American schools are ground-zero for the so-called “culture war,” and that’s a good thing.

In the middle of the last century, “multiculturalism” was all but banned from public schools, especially in the South. Segregation meant that people who were visibly diverse were out of view — let alone free to express themselves — in public school settings.

Black Americans went to underfunded black schools and Native American children were often shipped off to special government-run schools that attempted to purge them of their native culture and languages. The fact that schools are now dealing with less dire issues, like a female student’s right to attend prom in a tuxedo — is a sign of incredible progress.

In that cultural battle, young people are once again on the front lines. (read the full article)

Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal discusses the Republican closet and the sado-authoritarian culture that produces right-wing evangelicals in his new book Republican Gomorrah.

Full talk here.

Next time anti-gay groups launch a public referendum to strip same-sex couples of their civil rights, I’d like to see a television ad like this as a response:

Two married women and their young children are happily raking leaves in front of a cozy, suburban-style home, laughing as one of the kids leaps into the pile.

Suddenly (cue ominous music), a 40-something man in a business suit, revving up a chainsaw labeled “National Organization for Marriage” steps in front of the house.

He raises his chainsaw, and with a mad leap and a dash he barrels toward the terrified family, then past them toward the home, breaking through the front door with a powerful kick.

The family helplessly pursues, and the camera follows the attacker in to document his rampage: “Say goodbye to your partner’s health benefits!” he shouts as he obliterates the sofa.

(read the full article)

Two days ago Congressman Barney Frank told queers across America not to bother with tomorrow’s National Equality March in D.C.. He declared the protest “a waste of time at best.” Gee, thanks Barney, I guess it’s easier to tell people to drop you an email than drag your ass out to the lawn and show your fellow gay and lesbian constituents and citizens some support.

Well, never mind. Boring! Someone brighter and with a larger audience, comedian and political commentator, Bill Mayer just took a righteous stand for homos across America, and just in time.

Yep, Obama’s prepping a speech for the queer-fest crowd. And you know what that means. Lots of references to hoping beyond hope — and dreams within reach, dreams about a near-future when homos are no longer second-class citizens; eloquently spoken of course, with maybe an Etta James Beyonce song playing in the background.

But enough of my bitching. Here’s the best parts of Bill’s rant. You can read the entire spiel at Huff Post.

New Rule: Everyone deserves equal rights.

That’s why they’re called “equal” and “rights.” Tomorrow night President Obama will speak before a gay rights group, and on Sunday there will be a massive gay rally in Washington, or as I call it, the Million Mo March. Which makes this weekend the perfect time for Obama to announce he’s repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and committing to a full-throated endorsement of gay marriage. One, because it’s the right thing to do and two, because it will throw the conservative base into such a frenzied, pants-shitting panic that they’ll drop all that BS about death panels and socialism and let us all get some actual work done.

(read the full article)

It is hard to discuss Bayard Rustin without noting our current moment in history, when race and sexual orientation intersect in unprecedented, tumultuous ways.

The first black American president claims positions that would make him the greatest advocate for LGBT rights ever to grace the Oval Office, more gay-friendly than any of his white predecessors. Yet President Obama is paradoxically under closer scrutiny from LGBT groups than any former president was — both because the moment is so ripe for change and because he has yet done little to fulfill his promises.

Similarly, the aftermath of Proposition 8 in California last November brought group tensions to a head, when some pro-gay commentators placed the blame for the insidious law’s passage on the votes of black Californians. Same-sex marriage advocates lamented the lack of understanding from a group that has faced similar discrimination, and LGBT people of color (who obviously did not vote for Proposition 8 ) faced a cruel backlash from their white peers at a time when they, too, were reeling from the shock that their right to marry was revoked.

Progress happens when we put aside defensiveness and focus on the truth: that all people deserve to be treated with dignity, fair judgment, and respect. The life of Bayard Rustin (pictured above with Martin Luther King Jr.) proves that LGBT Americans and black Americans are indebted to each other, and are more alike than different, having been intertwined for generations. (read the full article)

Unfuckingbelievable.

Obama upholds DOMA, does nothing about DADT.
Gay groups are going crazy. Aren’t you?

Twelve years before the Stonewall riots blew the gay rights movement open, an unsung hero led the charge.

Franklin Kameny (left), a World War II veteran, was fired from a U.S. Civil Service job in 1957 on suspicion that he was a homosexual. He refused to capitulate and refused to be ashamed of his sexual orientation, taking the case to the courts, suffering loss after loss. He branched out to take on the American Psychiatric Association to have homosexuality removed from its list of disorders, working with the Mattachine Society, the leading gay rights group of the time. He fought for nearly a decade before the APA reversed its position. In 1971 he ran for Washington D.C.’s nonvoting congressional delegate, hoping to be the first openly gay candidate to win public office, and lost, two years before Harvey Milk’s first defeat as a candidate for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, a position Milk finally won in 1977.

How times have changed since then. Kameny has gone from a peculiar dissident to a celebrated hero of the LGBT rights movement, and his home in Washington has been declared a D.C. historic landmark. He’s being honored this year at the Pride celebration in Washington D.C., at the age of 84, for his work. Most of the institutions Kameny took on have now been reformed in favor of LGBT rights, and the terms and arguments fought during that first push have been enriched with layers upon layers of queer liberation thought.

But it was the first leaders and activists who had to push the hardest, who struggled to maintain dignity against seemingly insurmountable odds. They fought battles they knew they were going to lose, on issues yet unclear if there could ever be a victory.

Fifty years ago, had the Internet existed, websites like this one would have been promptly shut down as obscenity. So it seems fitting to take a moment now to honor Kameny, who took one of our community’s first steps toward freedom.

The Daily Show’s John Stewart puts it best: “We’ve pushed the limits of our own
principles — from warrantless wiretapping, to building a prison out our own legal jurisdiction, to not releasing photos depicting our treatment of detainees, to the treatment of detainees itself — every asset we have must be used all in the service of keeping America safe. Is there any line we still will not cross?”

“Oh yeah, the gay line.”

After Lieutenant Dan Choi, an Arabic translator for the National Guard, publicly admitted he was gay on the Rachael Maddow show on March 19 this year, he received a letter informing him he was being discharged from his job in consistency with the military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy.

The letter stated, “you admitted publicly that you are a homosexual which constitutes homosexual conduct.” Arabic translators are reportedly in high demand in the U.S. armed forces, but that need is not compelling enough to allow an openly gay man to serve. (read the full article)