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It must be said that Mr. Grenell HATES women and gays who disagree with him (I doubt that Mitt Romney much cares about that.). His Tweets on such people are piggish, and the Obama folks would’ve had alot of ammo to use, with good reason, if Grenell had stayed on.
Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas. Color me unsympathetic.
Jill: please chill on using gays as your talking points. Going into his election, Obama had a track record of specifically homophobic statements behind him. That didn’t seem to phase the straight progressives four years ago, so it’s a bit of a slap in the face that you want to play us now to your advantage.
You tend to be silent upon gay issues until it suits or serves the greater good. Specifically, you are extremely hesitant to post anything that is uniquely lesbian.
You’ve been completely silent on North Carolina’s Amendment One vote; I don’t get what you are trying to say with comments about Romney’s homophobia. It’s no mystery that he is homophobic. That’s a given.
Your addressing homophobia only when it is uber-apparent is a little off-putting. I know you will probably come back and say that you are in support of gay rights, which I know is true. But… using us as your talking points, going into an election? Yeah, not so cool. You’ve been silent for years on specifically lesbian issues. So why play us now, as if you understand what we need politically?
I guess part of what I am trying to say is that Romney’s message would not have the same meaning and cache that it does right now if Obama hadn’t clearly paved the way for it to be a legitimate talking point.
Amongst other things, Obama waxed poetic about how his former professor (whose name he couldn’t remember) was so cool because, although he was homosexual, he never “proselytized” his homosexuality.
And did Obama ever take into consideration how his health care plan would impact homosexual couples? Eh, no. It didn’t even hit his radar.
IMO, those would been hella good talking points on a feminist blog. You know, kinda progressive. … since there is absolutely nothing progressive about pointing out the fact that Romney is homophobic!
Yeah, Jill; how DARE you not address everything all the time. Your free time is infinite, so quit yer slackin’!
And I wonder if there’s a violin that can be made small enough to provide the soundtrack for the amount of sympathy that queer Republicans deserve when their party fucks them over. I advise them to get together and fund nanobot research via Kickstarter.
“Amongst other things, Obama waxed poetic about how his former professor (whose name he couldn’t remember) was so cool because, although he was homosexual, he never ‘proselytized’ his homosexuality.”
I don’t know where this is coming from, but if you’re going to make the charge, you ought to cite.
As for POTUS’s association with homophobic characters, there was the Donnie McClurkin ugliness during the South Carolina primary, and Reverend Wright wasn’t always affirming, but he got there.
There is also O’s epic foot – dragging on gay marriage. No one here likes it, but I think it’s fair to “go there” as a reminder to keep pressing the dude. Point taken, if made. I will say that his two SCOTUS picks aren’t anti – marriage, and if he gets to make a new pick or two in another term, I believe love will finally win in the nation’s highest court.
I’m a bit disappointed that more people aren’t covering NC’s amendment one vote as well. However, I think it has more to do with a disinterest in the South Eastern region of the country than it does with a lack of commitment to gay rights issues.
Jill is quite amenable to guest posts, if you feel the site’s coverage of a particular issue is lacking.
It’s common knowledge (and from his interview with The Advocate). Do you own damn homework.
Certainly Obama has been far from perfect on gay issues, but is there any doubt that Romney would be far, far worse? It’s important to talk about this, not for Grenell or Obama’s sake, but to remind people just how bad things under Republican will be.
Q Grrl, given your history of extremely cissexist definitions of “lesbian”, this is less a comment on Jill being hesitant than it is a comment on her broad support of trans women’s rights and your repeatedly expressed hostility towards trans women. Dog whistles: some of us can actually still hear them.
Nice reversal, Li! Quite impressive.
SophiaB: I don’t care who is worse in terms of homophobia. I care that Feministe can clutch pearls over Romney’s homophobia. I don’t see how that conversation can go anywhere meaningful.
First, yes, I think there is reason to wonder whether or not Romney would indeed be “far, far worse.” What has Obama done for the LGBT community in the time he has had? Its a fair question to ask. Not only has he accomplished sweet fuck all (with the exception of allowing gay to join the military, about as self-serving and token a success as I could imagine) but, just as with women, he has consistently failed to step up to the plate. The LGBT community is just a convenient voting block who can wait in line until he has gotten done whatever he feels is more important at the moment, and there is always something more important. Romney’s history on LGBT issues might be a bit more honest, but I’m far from convinced that it will lead to substantively different outcomes. More importantly, both men lie as a matter of course. I don’t for a minute believe that Romney would be any better than Obama on LGBT issues, but Obama’s record isn’t exactly one worthy of pride.
Second, I’m sick and tired of the Democrat’s primary election tactic being “hey, we’re marginally less horrific and oppressive than the GOP.” I’m sick of settling for someone who will merely neglect you instead of pursue you. I’m sick of being told that the moral position is to vote for someone I wouldn’t trust to watch my pets while I was away because the other guy is so much worse. Frankly, I’m sick of voting. Both parties are irredeemable and as their half-bright bases have gained more and more dominance I find myself in the position of going into the voting booth and deciding which fundamental rights I’m willing to sacrifice in the name of maybe holding the line on different rights. I’m sick of debt and bailouts and torture and endless wars and crony capitalism and preachers getting a seat at the table because this voting block or that believes God has a plan for the country. I’m sick of having to balance my right to self defense with my wife’s right to choose. I’m sick of having to balance property rights with a social safety net. I’m sick of having to write off the fourth amendment or any semblance of concern for the shocking number of Americans incarcerated in this country. I’m sick of Solyndra, I’m sick of Operation Fast and Furious, I’m sick of raids on marijuana dispensaries, I’m sick of American citizens being targeted by drones, I’m sick of the TSA feeling people up and looking through their clothes, I’m sick of the LGBT-acceptable candidate not actually doing any work for the LGBT community, I’m sick of Homeland Security dollars being spent to militarize domestic police forces, hell, I’m sick of Homeland Security in general. The Democratic party needs a message with more substance that “at least we’re not the GOP.”
