Does Obama have close gay friends or family members?

[ruggerson]

I know that when asked that question in interviews he references a professor at Occidental he studied under, and disclaims that he wasn't really a "friend," but talks about how it influenced his views on gay folks.

Anyone know if he has close gay friends? Do he and Michelle socialize with any gay couples?

I ask because, as we all know, when people deal with a reality in their day to day lives, their perceptions change dramatically.

[Occam Bandage]

1. I don't know how we'd know. nt

[ruggerson]

4. the media reports

on whom they socialize with in Chicago and who are members of their social network. I am curious as to whether anyone has read if any of them are gay.

[Occam Bandage]

10. I don't think we've yet properly vetted everyone they talk with. nt

[ruggerson]

14. I realize

you get your kicks out of sarcastically making light of this, but it's a relevant question. And "close friends" does not translate into "everyone they talk with."

[Danger Mouse]

2. Good question. I'd be interested to hear the answer.

[Skittles]

3. I highly doubt it

[treestar]

5. Maybe, but when you say you have a (insert group here) you are

instantly flamed on DU - someonw that is evidence of your (groupism/groupophobia).

I never understand this, as, like you say, it does lead to milder opinions and greater understanding. I have one right wing nut relative who is batshit crazy right wing and still is, except for the gay issue, since having a gay stepson reformed him.

Another thing, if they don't socialize with gay couples, is it possible they just don't know any? There are only so many gay people to go around. That's why it is important to get straights to understand rather than having an extrememly low threshold for condemning them as homophobic.

[ruggerson]

9. agreed - look at Cheney

a horrible man with complete disregard for the constitution, yet he's personally quite in tune with what gay families deal with.

[Sebastian Doyle]

95. Well, yes and no.....

Cheney's made a few statements supportive of his own daughter, but there's no indication that he's done anything to change the ridiculous (and occasionally wide) stance of his own party regarding LGBT issues.

If somebody messed with Mary's family, they would probably get a face full of lead just like his lawyer buddy in Texas did. But he didn't stop the RNC from exploiting fear of "queers gettin' married" in 11 states in the 2004 election.

[closeupready]

11. Agree. Or if you say you like, for example, Latinos, that is racist/colonialist, because

as a white person, this means that what you are really saying is that you like having a houseboy run around, obeying orders. :eyes:

So I just censor what I post here because too many people here are prepared to find prejudice where none exists.

[Deja Q]

18. "So I just censor what I post here because too many people here are prepared to find prejudice--"

"--where none exists."


Same here. Like I said in my other response in this thread, PC gets blown out of rational proportion and all standards of reality and normalcy. Knee-jerk poppycock.

I've read a lot of threads recently where people put up posts, whose subject lines read "**** DU". And for all their knee jerk reaction, they have a very valid point.

In the past, before I started self-censoring, and on a controversial issue, I was told some people agreed with me (I think I still have the PMs) but were too afraid to respond because of the mob mentality taking precedence. And that was in 2005.

There are two types of self-censorship:

The first pertains to common civility.

The second is out of blind fear from mob mentality repercussions.

Whatever happened to the person who made the bumper sticker "Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes"? Probably stoned to death by a mob who didn't like her cadence and inflection.

[Chovexani]

50. You're confusing prejudice with privilege.

They are not the same thing.

[Deja Q]

12. I am friends with gays, blacks, women, Asians... Indeed, some of my best friends are French.

I therefore must be homophobic, racist, misogynistic, racist again, and anti-French to boot! :eyes:

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

Political correctness has a place, but so many people go so... bloody overboard with the ____isms and ____phobias.

[Creideiki]

58. I find that hard to believe

There's a difference between friends and acquaintances. Friends work together to help each other get through the world. Acquaintances just hang out together. Friends do not advocate for harming their friends. Friends do not think that they are superior to their friends because of either inherent or mutable characteristics.

To the extent that anyone thinks that they are inherently better than their friends or that their friends are flawed, then one is not a "friend".

But, hey, if you're willing to admit that you're homophobic, racist, misogynistic, racist again, and anti-French, then that just MIGHT be the first step to recovery.

