Via AmericaBlog Gay: Obama slams GOP for booing gay soldier during debate

From yesterday's press pool report: 

At his first fundraiser in San Jose, President Obama took aim at Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, without naming the Texas governor by name, and was critical of the recent GOP debates. He said the 2012 election will be "a contest of values." 

"Some of you here may be folks who actually used to be Republicans but are puzzled by what's happened to that party, are puzzled by what's happening to that party. I mean, has anybody been watching the debates lately? You've got a governor whose state is on fire denying climate change," he said, to applause. "It's true. You've got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don't have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they're gay.

"That's not reflective of who we are," Mr. Obama said. "This is a choice about the fundamental direction of our country. 2008 was an important direction. 2012 is a more important election."

It's interesting that Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain all refused ABC News' request to comment on the incident, even though Santorum, Huntsman and Johnson have since condemned it. Why won't the other condemn the verbal abuse of a US service member serving in combat? Or do Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain only love some of the troops?

If you haven't already, please check out the video, read and then sign the open letter to the GOP presidential candidates from former members of the military who are demanding an apology.

And as I noted over at the main AMERICAblog site, this post has skyrocketed to first place on Reddit.  Liberals are craving leadership.  This should be a lesson to the President, and to the entire party.  Fighting back works.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: How one ticked off gay guy took on America’s top companies, and won

Neat story from the NYT: 

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. 

The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. It is a routine arrangement on hundreds of e-commerce sites, but with a twist here: a share of the commission that retailers pay is donated to a Christian charity of the buyer’s choice, from a list that includes prominent conservative evangelical groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family.

The national battle was ignited in July by Stuart Wilber, a 73-year-old gay man in Seattle. He was astonished, he said, when he learned that people who bought Microsoft products through a Christian-oriented Internet marketer known as Charity Giveback Group, or CGBG, could channel a donation to evangelical organizations that call homosexual behavior a threat to the moral and social fabric.

Close to 100 companies have left the charity arrangement, though most refuse to discuss the matter. These have become the objects, in turn, of a countercampaign from the Christian groups — “Please Don’t Discriminate Against My Faith” is the heading of a sample letter — and of high-level entreaties from Mr. Huckabee and other Christian leaders.

A few companies that briefly left the network have been persuaded to rejoin, including Delta, PetSmart, Sam’s Club, Target and Wal-Mart.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: White House implies "boo"-gate shows GOP don’t have what it takes to be commander-in-chief

Via Matt Negrin at Politico: 

“I think the president was particularly struck by a question asked by a U.S. soldier stationed in Iraq about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ when he was booed by audience members and not a single candidate for president, people who think they have what it takes to be commander-in-chief, said anything about that when he is there defending our country,” [White House spokesman Jay] Carney said.

The White House spokesman speaking out an issue like this is not insignificant, especially with such strong words. It comes on the heels of the President speaking out on it yesterday, and of ABC reporting that while Santorum, Hunstman and Johnson criticized the boos (after the fact), Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich and Cain are still refusing to denounce the audience members who booed a US soldier serving in combat.

And remember, as ABC reported earlier, several candidates on the stage heard the boos, and one of them is certain the other candidates heard them too.

But several other presidential candidates told ABC News that they did hear the boos ring through the Orange County Convention Center... [Former NM Governor Gary] Johnson added that he could hear the boos from the stage and believes that the other candidates – despite Santorum’s denial – could as well.

As White House spokesman Carney said above, some commander in chief any of these Republicans would be when they can't even defend their own troops.

Over 8700 people have signed our open letter to the GOP candidates demanding they apologize for this affront to our troops.  Please sign it and send it around.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: Southwest boots L-Word star off flight for kissing girlfriend after passengers complain

Buzzfeed:

This is unbelievable. Leisha Hailey, former star of The L-Word tweeted earlier today that she was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after kissing her girlfriend, claiming a flight attendant said Southwest was a “family airline.” Leisha is now calling for people to #boycottSouthwest.

More via Felix Salmon, who is absolutely correct:

Southwest’s official statement is that the crew had received several complaints from other passengers about the pair’s “excessive” behavior, and that “Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender.

