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Offline graylockV

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1005 on: May 28, 2009, 08:21:53 PM »
Thanks for the link garyd.

She would have been better off not using the word better
as that pits people against each other.  It reminds me of the
Lily Tomlin line from her Edith Ann character:  "I am not bossy,
my ideas is just better."


Being a white male, why wouldn't my experience as a gay man afford
some useful insight as well?  She certainly hasn't lived THAT life.  Is
she the church lady doing her superior dance?  Well, isn't that special.

Minor grumlbing, I think she's an excellent choice.

Sotomayor is No Leftist

By E.J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Republicans would be foolish to fight the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court because she is the most conservative choice that President Obama could have made.

And even though they should support her confirmation, liberals would be foolish to embrace Sotomayor as one of their own because her record is clearly that of a moderate. It is highly unlikely that she will push the court to the left. Indeed, on many issues of concern to business, she is likely to make the Chamber of Commerce perfectly happy.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/28/sotomayor_is_no_leftist_96696.html


Is Sotomayor an Abortion Centrist?
Tuesday May 26, 2009

After the announcement of Sonia Sotomayor's selection, abortion groups lined up predictably, pro-life groups expressing outrage and pro-choice offering praise. Everyone seems to be assuming she's ardently pro-choice, if for no other reason than that Obama's appointed her.

But there's stunningly little information about her abortion views - and what we do know hardly paints her as a pro-choice activist.

She's ruled on only three cases indirectly related to abortion and in each case she took the position preferred by the pro-life forces, albeit for reasons unrelated to the merits of abortion.

In Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, she ruled against the pro-choice group wanting to overturn the Bush administration's ban on family planning funds going to abortion. Constitutionally, she wrote, the government "is free to favor the anti-abortion position over the pro-choice position, and can do so with public funds."

In Amnesty America v. Town of West Hartford, she ruled in favor of the rights of anti-abortion protesters.

In Lin v Gonzales,she ruled in favor of a Chinese woman who sought asylum in part because of the forced sterilization and abortion policies of the Chinese government.

Her reasons had nothing to do with abortion - instead relating to matters of Constitutional law and criminal procedure - but at a minimum, it showed that whatever her abortion views, it didn't produce some powerful inclination against the pro-life position.

http://blog.beliefnet.com/stevenwaldman/2009/05/is-sotomayor-an-abortion-centr-1.html
« Last Edit: May 28, 2009, 08:39:15 PM by graylockV »
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Offline WhenPigsFly

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1006 on: May 28, 2009, 11:40:19 PM »

However, Obama's generic comment inside did not indicate who yelled the
shout out and so left room to believe it was glbt people because that's what
most of the country knew about.  So, you cannot really manufacture undue
furor over this, although I have detailed alot of his insensitivity to the glbt
community in the other thread that I referenced.


Since I support ALL the groups that were represented in the various protests, the cavalier response offends me regardless of  WHICH "promise" rec'd short shrift.

And here's another quote from that same night:   

'If it weren’t for you,' Mr. Obama told a celebrity-filled crowd gathered at The Beverly Hilton, 'we would not be in the White House.'

Goes without saying that he didn't express the same thanks to the protesters outside the hotel even though it was deserved  (he'll be parsing his words for those folks again in 2012)
...somehow, as a coat hanger is straightened to open a locked car and then bent again to its original shape, they torqued things almost to where they had been, for what they'd said was no news.  Nothing ended, nothing begun, nothing resolved...

Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1007 on: May 29, 2009, 12:23:01 AM »
His response may be cavalier, but my point is that just because
a site, like Towelroad for example, picks up a remark from the
President and riles gay people up by saying he was dissing them
is disingenous.  Driving by protesters in a darkened limousine and
surrounded by six motorcycles in a six lane road, he may very well
not have known the context of the protester's remark of  "Keep your
promises," and his response was "That's a fair statement."  That's
not really short shrift.  Isn't it saying, yes, hold me accountable for
the promises I've made?

My other post is critical of Obama's insensitivity in glbt matters
that I noted, but I cannot really find this offense in this matter
because it was manufactured on the internet.

I try to choose to not find OFFENSE in things if I can help it, because
one knows there's a lot of things one can find offense with.  But I don't
want to turn into a version of those people who I heard all day on
Monday--the people who won their Prop 8 battle but were still all
over the news with their sour faces and hating the fact that 18,000
couples were allowed to stay married, and vowing to rid the court
of the one justice who dissented and complaining they'd have to
raise money to fight another proposition battle, oh poor them...
Offense, perhaps, when it is warranted, but I think this was really
nothing to have complaints about.

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1008 on: June 01, 2009, 04:44:18 PM »
White House Names Gay Appointment

By Neal Broverman


Arne Duncan, the White House's Education secretary, recently announced nine senior staff appointments in his department and the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network made the cut.

Kevin Jennings, the founder and former executive director of GLSEN, has been tapped to become the assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.


http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid87561.asp

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1009 on: June 01, 2009, 04:46:39 PM »
View From the Hill: Obama's Silence

By Kerry Eleveld


Next month the Obama administration is expected to present a package of pro-LGBT announcements. But on the heels of his silence surrounding Prop. 8, will it be enough to satisfy the masses?

I couldn’t help but be reminded this week of Andrew Sullivan’s piece “The Fierce Urgency of Whenever” when President Barack Obama swept into Los Angeles the day after California’s same-sex marriage ban was upheld and failed to address the issue in any way during his speech at the Democratic National Committee fund-raiser he attended.

