gay community. We need more voices, we need louder voices, and we need to tell politicians at every level we're not willing to take their excuses anymore. ... I would encourage Gays and straights alike to put pressure on President Obama, on his administration, to call for action - immediate action on the laundry list of items that the Gay community deserves for true equality in this country." -Openly Gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one at the White House about Gay issues, to this column, July 5. "I do believe that in his heart he [Obama] will fight his tail off until we've achieved full equality in the Gay community. ... I've been around a lot of very important politicians in my lifetime and I think this guy is different and I do trust him to do what is right. I also believe that he knows how to get things done, and that he will make a significant difference in a positive way in the lives of Gay and Lesbian Americans." -Openly Gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one at the White House about Gay issues, to this column, July 5. "[American Idol's Adam Lambert] killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference. He's done. You're forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in. Life is unfair, and the masses don't all live in L.A. They live in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and you're on crack if you think the same rules apply there. My advice is still the same, 'Shut the fuck up, just sing and let people say whatever they want.' But I do wish him the best because he's got all the talent in the world. If only the world was not homophobic, but it is. I would be the first one to vote for equal rights for Gay women and men, and get the church and the state to stop telling everybody how to lead their lives, but do I think he's killed his career? Oh, in an instant. I hope I'm completely wrong. I hope he becomes the next Beatles and proves me wrong." -Kiss bassist Gene Simmons to AOL TV, June 25. "I'm ... not interested in having any real publicity about who I am and what my private life is and things like that. I'm an actor and I don't want to be a [fill-in-the-] blank actor. ... I don't think it's really newsworthy if the Gay guy from Ugly Betty is Gay or not." -Actor Michael Urie to New York magazine, June 28. "Proposition 8 here deals with people's freedom and you can't say everyone is basically free and has the right to do what they want to do when you suddenly put up a bar and say, 'I'm sorry, Gay people cannot get married if they want to.' It's not about Gay people - it could be about anybody. Who's next? What's next?" -Former gossip queen Rona Barrett to Windy City Times, June 24. "Given our willingness to collaborate with you, and your efforts to undercut this case, we were surprised and disappointed when we became aware of your desire to intervene. You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. ... [W]e will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene. In public and private, you have made it unmistakably clear that you strongly disagree with our legal strategy to challenge Prop. 8 as a violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. Your strident criticism of our suit has been constant." -Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. "Your intervention would create a complex, multi-party proceeding that would inevitably be hampered by procedural inefficiencies that are directly at odds with our goal - and the goal of Chief Judge Walker - of securing an expeditious, efficient, and inexpensive resolution to the district court proceedings. As a result of your intervention, we could be mired in procedurally convoluted pre-trial maneuvering for years - while Gay and Lesbian individuals in California continue to suffer the daily indignity of being denied their federal constitutional right to marry the person of their choosing. ... Delaying equal marriage rights in California serves none of our interests." -Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. "We have the law. We say it won't be enforced. Is it totally clear? We, sometimes in these things, have to accept a bit of messiness. And the way the society is going, we don't think it's fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual. ... It's not for the government to say we are going to force something against the wishes of the people. We won't change the law, but how that is interpreted is up to the courts. It is not our position to tell the courts what to do." -Singapore's law minister, K. Shanmugam, explaining July 6 that Gay sex is illegal, but no one will be arrested for having Gay sex, but the government won't repeal the ban, but the courts are free to strike it down if they want, and maybe they should. "Now that you've up and quit as America's favorite hottie milf ditzball politico moose-slashin' anti-choice anti-feminist destroyer of linear grammar, we feel adrift and lost, a nation without its favorite squeaky purple balloon." -San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford writing to Sarah Palin, July 10. With assistance from Bill Kelley "Quote Unquote" by Rex Wockner - SGN Contributing Writer "I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that. It's not for me to tell you to be patient, any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. But I say this: We have made progress and we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps." -Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the White House June 29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. "As commander in chief, in a time of war, I do have a responsibility to see that this change [the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell] is administered in a practical way and a way that takes over the long term. That's why I've asked the secretary of defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a plan for how to thoroughly implement a repeal. I know that every day that passes without a resolution is a deep disappointment to those men and women who continue to be discharged under this policy - patriots who often possess critical language skills and years of training