GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

From the comments: What we must acknowledge about the left

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In the comments for my last post on Obamacare commenter Ignatius began his discussion of the legislation’s undesirable albeit unstated aims with the observation: “I believe that political discussions would be much easier if those on the right jettisoned this quaint idea that leftists have good intentions.”  I highlighted that sentence in a subsequent comment, and other commenters took up the theme, as well.

Commenter Eddie Swaim observed:

While reading the comments about “the left,” it suddenly occurred to me that after listening to Rush Limbaugh for 25 years, he has always been careful to separate “the left” politicians in D.C. from “the left” common everyday folk. I always agreed with him but now I’m not so sure. Most of the gay male liberals that I know fall right in line with the D.C. politicians. Anything and everything is o.k. if it hurts [conservatism] or wins them a battle against the right, whether or not their action is legal or ethical. The ends always justify the means.

Likewise, commenter Steve linked to this video of Ann Coulter discussing the tendency of liberals and the lamestream media to fall back on “racial demagoguery” to advance their agenda in cases like the Zimmerman trial.

I thought of all three comments when I came across another link to an article by John Hawkins dated March 27, 2012.  Hawkins’ article is entitled “5 Uncomfortable Truths About Liberals,” and I encourage everyone to read the whole thing.  For the moment, though, I’ve summarized his five points below.  Hawkins writes that:

1) Most liberals are hateful people.

2) Liberals do more than any other group to encourage race-based hatred.

3) Most liberals are less moral than other people.

4) Most liberals don’t care if the policies they advocate work or not.

5) Most liberals are extremely intolerant.

Now while the language in those observations is strong enough that Hawkins could be accused of engaging in hyperbole, I think a certain amount of strong language is necessary for describing leftist rhetoric and means of argumentation.  There’s no need to take my word for it, though, read the whole thing and decide for yourself.

I would say, though, that in both the Zimmerman case and in the debates (and protests) over late-term abortion restrictions in Texas, we’ve seen many of the traits Hawkins describes displayed quite openly by many leftists.

Likewise, consider this article in The Advocate which a Facebook acquaintance brought to my attention.  The article focuses on the “mighty change of heart” which many Mormons have undergone on the issues of gay rights and gay marriage.  True to what both Hawkins and our commenters noted, most gay leftists will have none of it, as is very evident from their comments on the Advocate article.  Rather than welcome the changes underway in the LDS church, they are expressing their hatred and intolerance for the Mormons in very hostile language.  Read the comments there and see for yourself.

Now while I know a number of our readers might believe that the Mormons brought the hatred on themselves through the church’s advocacy against Proposition 8 in California in 2008, I’d point out a few things that the left never will, namely: 1). Despite what the HRC and its allies would have us believe, opposition to gay marriage isn’t necessarily motivated by hate, however easy or convenient it may be to believe that, and 2). Individuals are and should be defined by more than their affiliation with some group or collective.  The gay left is always up in arms about what this group or that group said or did about some gay issue, but they never have qualms about denouncing or smearing or insulting members of that group in a similar manner.

Richard Grenell slams Advocate for misconstruing John Bolton’s critique of Obama & ignoring Bolton’s pro-gay record

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in response to an Advocate piece contending that “Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton uses homophobic term to describe President Obama’s foreign policy“, Richard Grenell wrote a letter to the Advocate, taking issue with their assessment.  As the magazine has yet to publish his letter, we are posting it here:

The Advocate’s Michelle Garcia’s latest piece fails to mention that John Bolton has been a consistent defender of gay rights, gay marriage and a critic of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell before it was overturned, Garcia also fails to show how Bolton’s comment describing President Obama as a weak leader is in anyway homophobic.

I also find it ironic that while The Advocate has consistently refused to report on John Bolton’s early support for Log Cabin Republicans and gay rights, they jump to write a phony and purposefully deceptive piece about him – all because he is a Republican. Calling a conservative friend of our community homophobic is a self-inflicted wound. Are Advocate writers so in the tank for the Democrats that they attack a supporter of gay rights just because he’s not a Democrat? Garcia’s story is the perfect example of how the old gay guard and its magazine of choice is out of touch with gay Americans today. Yesterday’s warriors of acceptance have morphed into today’s liberal intolerants. This is the exact faux outrage that makes The Advocate the magazine of your old gay uncle. It isn’t a serious place for news or information.

Please note that I merely cut and pasted the letter without adding — or altering a word.

Dishonoring a man’s death to fit a narrative

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When it comes to gay people in the Mormon faith — or in evangelical denominations — you can count on our friends in the media to detail the oppression they suffer even if the only evidence of said oppression is the narrative the journalists provide.