Yes, he had private discussions. Gay political consultant Chad Griffin, a former staffer for President Bill Clinton, said he prodded President Obama about LGBT rights during a conversation at the event. “I was lucky enough to carry a direct message to the president -- we urged his support for full federal LGBT rights and marriage equality,” Griffin told me, adding that he did not feel comfortable sharing details of the president’s response.

http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid87139.asp

Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1010 on: June 01, 2009, 05:07:16 PM »
White House Names Gay Appointment

By Neal Broverman


Arne Duncan, the White House's Education secretary, recently announced nine senior staff appointments in his department and the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network made the cut.

Kevin Jennings, the founder and former executive director of GLSEN, has been tapped to become the assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.


http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid87561.asp

And the Right Wing is up in arms about it.

http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=31311.msg1600294#msg1600294

Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1011 on: June 01, 2009, 05:53:53 PM »
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009
LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009

- - - - - - -

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA     
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA


Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1012 on: June 02, 2009, 10:14:33 AM »
Clinton vows to fight for gay rights abroad
Mon Jun 1, 3:13 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Monday to fight for gay rights, calling for all nations to stop violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Clinton made the appeal ahead of the 40th anniversary this month of New York's Stonewall Riots, often seen as the launch of the US gay rights movement, in which gays and lesbians fought back against police who raided their bars.

"The example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones," said Clinton, a former senator from New York.

While acknowledging that gays and lesbians still had a long path to equality in the United States, Clinton deplored that gays in some parts of the world live in constant fear of arrest or violence.

"The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end," she said.

"As secretary of state, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity."

continues:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090601/pl_afp/usdiplomacygayrights_20090601191444
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1013 on: June 02, 2009, 12:12:28 PM »
“I was lucky enough to carry a direct message to the president -- we urged his support for full federal LGBT rights and marriage equality,” Griffin told me, adding that he did not feel comfortable sharing details of the president’s response.

           ?

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1014 on: June 02, 2009, 11:57:42 PM »
Gay d'oh: White House inadvertantly forget history maker Roberta Achtenberg

In one of its 10,000 daily press releases, missives and proclamations, the Obama Administration crowed Monday that The Prez is "proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration."

Take off the Pink Medal of Honor, Team O: You forgot about Roberta Achtenberg. As in the former SF Supe who Bill Clinton nominated to be assistant HUD czarina just days after taking office. That's well within the 100 days.

A White House official called Achtenberg Tuesday morning to profusely apologize. The ground-breaker was cool with it, figuring it slipped their mind.

When confronted with this point, a White House spokesman said Tuesday:

"President Obama remains the first president to have openly LGBT candidates confirmed by the Senate during the first 100 days of an Administration. " True that. Roberta was confirmed after 100 days.

Oh, Roberta is being too nice, so we'll say it: How could Team O forget someone who headed their transition team on HUD and homelessness. D'oh! But Achtenberg prefers to think big picture...and how that big picture has changed for LGBT folks in 16 years:

"The point is now his nominees will be judged on their merits of their appointments," Achtenberg said.

continues:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/index?

Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline graylockV

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1015 on: June 04, 2009, 04:40:15 PM »
Gay groups grow impatient with Barack Obama


By BEN SMITH & JONATHAN MARTIN | 6/4/09 4:32 AM EDT


President Barack Obama’s promises of change are falling short for one core Democratic constituency: gays and lesbians, whose leaders say Obama’s administration isn’t keeping up with the times.

Gay rights campaigners, most of them Democrats who supported Obama in November, have begun to voice their public frustration with Obama’s inaction, small jokes at their community’s expense and deafening silence on what they see as the signal civil rights issue of this era.

His most important campaign promises repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the military ban on openly gay and lesbian service-members have not been fulfilled.

And the news, which emerged quietly earlier this year, that he’d supported same-sex marriage back in 1996, then changed his mind, especially rankles. As mainstream Democratic politicians such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) move to support same-sex marriage, gay rights advocates say that the barrier-breaking president looks increasingly odd for opposing what they see as full equality.

“Obama is out of step with his party, which is overwhelmingly in favor of marriage at this stage,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist who is among the organizers of a march on Washington for same-sex marriage scheduled for this fall. “He’s out of step with the next generation.”

Gay rights issues have been moving at breakneck speed, none faster than same-sex marriage. Most public opinion polls now show more than 40 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, seen as a fringe issue just a few years earlier. Already, five New England states and Iowa have same-sex marriage laws on the books.

“Politicians are finding out that their voters are moving faster than they anticipated,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who called Obama’s place behind that curve “surprising, because he is the next-generational candidate.”

She noted that Obama could be concerned about alienating older voters in the Midwest who would be turned off if he came out in support of same-sex marriage.

The White House has been reluctant to spend its political capital pushing Obama’s highest-profile pro-gay positions believing, White House allies say, that it could detract from priorities like health care. And it may be even less likely to do next year, with midterms approaching.

But officials have told restive gays and lesbians to give them until the end of this month to show movement on a number of lower-profile issues they support, including restrictions on visas for people with HIV. The Pentagon also has toned down public opposition to reversing the gay ban, and the new secretary of the Army’s job will be, in part, to smooth the way for that move.

“The president remains fully committed to advancing LGBT rights. His positions on all of these issues are well-established and well-known. His staff continues to work with Congress on a variety of LGBT issues,” said Jim Messina, the deputy White House chief of staff who is the point man on gay and lesbian issues, citing White House efforts to move hate crimes legislation through the Senate. “While we recognize that some in the community are anxious, the president’s commitment has not wavered.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23328.html
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Offline killersmom

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Re: Presidential transition/Inauguration 2009 and beyond
« Reply #1016 on: June 30, 2009, 10:34:25 PM »
I am closing and locking this thread, we are past the presidential transition, and  most of what is posted and discussed here can be taken over to "News and Current Events". A lot of it is there now!!

Thanks for everyone's contribution! Keep it going over here.

http://www.davecullen.com/forum/index.php?topic=31311.0
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