[Chovexani]

47. The reason why people get flamed for that

Is because too often people with privilege use their minority friends (whether real or imagined) as a shield against having their privilege questioned or their bigoted statements or ideas challenged. "I can't possibly be racist/homophobic/etc, I have a black/gay/etc friend!" To that, I will just point out that the white cop who sodomized Abner Louima was dating a black woman at the time, and that just about every major anti-gay figure on the right has a gay child, sibling, or some other person in their immediate family.

Also, as someone who has been that Token Minority friend to various white heterosexuals, I don't really appreciate being used as a trump card in internet arguments when my friends say stupid shit. I'm sure your friends don't either.

[Deja Q]

6. Ann Coulter must do. (Devil's advocate, with link and photographic proof)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-jacobs/ann-coulter-on-the-gay-_b_70156.html?page=10&show_comment_id=10266617#comment_10266617


In short, what right is it - for either of us - to go around and pry into the personal lives of others and their friends? As means of idle gossip? We're not the FBI or CIA...

Yes, I am aware of the irony of my response. An unfortunate necessity.

[closeupready]

7. No, he shunned them when they came out to him.

like a good Christian. :sarcasm:

[Occam Bandage]

8. Do you have any evidence of that whatsoever?

Or is the Sarcasm tag applicable to the whole post as well as your "good Christian" comment?

[closeupready]

13. The sarcasm tag is applicable to the entire post.

That is, it was a sarcastic reply.

[ruggerson]

15. and helpful too

this was sarcastic also.

[closeupready]

19. No, it wasn't.

If there is no sarcasm tag, a post can not be sarcastic. :sarcasm:

[Occam Bandage]

16. Gotcha.

[merh]

17. Why does it matter?

Folks would still mock him and think he was just pandering if he spoke of them.

Warren has gay friends and that makes no difference to his views or how he is viewed.

What's the diff?

BTW - would you be so kind as to read my thread and respond to it? Do you think I should I post a link to it in the GLBT forum?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8076587

I'm not trying to be smart, I'm trying to find a way that the GLBT community here can feel like others do care and I am trying to find a way for others to show that they care by getting involved in something more than just bitching matches.

[Zuiderelle]

69. Folks would still mock him? Mock him? Who mocks him?

I've seen valid criticism and complaints and anger and outright worship, but I have not seen a single post "mocking" Obama here.

In answer to your question, it makes a great deal of difference when people have close friends who are gay related to how they perceive issues of civil equality for gays. I've personally seen this effect in friends of mine who've not had gay friends before me, who now understand and unequivocally support civil rights for gays because they now understand our issues personally.

Given Obama's choice of Warren, and his reaction to our reaction, it would appear that he does not really understand it on a personal level, ergo, he does not have a close personal relationship with anyone gay.

[merh]

70. There has been mocking and you know it.

You know, statements like "So, now Obama has invited some "real live gays" . . . I guess we have to say everything's hunky-dory, right?"

Or the statements that downplay the appointment of openly gay persons to his admin or a hire on staff, you know, like "big deal, they don't set policy".

[Zuiderelle]

71. That's not mocking. That's called sarcasm. And justified sarcasm.

[merh]

74. How lame.

Thesaurus: mocking
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Thesaurus

adjective

Contemptuous or ironic in manner or wit: derisive, jeering, sarcastic, satiric, satirical, scoffing, sneering. See laughter, respect/contempt/standing.

http://www.answers.com/topic/mocking

But of course you know it is mocking, it is a mocking of the appointments and hires he has made and the efforts he is making.

[Zuiderelle]

75. Lame? Lame is telling GLBT DUers that they need to stop making valid complaints

against our soon-to-be president.

[merh]

77. Again, how lame of you. I've never told folks to stop complaining.

In this thread I've asked what difference would it make if you knew Obama had gay friends.

I've never said to stop complaining I have encouraged the GLBT community here to actually DO SOMETHING.

Organize, put your words into action - make yourselves heard beyond DU.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8076587

What have you done, I'd hate to miss something or underestimate your efforts but I've not seen you try to organize squat. Do you think the issues are important enough to warrant organized efforts?

Have you written letters to the transition team to let them know how strongly you feel? Have you written to Obama, either at the transition team office or at the hotel?