This statement is damningly self-contradictory. The crew can approach the kissing passengers based on other passengers’ complaints, or they can approach the kissing passengers based solely on behavior. But not both. As I’m sure Southwest is fully aware, passengers are much more likely to find kissing “excessive” if it takes place between a same-sex couple than they are if it’s a straight couple. If Southwest wants to pretend otherwise, they’re covering up their passengers’ homophobic attitudes.

More from the LA Times.

Via AmericaBlog Gay: New DNC video about gay soldier being booed: Not one candidate

http://gay.americablog.com/2011/09/new-dnc-video-about-gay-soldier-being.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AMERICAblogGay+%28AMERICAblog+Gay%29

Via JMG: Gary Johnson Condemns Booing

Former New Mexico governor and 2012 presidential candidate Gary Johnson has joined former Sen. Rick Santorum in condemning the audience members who booed an openly gay soldier at this week's GOP debate.

"If I have one regret from last evening, it’s that I didn’t stand up and say, you know, you’re booing a U.S. serviceman who is denied being able to express his sexual preference," he said. "There’s something very, very wrong with that." Johnson said he was "chomping at the bit" to respond to the audience, but he was reticent to speak out due to his exclusion from the recent debates. "I’m feeling a little bit like I’m walking on egg shells," he said. He told Sharpton he believes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which went into effect on Sept. 20, should have been done "a long time ago."

Johnson is by far the most gay-friendly of the entire GOP presidential field. Therefore, of course, he is at the bottom of the pack.

Labels: 2012 elections, DADT, debate watch, GOP

reposted from Joe

JMG Quote Of The Day - John Shore

"If you’re a Christian who believes that being gay is a morally reprehensible offense against God, then you share a mindset, worldview, and moral structure with the kids who hounded Jamey Rodemeyer, literally, to death. It is your ethos, your convictions, and your theology that informed, supported, and encouraged their cruelty. We Christians who believe that God created gay people as much in His own image as he did straight people are begging you to reconsider your theology — to do nothing more than be open to an alternative, fully credible, scholastically sound interpretation of one or two lines from Paul. How can you be unwilling to do something so simple, when you see the horrible ultimate cost of that refusal?" - Christian author John Shore.

Labels: bullying, LGBT youth, suicide

reposted from Joe

Via JMG: NFL Protects Sexual Orientation

With little apparent fanfare, the National Football League has added sexual orientation to the list of protected classes in its collective bargaining agreement. Via the gay sports blog Wide Rights, here's the new language.

Section 1. No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA.

In the above-linked article, Wide Rights speculates as to the source of this change, which may have come from gay-friendly New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

Labels: football, LGBT rights, NFL, sports

reposted from Joe

'BULLYING IS VIOLENCE' Public Service Announcement Campaign

Lady Gaga - "Hair" [Jamey Rodemeyer Tribute] Live at iHeartRadio Music Festival 2011

Via JMG: Hate Groups: We're Being Oppressed!

Yesterday the New York Times took note of the months-old battle to get major companies to stop aligning themselves with hate groups.

A handful of advocates, armed with nothing more than their keyboards, have put many of the country’s largest retailers, including Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Wal-Mart, on the spot over their indirect and, until recently, unnoticed roles in funneling money to Christian groups that are vocal in opposing homosexuality. The advocates are demanding that the retailers end their association with an Internet marketer that gets a commission from the retailers for each online customer it gives them. [snip]

“This is economic terrorism,” said Mike Huckabee, the former pastor, governor and presidential contender, who is a paid CGBG consultant. “To try to destroy a business because you don’t like some of the customers is, to me, unbelievably un-American,” he said in an interview. CGBG, a for-profit company formerly called the Christian Values Network, resembles hundreds of so-called affiliate marketers, which retailers use to bring customers to their own Web sites. The affiliate receives a commission on any sales, and CGBG allows buyers to send half that commission to any of the Christian charities on its list.

When Christians pressure companies, that's righteous! When gays do the exact same thing? Economic terrorism!

RELATED: The Christian Values Network was launched by nutjob actor Stephen Baldwin and convicted drug felon Michael Lohan (father of Lindsay).

Labels: Christianists, Family Reseach Council, hate groups, hypocrisy, internet, Mike Huckabee

reposted from Joe