Outed! – Mike Rogers of BlogActive.com and “Outrage” fame outed South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer last week. Rogers can’t take credit for being first, though: DailyPaul.com reported in July that lesbian politician Linda Ketner had fingered him in an interview with FireDogLake.com in June. A number of people have shrugged off the outing (think, “DUH!), but others are taking it more seriously. By that I mean pointing fingers. Within days PalmettoScoop.com reported that a prominent state senator blamed Governor Mark Sanford (of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” fame) for the defamatory and false statements and “encouraged the General Assembly to remove the disgraced governor immediately.” It just goes to show you that they will eat their own to survive. Seriously.
Outed!
Mike Rogers of BlogActive.com and “Outrage” fame outed South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer last week. Rogers can’t take credit for being first, though: DailyPaul.com reported in July that lesbian politician Linda Ketner had fingered him in an interview with FireDogLake.com in June. A number of people have shrugged off the outing (think, “DUH!), but others are taking it more seriously. By that I mean pointing fingers. Within days PalmettoScoop.com reported that a prominent state senator blamed Governor Mark Sanford (of “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina” fame) for the defamatory and false statements and “encouraged the General Assembly to remove the disgraced governor immediately.” It just goes to show you that they will eat their own to survive. Seriously.
Regardless of what others may insinuate, Rogers has an impeccable track record for accuracy in his outings, though he used to reserve the tactic for those self-loathing closeted individuals that were also proven to anti-gay in their politics. Even if we give his sources, some of which claim to have had intimate encounters with Bauer, the benefit of the doubt, Rogers’ evidence of Bauer being anti-gay is weak. In summary, the rationale appears to be that because he is Christian, Republican and supported Mike Huckabee’s presidential bid then he is anti-gay. Some of us may think the Republican and Christian labels could be iffy and that the Huckabee reference clinches it, but we know there are gay Christians and gay Republicans (though I don’t think I ever met one that supported Huckabee) and that people don’t always vote in their own best interests (I refer you back to gay Republicans). The jury is still… out.
Whackin’ What?
By now you’ve heard about the frat party-like photos that have surfaced of U.S. contractors that are responsible for protecting the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. As a result of the photos, alcohol has been banned and security guards now have housemothers in the form of American personnel. If you’ve seen some of the photos you’ll know what I mean when I say I’ll take my beer bong the old-fashioned way, thank you.
MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show took a long look last week at the shenanigans of the Wackenhut Security contractors, which segued into a discussion on contractors fulfilling the duties that were once performed by members of our military. As Rachel and her guest bantered back and forth about the functions to be performed by troops in the area and whether or not their focus should be peacekeeping or nation building, the topic of reduced troop strength came up and the dirty “D” word (draft) was mentioned. The dirty “D” phrase, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” didn’t enter the conversation. Wouldn’t you think an out member of our community who can casually mention (on the air) that her girlfriend had swine flu before she did would have taken advantage of the opportunity to discuss improving troop strength by stopping the discharges of gay, lesbian and bisexual service members and allowing them to serve openly?
Biting the Hand that Heals You
The debate over healthcare reform has taken some ugly turns with talk of death panels, denial of coverage, coverage for abortion and, of course, the few really special people who thought it was appropriate to carry threatening signs and to take guns to town hall meetings presented by their elected officials. It was only a matter of time before someone got hurt. A report at Huffington Post discussed an altercation at a rally conducted by MoveOn.org in Thousand Oaks, California in support of healthcare reform. Allegedly one of the pro healthcare reform demonstrators was trying to get through counter demonstrators on the other side of the street and was accosted by one of them. A physical entanglement allegedly ensued and it’s fair to say it appears that the pro healthcare reform guy won. The anti-reform demonstrator allegedly had his finger bitten off by the man he allegedly accosted. The irony in the situation is not alleged. The 65-year-old anti-reform demonstrator whose finger was bitten off walked to a nearby hospital and had the finger reattached. He had Medicare.
On the Equality Front
Vermont, the first state to establish same-sex marriage by a legislative vote, has begun marrying same-sex couples. Congratulations to Bill Slimback and Bob Sullivan, the first couple to marry, and all other who have followed. The battle wages on in Maine, where a ballot measure to repeal same-sex marriage legislation that was signed into law faces possible repeal due to a proposed ballot measure that allows everyone in the state to decide the rights of others to marry the person they love; likewise in the state of Washington, where an “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law face a ballot challenge. California’s recognition of same-sex marriage and the challenge of Proposition 8 will be before a federal judge in January, 2010, in the capable stewardship of David Boies and Ted Olsen (opposing counsels in Bush v. Gore). We’ve come a long way, but we’re not there yet.