I encourage you to speak out, make yourself heard beyond DU.

[Zuiderelle]

78. It's your condescending "organize" thread that I'm referring to.

I do things every day, in ways that I don't need to defend to you, to fight for my own rights. You telling us to do things other than complain on DU, as if that's all we do, is patronizing and insulting.

[merh]

85. So now you decide that attacking me is justified. How not surprising.

You want DUers to support your efforts but you won't give them a clue how to help.

What do you want from DUers? They aren't going to hate Obama because you want them to. The majority agree that the Warren involvement is disgusting.

Polls have been taken on DU and the majority of the posters do support same sex marriage and equal rights for all. Many would donate if you gave them a link to sites that need donations to help in the efforts. Many have written letters and emails and would write more if you tell them where to send them. The would participate in protests if you tell them where they will be.

And I am not asking you to tell me what you do in your day to day life regarding the struggles for equality. I realize that many on DU do so much more than just post here. I wish you would realize the same thing. All you know are pixels on a screen, you have no idea what people do in the real world and how they make a difference, yet you have no qualms condemning them because they don't respond as you would like them to respond.

[ruggerson]

86. uh

how do you know what any of us do beyond DU? Most people can multi-task.

[merh]

87. I don't know what is being done beyond DU (other than the sites I provided)

That is why I asked if there is something DUers can do to assist or is there some place they can send a donation. That is why the thread is titled "How do we join, what do we do?" - I only ask questions.

[ruggerson]

89. well, you could start

here: http://www.lambdalegal.org/

here: http://www.marriageequality.org/

and here: http://community.pflag.org/Page.aspx?pid=194&srcid=-2

[merh]

93. thank you so much

I do appreciate the links and will read the sites and donate as I can.

[Creideiki]

88. There's a problem with your post

Warren does not have gay friends. One does not strive to strip rights away from friends. One protects friends.

Warren moves to strip rights from gay people and opposes attempts to protect them. Warren has no gay friends. He may be willing to talk to them, but I talk to anti-progressive forces. I just don't make the mistake of thinking they're my friends.

[sandnsea]

20. Who doesn't? n/t

[BklynChick]

21. I can't imagine he doesn't... everyone does.

[ruggerson]

22. that's why I asked

if he does, you'd think it would have been written about somewhere. I've read extensive media pieces about the Obama's close friends in Chicago, but this has not surfaced yet.

[BklynChick]

23. I don't think this is something that would be written about. I can't imagine the Obamas, in the

company they keep and circles that they move in, that they wouldn't have some gay friends. And everyone has some gay family members.

[Smarmie Doofus]

26. We knew that B. Clinton had gay friends.

Why wouldn't it be written about?

[JohnnieGordon]

36. It's the friendship that dare not speak it's name! ..nt

[Kahuna]

29. duh. There are three gays in my family.....that I KNOW of. nt

[Vanje]

79. In my family , I have quite a few 'out'....

heterosexuals .
Both my Mom AND my Dad were 'Out' straights.
My Brother is hetero also.
My sister......? Anyone's guess.

[Christian30]

24. Steve Hildebrand

was Barack's deputy campaign manager and worked closely with him for more than 2 years. Hildebrand is gay.

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. That would be Number 1 ... after 28 posts.

Apparently they're not exactly crawling out of the woodwork.

And... really, not sure that "working closely together for two years" qualifies as a
"friend".

I think the OP means "socially"; though I'll let him speak for himself.

[ruggerson]

37. Yes, I meant socially

as in goes to their house for a dinner party and his kids are friends with their kids, etc.

[AndyTiedye]

25. Almost Certainly Not

If he did, he would not have invited Rick Warren to speak at his inauguration.
He would not have invited Donnie McLurkin to do a fundraiser for him during the primaries either.

[firedupdem]

27. I would doubt it. He's spent his entire career trying to trample on

the rights of gay people. :crazy:

[closeupready]

30. no, but he IS pandering to those who support homophobia.

That's what Rick Warren and Donnie McClurkin were all about.

[firedupdem]

35. I'm more concerned with his voting record and the fact that he

understands the law and will uphold the constitution. Maybe the same amendments that gave blacks equal rights will be changed to include same sex couples. Instead of making him the enemy why not work on the legal side of the issue? Seems like a more productive avenue to take in my opinion.