Our friend Sonicfrog caught the Advocate peddling this very narrative in the story of the death of a Gay Mormon man.  The headline contends that his suicide “points up tensions“, but the tensions they write about come not from the details of the man’s life, but from the commentary of “some”:

As friends mourn the death of Chris Wayne Beers, a gay man and former Mormon missionary and church employee who took his own life Sunday, some are noting tensions between LGBT people and the church, which opposes gay relationships.

The only person quoted in the Advocate’s piece didn’t even know Beers: “While struggles with his faith may not have been the direct reason he took his own life,” this man said, “I’m hard pressed to imagine that there isn’t an indirect cause, at least. . . .” This leads Sonic to quip with a question, “Project much?”

There is no indication in the article that he was very devout, or that his family had dis-owned him. The main interview of the article didn’t even know the guy. Mitch Mayne does not give any indication of knowing any of the details of this mans life.

Read the whole thing.  My blogging pal notes further that on Beers’s “memorial page, there is a reference to the fact that his own brother Jeff had also passed away. That could be just as much or more of a weight on Mr Beers than the conflict between church and being gay.” [Read more…]

Creating a gay victim status to get out of jury duty

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It seems for some gay activists, everything is political.  Mark, one of our readers, alerted me to a story about which he, while regularly disagreeing with yours truly, offers commentary that I find spot-on:  “stunts like this make gay people look like idiots”.  Well, fortunately, most Americans (or so we hope) won’t judge all gay people by the juvenile antics of this one man who wallows in his (perceived) victimhood:

A gay man was excused from jury duty in New York last week because he said that discrimination against gays makes him a second-class citizen and therefore he couldn’t be impartial.

Jonathan D. Lovitz, an actor, model, and singer who will be on Logo’s upcoming show Setup Squad, wrote on his Facebook page, “I raised my hand and said, ‘Since I can’t get married or adopt a child in the state of New York, I can’t possibly be an impartial judge of a citizen when I am considered a second class citizen in the eyes of the justice system.’”

And instead of criticizing the man for this self-righteous stunt, the Advocate reports that some activists are encouraging “others to use the strategy”.   Such individuals have so internalized the victim mentality that they define themselves as second-class citizens.  Wonder why they need convince themselves of such status.

This is not to say that things are perfect for gay Americans, but the notion that we’re second-class citizens suggests we lack the fundamental rights and privileges associated with citizens, many denied African-Americans in certain states until federal legislation in the mid-1960s overturned discriminatory laws and practices. [Read more…]

Dear Elaine Donnelly…

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I had wanted to take some time off from commenting on The Campaign That Will Never End, but your latest screed criticizing retired General Colin Powell demands a response. While I share your disappointment in General Powell’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President, your remarks in expressing such are truly beyond the pale:

If General Powell is not concerned about the consequences of repealing the law, he cannot be described as a conservative or even the credible leader of the military that he used to be. If Powell does not favor all of these consequences, why has he announced his intent to vote for Senator Obama, who has promised to push for repeal of the 1993 law? Either way, General Powell is letting down the men and women of our military.

[Read more…]

New York Times “Poaches” Gay Mailing Lists

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Here’s something to chew on.

I try to use a different spelling of my name when I subscribe to certain periodicals so as to better determine who sells my name to what.  Well, while I sometimes forget which name I used where, I do know the abbreviation I used on my soon-to-lapse Advocate subscription.

That very abbreviation appears on fund-raising solicitations I have received from pro-abortion groups as well as Democratic candidates.  Yep, Ms. Hillary solicited me sometime in the past year.

Today, that abbreviation appeared on an invitation to subscribe to the New York Times.  Not sure what to make of this, but thought to put it out there to see if y’all had any thoughts.

Guess they think there’a market for their increasingly biased product in gay circles.

Elaine Donnelly A Poor Spokesman For DADT

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I haven’t really had the chance to follow the hearings conducted by the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel concerning the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military. From the video clips I’ve seen on You Tube and press reports (e.g. this National Review column), it appears that I’ve been missing some dramatic political theater. I guess part of the reason I haven’t been following this more closely is that the status of DADT will not change this election year and the same tired arguments from the pro-ban side can be overly tedious. I suppose hearings like this one though do help lay the groundwork for eventual repeal, which I hope happens soon. Yet I read today’s column by Dana Milbank and think he makes a good point: pro-ban advocates like Elaine Donnelly hurt their cause more and more each time they open their mouths. From what Milbank and others report, along with Donnelly’s own testimony, I’m somewhat encouraged that the policy’s days are numbered. While Donnelly’s performance yesterday enraged folks like disabled Marine veteran Eric Alva, who opposes the ban, it also helped in “torpedoing her own ship”. I do not know Alva personally but was privileged to meet him at a SLDN event last year. My impression of him is that he is a good man who has sacrificed a lot in service to our country. Donnelly’s inability to show discretion and tact in defending her position was unwise and insulting to veterans like Alva, which perhaps in the long-run will help in repealing this stupid ban.

