First Door on the Left

Wow. Did you happen to catch CBS’ 60 Minutes this evening? I did. I have to tell you that I honestly was shocked by the ignorance that was on display.

Duncan Hunter (R-California) is an idiot.

Talk about being open, the Royal Navy now allows sailors to march in gay pride parades, in uniform. And gay couples are even eligible for married military housing.

Duncan Hunter

“We aren’t the Brits. We’re not the Europeans. We’re not the Swedes,” says Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter, who is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Hunter argues that gays do not belong in the U.S. military because American troops need to be hardened warriors, unlike soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly.

“The Fallujahs of the world, the Ramadis of the world that require heavy combat and lots of fire-fighting capability - those are the places the Americans go. The other countries tend to go to the so-called peacekeeper zones, where they have fewer fire fights and less contact with the enemy,” Hunter says. “And the European nations show little will to send large contingents of their military people into dangerous places.”[..]

Rep. Hunter says with the Pentagon starting to meet its recruiting goals, now is not the time for change. “Would we risk doing away with this system that works, where American families sit around the dinner table and they make a decision that their young man or their young woman is going to go into this military because they share the values of that military. Or should we experiment at a time when our military is totally volunteer, when it’s extremely capable and perhaps lose that capability and perhaps lose those numbers? Perhaps lose those re-enlistments and perhaps lose that effectiveness?” he asks.

This imbecile actually went on national television and said that “American troops need to be hardened warriors, unlike soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly.” Everybody knows that a homosexual cannot be a hardened warrior, just as everybody knows that the soldiers in the 15 NATO countries where gays serve openly are all prissy pansies.

Can you believe that this idiot actually ran for the Republican presidential nomination this year? He actually thought that America would accept his idiocy and his ignorance. Unbelievable. Our Republicans really dodged a bullet on that one!

Related: “Army Documents Show Lower Recruiting Standards.”

UPDATE: Video added (Rep. Hunter appears in part 2)…

Part 1:

Part 2:

(Download video: Part 1; Part 2)

Johnny McCain was a guest on Ellen DeGeneres’ show today. They talked about gay marriage. (DeGeneres has announced that she will wed partner Portia de Rossi this summer.) As he does with most important issues, McCain tried to laugh it off. (This video is from CNN’s American Morning and MSNBC’s Morning Joe, broadcast May 21, 2008.)…

It kind if irks me when I see gay marriage referred to as a “liberal issue.” Equal rights and equal protection under our laws for all citizens of our country should not be a liberal or a conservative issue; it should be an American issue. We can only hope that those still fighting it will eventually join the rest of us in the 21st century. “Separate but equal” went out with the 1960s.

For the record, I am also in disagreement with the Democratic candidates on this issue. Both Obama and Clinton have said that they favor civil unions with all the rights and privileges of marriage, but they oppose calling it marriage. There is a difference in our society between saying “I am married” and “I have a civil union.”

Gay marriage legal in California, court declares

SAN FRANCISCO - A deeply divided California Supreme Court said Thursday that California’s ban on gay marriage is not legal, a move that sent off wild cheers and celebration in San Francisco but one that will face new fights from opponents of same-sex marriage.[..]

In its 121-page majority opinion, the court stated emphatically that California law may not deprive gays and lesbians of the same rights of other citizens.

“…(R)etaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise - now emphatically rejected by this state - that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects “second-class citizens” who may, under the law, be treated differently from, and less favorably than, heterosexual individuals or opposite-sex couples,” the opinion authored by Chief Justice Ronald M. George said.

“Under these circumstances, we cannot find that retention of the traditional definition of marriage constitutes a compelling state interest. Accordingly, we conclude that to the extent the current California statutory provisions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples, these statutes are unconstitutional.”

The decision came down 4-3. It should probably be noted that six of the seven justices on the California Supreme Court are Republicans.

It will be a great day for America when a presidential candidate stands up and says “My administration will be dedicated to ensuring that every citizen of the United States, including those who are homosexual [it's OK, you can say the "H" word], enjoys equal rights, privileges and protections under the laws of the United States of America.”

That day may be a ways off. Until then, this is perhaps the best we can hope for…

Obama: Repeal of “Don’t Ask” Possible

Barack Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) - Barack Obama says if elected president he won’t require that his appointees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff support allowing gays to serve openly in the military.

The Democratic presidential front-runner favors repealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays, which was instituted during the Clinton administration. He said his priority for the Joint Chiefs will be that they make decisions to strengthen the military and keep the country safe, not their position on the policy.

“I would never make this a litmus test for the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Obama said in an interview with The Advocate, a gay newsmagazine.

“But I think there’s increasing recognition within the Armed Forces that this is a counterproductive strategy,” he said. “We’re spending large sums of money to kick highly qualified gays or lesbians out of our military, some of whom possess specialties like Arab-language capabilities that we desperately need. That doesn’t make us more safe.”[..]

Asked what he could reasonably accomplish for the gay community as president, Obama said he can “reasonably see” repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy as well as signing legislation to ban workplace discrimination against gays. He said he’d like transgendered people to be covered by the law, but thinks it would be tough to get such legislation through Congress.

Obama also said he’s interested in ensuring that same-sex couples in civil unions get federal benefits.

It’s definitely much more than the Republicans will ever offer.

Update: In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that Hillary Clinton has also pledged support for the gay and lesbian citizenry…

Clinton tells Ellen DeGeneres, gay newspaper she’ll fight for same-sex couple rights

Clinton and DeGeneres

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton told Ellen DeGeneres that she will work to ensure that same-sex couples such as the talk show host and her partner, Portia de Rossi, are treated fairly.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that people like you and Portia and others have a chance to have … rights to be able to go to the hospital, to inherit property, to make sure that you can list somebody as a beneficiary on an insurance policy,” Mrs. Clinton said in an interview to air Monday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Mrs. Clinton has said she would defend gay rights as president and eliminate disparities for same-sex couples in federal law, including immigration and tax policy.