[EraOfResponsibility]

61. Exactly. Obama refuses to get caught up in the culture war bullshit

and symbolism. He's going to make sure changes, REAL changes are made where it counts, in the laws.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

31. I'm not sure.

But you are certainly right about it changing perceptions and biases.

I was relatively homophobic in high school and made friends with a boy I later found out was gay. When I found out, I realized how ridiculous my prejudices had been.

[rug]

32. Donnie McClurkin used to be gay.

[racaulk]

42. I'm not totally convinced that he's not now.

[Yes We Did]

76. Sure he's straight...

He prayed and prayed and prayed... and POOF!

It didn't work.

:hide:

[Jamastiene]

81. HEEEE-ALED!

I wish my prayers of being surrounded by a half dozen or so beautiful women on the beach would come true. :P

[Jennicut]

33. One does not need a friend that is gay to understand how they feel

Or one who is a different race, etc. I think it does help but empathy for others is taught an early age and has the most influence.

[Uzybone]

34. What percentage of Americans have close gay freinds?

I am 32 years old born and raised in major US cities and I only know 1 person who has a close gay friend. Then again most people I know don't identify themselves or their friends by their sexual preference and I don't ask either. I really wonder why this question relevant.

Cheney has a gay daughter but he still pals around with homophones.

If the number of gay Americans is around 5-10%. Then the chances that the Obamas have "close" gay friends is very small.

[JohnnieGordon]

40. Oh sexual "preference" how progressive..

I'm really sure you've never heard that's considered an offensive term. And you can not talk about sexual "preferences" with your friends all you want, people do date and don't hide who they're dating from their friends. And they're also not going to hide it if they're in a committed relationship, and they're not going to hide which people/celebs they're attracted to, from their friends, either. Certainly not if they're true friends.

[Uzybone]

43. Sorry, didnt mean to use preference in an offensive way

I really didn't know some people considered "sexual preference" offensive. I will use "sexual orientation" instead.

[JohnnieGordon]

48. It implies homosexuality is a choice

And numerous studies refute that. The reason why it's offensive to say it's a choice, is because the enemies of gay rights like to claim it is, to say people can choose not to be gay if they don't want to be discriminated against. It makes it sound like a lifestyle choice, instead of an immutable characteristic.

[Fearless]

90. Oh get OFF your high horse.

Using your logic "orientation" is also implying a lifestyle choice as it means to which gender one "orients" themselves. Clearly that is a swipe at our transgender and transsexual population. Clearly we should avoid the topic entirely. I refer you thusly... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAGc521SAo

:eyes:

[Jamastiene]

80. The reason for that is because

using the word, "preference" implies that it is a choice. That myth of choice gives the Ex-Gay movement too much power to do a lot of psychological damage to GLBT people using outdated, disproved "reparative therapy." Reparative therapy has been used against a LOT of gay people and has done a lot of damage to us psychologically. That is why the word, "preference" gives us such a sick to our stomachs/remembering a very bad part of life type of feeling. At least, for me personally, I can say that is my reason.

[ruggerson]

41. In the world that most people live in

they know if their close friends are single or partnered with members of the same or opposite sex.

[Uzybone]

44. Thats my point though

How many close friends does the average person have? Whats the chances that they will have close gay friends? I think they are very slim.

[JohnnieGordon]

51. Even a person's casual friends should feel comfortable being out to them

I'd say a person isn't a friend at all, if you felt you had to hide being gay from them.

[Bluebear]

63. .

[LaydeeBug]

38. There was a terrible, sordid, completely unfounded and untrue rumor that HE was gay and it makes me

wonder if that is not why he is sort of distancing himself from the gay community a little bit. Now in all the detraction I feel he is DUE for keeping that dominionist bigot for the invocation, I never believed those rumors, but I can understand the distance that way. (It doesn't mean I excuse it, and it doesn't give him a pass for doing it either. I'm just saying).

[Smarmie Doofus]

67. "Terrible"? "Sordid"? Sounds like a 50's horror movie.

If the rumor had not been "unfounded"... would you have voted for him?

