I am one activist who has always emphasized that the glbt is just that, g-l-b and t. We do ourselves a disservice when we diminish one part of our community.

If I were to ever see that sentiment expressed, I would forcefully speak out against it. I am not a shy guy, by any means.

The best I can say is that I do post on that site, and I will passionately speak out on behalf of the transgendered, if called for.

I can understand your anger…a lot of us are angry about many things in the glbt sphere, at present.

I guess I am just asking that we try to work through whatever differences we have, in an attempt to work together. Maybe I am being naive, and maybe it is easier said than done. All I can say is that I do think John means well for the community in what he is trying to do right now.

I got sickened with glbt politics, years ago, as I stated. What I didn’t state was that, while I had pretty good dialogue with most all of the people I dealt with, there were some nasty, personal attacks from a couple of others, that I found to be very disturbing. And I saw firsthand how eating our own was self-defeatist and debilitating.

For the record, I have no vested, personal or business, connection with Americablog, I just think it is a very useful site for galvanizing reaction against the status quo, on glbt issues. I have my own activist history, and now, my own blog.

I hope that there is some way for all of us to move together jointly.

Blaze disagrees with John. Glenn Greenwald shares his concerns. I don’t see how concern trolling and ad hominum attacks on John further anything.

There’s a real problem here — Obama is not fulfilling his promise to end DOMA and DADT. John’s doing something about that. If someone thinks the President’s inaction on his promises is acceptable, let’s argue that.

Because aside from the fact that I like John and respect what he’s doing here, people’s personal opinions of him for issues unrelated to the one at hand are really inconsequential to the much larger concerns of DOMA and DODT.

HE’S A KAPO!!!!!!!

I had been very active in glbt issues from about 93-03. In the past 5 years I chose to focus on more Progressive issues with a different net presence. I decided it was time to return to my roots because, as a former active Obama supporter, I have felt thrown under the bus by his administration in Obama’s ongoing quest to appeal to the GOP. He makes a sacrificial lamb of the glbt community, to appear to be more moderate. I couldn’t watch that happen in silence.

A big part of the reason I stopped my glbt activity was disillusionment with the so-called leaders of glbt politics. It seemed so insincere, so concerned with access. For me, the final straw was that the community could make a cause celebre out of the killing of one gay man, but couldn’t muster outrage for a 15 year-old black lesbian brutally murdered in Newark, or a gay man in his later 20s who was stomped to death because he allegedly made a pass at teenagers (which the jurors didn’t buy for a minute). This trial was covered nationally, but where were the gay advocacy groups? Did they really believe the defense of his killers that the man was somehow a pedophile? We couldn’t rally together in anger after an African-American gay man was murdered, having been dragged behind a pickup truck. And forget about being concerned about violence against the transgendered. Sure, there may have been press releases. But not much more.

So, I was attracted to John’s site because I know him to be more of a squeaky wheel.

To the people being so harsh on him, I just want to remind you of the following:

In 1969, it was the rowdy transgendered that made Stonewall and ignited a movement. It was not those who were very obedient and staged protests that would not offend. Although, I will state that anyone who came out in those days was courageous for that alone.

Similarly, I question what might have happened had ACT UP not been in everyone’s face during the early years of AIDS. Certainly they kept the message in the public eye.

There has to be a venue, and a voice for vocal pro-glbt advocacy. It can’t always be ‘patience’ and ‘wait our turn.’

After Proposition 8, things changed. And not just for Californians. We were reminded that any civil rights gains we have made could be removed by a simple majority vote, if we are not careful. The fact that the U.S is virtually last among Western nations on glbt issues has become harder and harder to take. This was the time that things were going to change and….

And Obama has been an incredible letdown.

Sometimes we need to sound off. We need to make our statement.

I just feel Americablog is a good rallying point for those of us in the glbt community who want our anger to be heard.

That doesn’t mean necessarily over-the-top rhetoric. It combines the voicing of one’s anger with a specific action (the witholding of funds) with the purpose of finally getting heard.

To this point, Obama has rendered us invisible.

Just my 2 cents.

You mean like Queen John threw all of the transgendered Americans overboard over ENDA last year? Damn Jane, I thought you of all people wouldn’t cite a bigoted asshole like John Aravosis.