In an interview with the Philadelphia Gay News, Mrs. Clinton said she would eliminate her husband’s policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that prevents gays from serving openly in the military. She also said she’d be “very strongly outspoken” against foreign governments that execute gays.

Read this evening on a right wing weblog:

What we do not appreciate is the thought that people are entitled to different social status due to their sexuality.

Unless, of course, those people happen to be heterosexual.

Can you smell the hypocrisy?

Matthew Murray, 24 years old, went on a shooting spree in Colorado last weekend. He killed four people and then himself. You may have heard about it on the news.

Joe. My. God. says that young Murray was fighting “the gay.”

The Deseret Morning News reports that Matthew had recently been baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). (KSL TV report here.)

Gay and Mormon… That’s a heavy burden to bear. The Mormon faith is not very tolerant of homosexuals. Somehow, though, a lot of people manage to do it without becoming mass murderers.

Now that Mike Huckabee is considered one of the “top tier” candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, we are learning all kinds of stuff about him. This, however, is simply incredible…

Huckabee Wanted to Isolate AIDS Patients

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Mike Huckabee once advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public, opposed increased federal funding in the search for a cure and said homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”

As a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in 1992, Huckabee answered 229 questions submitted to him by The Associated Press. Besides a quarantine, Huckabee suggested that Hollywood celebrities fund AIDS research from their own pockets, rather than federal health agencies.

“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague,” Huckabee wrote.

“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents…”

When asked about AIDS research in 1992, Huckabee complained that AIDS research received an unfair share of federal dollars when compared to cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

“In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified,” Huckabee wrote. “An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor (,) Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research…”

When Huckabee wrote his answers in 1992, it was common knowledge that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact. In late 1991, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 195,718 AIDS patients in the country and that 126,159 people had died from the syndrome.

The nation had an increased awareness of AIDS at the time because pro basketball star Magic Johnson had recently disclosed he carried the virus responsible for it. Johnson retired but returned to the NBA briefly during the 1994-95 season…

Also in the wide-ranging AP questionnaire in 1992, Huckabee said, “I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

As I said in the post previous to this, the biggest favor the Republicans could do the Democrats would be to put Mike Huckabee on their 2008 ticket. A Guiliani/Huckabee ticket would be the ideal.

In a way you really have to kind of feel sorry for the Republicans. They don’t have a lot to choose from this time around. Lots of quantity but very little quality. It’s Dubya’s fault, you know. What Republican in his right mind (pun intended) would want to follow him?

Can you imagine a kid standing up in school in the United States and singing about having two fathers? It happened recently in the Netherlands…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qf0puHJ-KM[/youtube]

Sometimes it really sucks being reminded what a backward nation we here in the United States live in.

(h/t AmericaBlog)

The evangelical right wing of the Republican party never cared much for the Harry Potter books. I could never quite fathom why, though. It seems to me that if you are able to believe that a man who lived in Jerusalem over 2,000 years ago could walk on water, turn water into wine and bring the dead back to life, you should have no problem believing in modern day wizards.

At any rate, they gained another reason to dislike the books today. It turns out that Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, was gay…

Dumbledore is gay, ‘Harry Potter’ author reveals

NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” she took questions from audience members.

She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds “true love.”

“Dumbledore is gay,” the author responded to gasps and applause.

She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards.

The article uses the present tense, as in “is gay.” If you’ve read the books, though, you know that the proper tense to use would have been the past… as in “was gay.”

Remember the Republican mayor who changed his mind about gay marriage about a week ago? Yesterday, Mark Morford devoted his entirely column to the event…

The Republican who likes gays

It was one of those surreal, suspended moments, an unexpected little hiccup in the otherwise bleak sociopolitical continuum where you couldn’t help but pause and gasp and sit back and let your bitter cynicism and your hard-won ennui fall away and actually allow yourself, for now, just this once, to really and truly believe what you were seeing.

Could it really be happening? Was there really any way in hell a straight white male BushCo-era Republican would dare step up to a live microphone in front of a TV camera in a major American city and honestly admit that, well, he was wrong, and he is very sorry, and he has now officially reversed his position and now fully supports gay marriage and will actually sign a city council resolution acknowledging and advocating same?

And furthermore could this politician, during said cynicism-defying announcement, actually choke back tears — real, human tears, not the fake, creepy kind you see from, say, Ted Haggard or Larry Craig or Lynne Cheney after four martinis and an hour staring at her husband — such a genuine display of emotion that you can’t help but think it might actually be coupled to a living, breathing human soul?

Yes, it happened. Just recently, down in San Diego. Jerry Sanders is the politico, and he’s apparently very much a (moderate) Republican mayor and a former police chief, and he apparently has a gay daughter no one really knew was gay and members of his mayoral staff are also gay and somehow, some way, both these facts played into his decision to reverse his position on gay marriage and go public in what has to be one of the most honest, humble and heartfelt public displays of ideological evolution by a Republican since … well, I can’t even think of any. Can you?

But truly, it’s one thing to read of Sanders’ announcement. It’s quite another to see and hear it for yourself. Do it. Go to YouTube. See for yourself.

Here’s why you must: The speech contains that rarest of displays for an American politician, the thing we’ve all been convinced through years and decades simply no longer exists anywhere in the political biosphere, but especially among the famously heartless members of the famously homophobic GOP — that is, astonishing honesty, humility, openness, heartfelt emotion in matters of love and human connection, sans rhetoric or spin or typical political bulls–t. The speech is, simply put, a deeply touching thing to watch.

Click on the headline to read the entire column. It is well worth your time.