[Jamastiene]

83. "terrible" "sordid"

Damn, you make me want to read a book about the rumor, whether it is true or not. Harlequin writers, move over!

[Peacetrain]

39. And this is important how?

Lots of people claim "close" friends with this group and that, while being some of the biggest bigots around.

"some of my closest friends are" syndrome.

[polichick]

45. Sure made a difference for Anita Bryant - she stopped her nasty campaign...

...against gays in Florida after she knew she had a gay son of her own.

[NYCGirl]

57. It had a LOT more to do with her loss of income, and she's back to her old tricks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Bryant#cite_note-6

Career decline and bankruptcy

The fallout from her political activism had a negative effect on her business and entertainment career. Her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was allowed to lapse in 1979 because of the controversy and the negative publicity generated by her political campaigns and the resulting boycott of Florida orange juice.<6>

Her marriage to Bob Green failed at that time, and in 1980 she divorced him, although he reportedly has said that his fundamentalist religious beliefs do not recognize civil divorce and that she is still his wife in God's eyes. Kathie Lee Gifford, who worked as a live-in secretary/babysitter for the Greens in the early 1970s, said in her autobiography that Green had a ferocious temper and could be very possessive and emotionally abusive, and that Anita was not very happy.

Some Christian audiences and venues shunned her after her divorce. No longer invited to appear at their events, she lost another major source of income. With her four children, she moved from Miami to Selma, Alabama, and later to Atlanta, Georgia. In a 1980 Ladies Home Journal article she said, "The church needs to wake up and find some way to cope with divorce and women's problems."

In the same article, she said that she felt sorry for all of the anti-gay things she had said and done during her campaigns.<7> She said that she had adopted a more "live and let live" attitude.

She married her second husband, Charlie Hobson Dry, in 1990, and they tried to reestablish her music career in a series of small venues, including Branson, Missouri, and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Their plans failed, however, and Bryant and Dry left behind them a series of unpaid employees and creditors. Her career decline is detailed in her book, A New Day (1992). They filed for bankruptcy in Arkansas (1997) and in Tennessee (2001).

Bryant returned to Barnsdall, Oklahoma, in 2005 for the town's 100th anniversary celebration and to have a street renamed in her honor. She returned to her high school in Tulsa on April 21, 2007, to perform in the school's annual musical revue. She now lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and says she does charity work for various youth organizations while heading Anita Bryant Ministries International. The ministry's web site features two articles championing her long-standing opposition to the "homosexual agenda".<8>

[polichick]

59. OMG - what in the world will it take for her to get it?! Thanks for the post.

[QC]

46. Unfortunately, every time he starts to become friends with any gay folks,

Donnie McClurkin shows up and prays the gay right out of them!

[polichick]

49. LOL

[Vanje]

82. Ha!

:rofl: :spray:

[Jamastiene]

84. I can just see him descending from the sky in a cloud

of soft mist, cartoon style, praying teh gay away. :rofl:

[QC]

91. Like the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but with Donnie in a flowing caftan

and gold lamé slippers.

[BlooInBloo]

52. Holy Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't, Batman!

:rofl:

[Bluenorthwest]

53. I'd say no

In the interview you reference in the OP, he was unable to remember the Prof's name, and also said he liked the guy because he 'wasn't always proselytizing', a term that gave me the creeps.
I was very suprised, because he always said he went to Trinty UCC, and there are gay people there. Worshiping and working and all. So he could have named someone from his church. Maybe he never went there much really.
But I'd say no, I doubt he has any friends who he knows to be gay. But I'd bet money he has friends he does not know are gay, any money, any day of the week.

[JohnnieGordon]

54. Yep, that "proselytizing" remark pissed me off too

Anyone who's every come out of the closet knows you're always accused of "shoving it in people's faces." That may be how a lot of straights perceive it, but that's only because they're accustomed to homosexuality being treated as a dirty secret. They're so conditioned to have a negative reaction to it, any mention of the subject at all is overwhelming to them. Like how they claim "gays are all over TV" just because there's a few hit gay-themed shows. They're overly sensitized to it, and then claim we're "proselytizing" by bringing it up at all.