and who've served this country well. But what I hope is that these cases underscore the urgency of reversing this policy not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it is essential for our national security." -Barack Obama addressing 300 GLBT leaders at the White House June 29 at a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. "The president is goddamned wrong on this [not ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell via executive order now]." -MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann, June 30. "If you had 20 Gay people together in a room and asked how many of them actually have reached out and either called, e-mailed or sent a letter to their member of Congress over the last two months, I would say the vast, vast majority of them will have done nothing. My suggestion is that people need to become strong activists, that we need to multiply by hundreds the number of activists we have in the Gay community. We need more voices, we need louder voices, and we need to tell politicians at every level we're not willing to take their excuses anymore. ... I would encourage Gays and straights alike to put pressure on President Obama, on his administration, to call for action - immediate action on the laundry list of items that the Gay community deserves for true equality in this country." -Openly Gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one at the White House about Gay issues, to this column, July 5. "I do believe that in his heart he [Obama] will fight his tail off until we've achieved full equality in the Gay community. ... I've been around a lot of very important politicians in my lifetime and I think this guy is different and I do trust him to do what is right. I also believe that he knows how to get things done, and that he will make a significant difference in a positive way in the lives of Gay and Lesbian Americans." -Openly Gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one at the White House about Gay issues, to this column, July 5. "[American Idol's Adam Lambert] killed his career because now the conversation is not about his talent but about his sexual preference. He's done. You're forcing people to deal with issues they may not be interested in. Life is unfair, and the masses don't all live in L.A. They live in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and you're on crack if you think the same rules apply there. My advice is still the same, 'Shut the fuck up, just sing and let people say whatever they want.' But I do wish him the best because he's got all the talent in the world. If only the world was not homophobic, but it is. I would be the first one to vote for equal rights for Gay women and men, and get the church and the state to stop telling everybody how to lead their lives, but do I think he's killed his career? Oh, in an instant. I hope I'm completely wrong. I hope he becomes the next Beatles and proves me wrong." -Kiss bassist Gene Simmons to AOL TV, June 25. "I'm ... not interested in having any real publicity about who I am and what my private life is and things like that. I'm an actor and I don't want to be a [fill-in-the-] blank actor. ... I don't think it's really newsworthy if the Gay guy from Ugly Betty is Gay or not." -Actor Michael Urie to New York magazine, June 28. "Proposition 8 here deals with people's freedom and you can't say everyone is basically free and has the right to do what they want to do when you suddenly put up a bar and say, 'I'm sorry, Gay people cannot get married if they want to.' It's not about Gay people - it could be about anybody. Who's next? What's next?" -Former gossip queen Rona Barrett to Windy City Times, June 24. "Given our willingness to collaborate with you, and your efforts to undercut this case, we were surprised and disappointed when we became aware of your desire to intervene. You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. ... [W]e will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene. In public and private, you have made it unmistakably clear that you strongly disagree with our legal strategy to challenge Prop. 8 as a violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. Your strident criticism of our suit has been constant." -Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. "Your intervention would create a complex, multi-party proceeding that would inevitably be hampered by procedural inefficiencies that are directly at odds with our goal - and the goal of Chief Judge Walker - of securing an expeditious, efficient, and inexpensive resolution to the district court proceedings. As a result of your intervention, we could be mired in procedurally convoluted pre-trial maneuvering for years - while Gay and Lesbian individuals in California continue to suffer the daily indignity of being denied their federal constitutional right to marry the person of their choosing. ... Delaying equal marriage rights in California serves none of our interests." -Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies. "We have the law. We say it won't be enforced. Is it totally clear? We, sometimes in these things, have to accept a bit of messiness. And the way the society is going, we don't think it's fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual. ... It's not for the government to say we are going to force something against the wishes of the people. We won't change the law, but how that is interpreted is up to the courts. It is not our position to tell the courts what to do." -Singapore's law minister, K. Shanmugam, explaining July 6 that Gay sex is illegal, but no one will be arrested for having Gay sex, but the government won't repeal the ban, but the courts are free to strike it down if they want, and maybe they should. "Now that you've up and quit as America's favorite hottie milf ditzball politico moose-slashin' anti-choice anti-feminist destroyer of linear grammar, we feel adrift and lost, a nation without its favorite squeaky purple balloon." -San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford writing to Sarah Palin, July 10. With assistance from Bill Kelley |
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