General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I remember when gay marriage was "the far left wanting a pony". [View all]Hell Hath No Fury
(16,327 posts)From July 18th, 2010 posted by DSC. Be sure to read the responses too to the OP at the link, because it will enlighten those whose memory seems to be a bit foggy on just what the attitude of many here at DU was towards gays demanding action on issues that were vital to their lives:
"How to piss off gay posters
Unfortunately gay priorities haven't gone well in this Congress. That has lead to great disappointment among gay posters for frankly good reason. Adding to it is when posters do the following.
Way one
Call gay priorities, especially the big three (ENDA, DADT, and hate crimes) a pony or some other belittling term meant to make out that these are unimportant frivolities. No, we don't think we are the center of the earth. But for many gay people these are issues that at the very least can cause immense problems in our lives. In 3/5 of states, including such large states as TX, FL, PA, OH, MI, GA, and NC, gays are totally unprotected by non discrimination laws. We are totally at the mercy of employers, landlords, restraunteurs, hoteliers, and others. It is the very rare gay person who hasn't had being gay or precieved as such, cost them a job or apartment. Thousands of gays are tossed out of the service each year while many others live lives of quiet desperation and fear of being found out. Hate crimes fortunately has passed for the record, we were the second most likely group to be victims of hate crimes (after Arab Americans).
Way two
Tell us we wanted Obama to wave a magic wand. We know all too well how much work it takes to pass gay friendly legislation. We didn't think Obama or Hillary for that matter, would clap their hands and pass gay friendly legislation. We did think that either Obama or Hillary would use the Presidental bully pulpit to argue forcibly for gay friendly legislation. Obama frankly hasn't. He has been, to be charitable, an intermitent advocate of gay issues. We didn't expect a magic wand but we did expect Obama to advocate forcibly for legislation that had over 70% popularity (by comparison health care never broke 45%) but he just plain didn't.
Way three
Tell us things are better for us than they really are. Posters have told us that we are covered by anti discrimination laws when we aren't. That we have marriage rights when we don't. That we can be covered on our partner's health care when we can't. We do tend to know when we are, and when we aren't legally protected. It is our lives after all.
Way four
Tell us Obama has done more for gays than any other President. That ignores the immense progress, coming from our work, that happened for gays between 1993 and 2009. In 14 states sodomy laws existed and could be used to prevent gays from obtaining and keeping professional licences, take their children away, and even put them in jail. Gay civil rights laws only existed in a couple of states and no state even entertained marriage rights. TV was nearly berefit of gay characters, schools had virtually no openly gay teachers and few openly gay students. Gays could be fired from any federal job simply for being gay. Oh, and AIDS was still a 100% fatal disease that had hardly any governemnt funding. Gay men were still dropping like flies in our major cities and our small towns. Clinton eliminated federal discrimination everywhere but the uniformed military. He appointed the first Senate confirmed gay and the first ambassador. He increased AIDS funding (both research and medication) leading to AIDS becoming a managable disease for many of its sufferers. He also came within one vote of passing ENDA. Yes, Obama, did oversee the passing of hate crimes and he did give some benefits to gay employees. He also has more openly gay employees than Clinton did (remember that many people with professional licences were closeted thanks to morals clauses on their licences) but starting points matter and Obama had a pretty big, unearned head start over Clinton. Ignoring that ignores the work we did.
Hopefully this helps you to know what annoys us.:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8772384