[merh]

55. Was he unable to remember the prof's name or was he uncertain

if the prof had come out and was respecting his privacy? Do you know or are you just basing your statement of certainty *cough* opinion *cough* on a gut feeling?

The assumptions made by the multitudes here are amazing, statements of certainty based on guesses and supposition, judgments based on the unknown and a feeling. I'm going after lotto tickets, would you be willing to give me the winning numbers while you are at your reading the heart of another.

BTW, go read the posts mocking the symbolism of his invitation of the lesbians on the train to the inauguration. Then go write some emails to the open members of the GLBT on his transition team telling them you know what is in his heart, go insult them for their stupidity for working for the evil one.

Oh, by the way, his official stance on Prop 8 and gay rights:

"As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law...And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states. For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans."

http://www.noonprop8.com/articles/2008/10/31/no-on-prop-8-campaign-slams-dishonest-mailer-targeting-african-american-voters/

http://beyondstraightandgaymarriage.blogspot.com/2008/10/obama-takes-gay-rights-stand-four-days.html

[EraOfResponsibility]

64. *standing ovation* Thank you, Merh n/t

[sundog]

56. i'm sure he does

and i'm not ready to label him as a homophobe, despite his asswipe decision to give warren a platform

he appears to be caving on gay issues just as every other high profile politician has throughout the years

gay folks are the most agreeably disposable group across the board - i have no illusions about that

the selection of warren simply piled insult upon injury (prop 8)


at the same time, i'm not feeling any sort of obama "betrayal"

i completely expected him to shy away from gay issues

BUT i'm really happy that the gay community is collectively organizing & raising its voice at this moment in history - no one is letting him off the hook after he outlined key goals for glbt progress in his platform


another view worth considering: do you think some black folks in oakland would like obama to speak up about police shooting unarmed citizens on bart? does he have black friends or family members? does that change his perception on the matter? do you think he's gonna say anything?

[dsc]

60. I actually would love to know that answer as well

I think he really doesn't. The Advocate has covered him a few times and gay friends haven't ever come up.

[sniffa]

62. What's with the labels?

Does Obama have any close shoe-loving friends?

:eyes:

[foxfeet]

65. Jimmy Choo.

Carry on.

[ruggerson]

66. only because Manolo

is just too hard to pin down for dinner.

[Smarmie Doofus]

68. So, I guess the simple answer to your direct question is "no".

In 68 replies someone would have produced the name of *someone*.

[AZBlue]

72. Like we know all his friends? Is this a serious post?

I hope not.

[grantcart]

73. You are right about people changing when the have a chance to deal with a real person.

The more folks that can live out of the closet the more people will be effected.


Kudos to all of those in public positions that have taken a courageous step.

[Fearless]

92. Exactly.

It is terribly difficult for someone to discriminate against a group if they know a member of it.

[grantcart]

94. Ellen has done more to move middle America than anybody else

I don't know anyone that doesn't like her.



Personalize it to understand it.

[TexasObserver]

96. I suspect he does not. When one has longtime gay friends, one's actions and thoughts reflect it.

In our extended family, we have my gay sister and her partner, and we have a gay brother in law and his partner. Those of us who are 100% accepting are entirely different than those who are not. We think in terms of "acceptance." Others in the family think in terms of "tolerance," which is a bullshit concept. We either accept gays or we stigmatize them. The very word "tolerance" implies there is something to be tolerated, something annoying or offensive that one chooses not to openly revile. That is not acceptance.

Gay couples are just like straight couples (except for the abuse and discrimination they face), something everyone knows if they are accepting of gays.

I admire and respect Obama, but his choice of Rick Warren is offensive to gays. It demonstrates a lack of personal contact with openly gay people.

[racaulk]

98. Very well stated.

Thank you! :thumbsup:

[TexasObserver]

102. Thank you, too!

I believe that it is imperative that straights stand up for gays, and call the bigotry against gays by its name.

[ruggerson]

99. Yours is perhaps the best response so far

and one that everyone should read.

[TexasObserver]

101. Thanks. I try to be supportive, and that means speaking out.

[Neshanic]

97. I think it would be safe to say so far that he may be a bit tone deaf gay wise.

[kwenu]

100. Really? How do you explain Dick Cheney then?