Perhaps most interesting to me though from Milbank’s column is this exchange between Donnelly and a Republican Congressman, who was very unimpressed with her shoddy performance:

Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) pointed a finger at [retired Navy Capt. Joan] Darrah and glared at Donnelly. “Would you please tell me, Miss Donnelly, why I should give one twit about this woman’s sexual orientation, when it didn’t interfere one bit with her service?”

Donnelly said something about “forced intimacy.”

Shays cut her off. “You’re saying she has no right to serve her country because she happens to have a different sexual orientation than you.” […]

Shays, his voice rising with Yankee indignation, continued to lecture Donnelly: “I think the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy is unpatriotic. I think it’s counterproductive. In fact, I think it is absolutely cruel.”

Donnelly said something about her respect for the service of gay veterans. “How do you respect their service?” Shays demanded. “You want them out.”

Donnelly seemed to have unified the lawmakers — against her. The next questioner was Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a retired Navy vice admiral. “I couldn’t ask it better than you did,” he told Shays. (Washington Post)

Not bad Congressman, not bad at all.

UPDATE: Pepe Johnson from Integrity in Service has an interesting post composed of notes he took of the hearings.

— John (Average Gay Joe)

HIV Travel Ban & Bill Clinton’s Legacy

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In a bipartisan move yesterday, the U.S. Senate “approve[d] a global AIDS relief bill that includes language calling for the repeal of a law that bans foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV from entering the U.S.”, reports The Washington Blade. The House is expected to likewise pass this bill shortly, which President Bush has promised to sign into law. This in itself is newsworthy, but I was most intrigued by the closing paragraph of the Blade’s article:

Congress enacted the HIV visitor and immigrant ban into law in 1993 at a time when supporters of the ban argued that foreign visitors and immigrants with HIV would flock to the U.S. to seek treatment for AIDS, overloading U.S. health facilities. President Bill Clinton expressed opposition to the ban but chose to sign the bill enacting the ban, which was approved by the then Democratic-controlled Congress, drawing criticism from gay and AIDS activists.

A “Democratic-controlled Congress” passed this ban while a Democrat president signed it into law. For all the talk I hear from the Left about how gay-friendly Bill Clinton was as president, with George W. Bush being the epitome of all that is evil, we once again see that the rhetoric just doesn’t add up. This is not to say that Clinton wasn’t gay-friendly at times or that Bush hasn’t been anti-gay at times as well, and vice versa, but this does put things a bit more into perspective. Let’s see, Clinton signed into law DADT, DOMA, and this HIV travel ban that activists have decried. Given the complete lack of spine and principles the man demonstrated while in office, why exactly should gays consider the former president to be a hero? Seems to me that he was all talk and very little action, well, except for all the wrong actions I guess you could say.

— John (Average Gay Joe)

James Hansen: Mother Gaia’s Champion Or Deranged Asshat? You Be The Judge!

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James Hansen, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer…

Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading.

In an interview with the Guardian he said: “When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that’s a crime.” (The Guardian)

One wonders if this fellow went to Andover? On the one hand I would dearly love such a ‘trial’ to expose schmucks like Hansen and the drivel they peddle, but on the other I have to wonder just how much of a kangaroo court this whole process would really be. Eh, if dissension constitutes a ‘war crime’ then perhaps we’ll get to put these folks on trial one day. I’m thinking fraud for starters…

–John (Average Gay Joe)

To Advocate Editors, “Cool” Straight People Lean Left

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Last night, when attempting to tidy up my place and get rid of the clutter, I came across a number of magazines I had saved, either because I hadn’t yet gotten around to reading them or because they had something which might be blog-worthy. When I caught sight of the cover of the November 20, 2007 Advocate, featuring their list of the year’s “coolest straight people,” I realized why I saved the periodical.

While the cover featured the very cool and amazingly gifted Cate Blanchett, it listed three only three others, all with politics considerably left-of-center, Elizabeth Edwards, Frank Rich and Arianna Huffington. Interesting they would feature such political figures while neglecting (on the cover) some of the cultural “icons” they included inside.

Before even opening the magazine, I gathered that to be a “cool” straight person to the Advocate’s editors, you had to hold left-of-center political views. I was certain they would include no conservatives on that list.

So, I opened the magazine. The list wasn’t very long. Just Cate, Arianna, Frank, Elizabeth, the fetching Phillippe Cousteau, Aaron Toleos and a rapper called Common. Hmmm. . . .  Seven people on the list and three from the political left . . . . and two of those (Huffington & Rich) known for misrepresentations of Republicans.

Now that I’ve confirmed my hypothesis, time to recycle the magazine.