William,
Under Obama, HUD has banned discrimination against lgbt tenants in HUD-funded housing. That’s not nothing. The DOJ has instructed federal prosecutors to apply VAWA protections to victims of same-sex domestic violence. The administration has expanded access for same-sex partners of federal employees to benefits previously reserved for spouses. HHS now requires that hospitals receiving medicare or medicaid funding allow visitation rights for same-sex partners. that’s basically all hospitals in the states. Trans people can now get accurate passports without a requirement for surgery or birth certificates change.
That’s not a comprehensive list, but it’s clearly more than just ending DADT. Obama isn’t perfect, and he’s certainly less progressive on LGBT issues (and other issues, like habeas rights) than I’d like. But I’m pretty sick of hearing people claim that he’s done nothing for the LGBT community and ignoring the really kind of massive things he’s done for trans people and people receiving federal benefits. It’s almost like trans people aren’t actually included when folks talk about the LGBT community. If you want to talk about progressive blind spots, that’s a pretty good place to start.
Suspect Class,
I actually hadn’t heard about the passport or the HUD changes, so I’m glad to hear that. I’m glad he’s done something. I still think my larger point stands, though, that the Democrats need a message with more substance that “we aren’t the other guys.” More to the point, I don’t see a handful of even very positive procedural and rules changes eclipsing the unconscionable clusterfuck that has been Obama’s first term. I simply refuse to vote for a man who continues to hold people indefinitely without trial, engages in torture, executes American citizens in foreign countries, pays union workers to feel up children in order create the appearance of security, allows his employees to accidentally traffic weapons to drug cartels then creates huge regulatory burdens on small businesses to make it look like he gave a shit while not only keeping the people who actually fucked up in their jobs but sometimes promoting them and helping them stonewall a congressional investigation, the list goes on. I’m sick of being told that I have to vote for someone who has lied to me and fucked up and done things that appear outright criminal because the other guy might be worse and he might take some time out of his busy schedule of shitting on the constitution in order to slip in a positive rules change. I’m glad for the rules changes, sure, but I’m not participating in a race between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
William
Those are all fair points. My beef with the “Obama doesn’t do enough for the gays” argument is that it actually ignores that a lot of what his administration has done has been positive for the folks who stand to benefit the least from same-sex marriage, which is what a lot of folks mean when they say Obama hasn’t done enough for lgbt folks. I agree with you on a lot of the above points, and I think they’re much sounder reasons not to vote for Obama than the fact that he’s “still evolving” on marriage.
William, I agree with most of what you say (with the exception of what suspect class pointed out), but also wanted to mention, about this:
I’m sick of settling for someone who will merely neglect you instead of pursue you
that when you happen actually to be a member of a group that would be actively pursued under a Republican president, and to have a child that’s a member of another such group, then being ignored rather than pursued makes a huge difference, and isn’t simply a question of “settling.” The choice becomes clear.
I might be mistaken but isn’t the main reason to want Obama be POTUS instead of Romney not the relatively minor matter of everyday lawmaking, but the appointment of SCOTUS judges? Look at the way the current court is trying to change the sociopolitical landscape. Look at the impact that decisions like Roe v. Wade had and have that far exceeds the impact of individual laws because it limits the possibilities of such laws.
I mean, if we look at age. Imagine Ginsburg retires during Romney’s tenure, which would be likely, the court would be in Scalia-esque hands for decades more.
Can we all just agree that not-voting is not an option? So, William, maybe stop that foot-stamping, I simply will not vote for a man etc etc. It’s the not-voting that has left us with the poor choices we have before us today. Doing more of it will only make things worse.
Holding your breath while waiting for the perfect candidate will only get you perfectly dead.
@Q Grrrl!
Guess what? I HAVE GREAT NEWS! Jill never mentioned anything about Romney’s homophobia or even said he was homophobic. You must be so thrilled to hear that, though I find it surprising you didn’t actually notice that by reading the OP. She merely criticized him for throwing one of his employees under the bus. Pointing out Romney’s lack of loyalty is a character issue which has nothing to do with homophobia.
Hopefully this will greatly relieve you of your distress at Feministe’s ‘pearl clutching over Romney’s homophobia’.
DonnaL, I agree, but I think we ought to be demanding more than mere benign neglect from our leaders. I also think we ought to expect our leaders to stand up more to the religious right. Instead we get Rick Warren being invited to invoke the approval of a brutal god over a secular inauguration. Is this really the best we can hope for? Should we just shut up and take it? Obama gets away with shit like this precisely because we don’t demand better out of him. The Democrats get away with this garbage because we allow it, because we don’t hold them accountable, because as soon as they wave the spectre of something worse we turtle up and say thanks for the opportunity. Its beyond frustrating for me and I can’t conscionably partipate in it anymore.
Shigekuni: Even that, though, is almost guaranteed to be a balancing act and pitting deeply held rights against others. In either case we’re going to end up with a justice who shows disgusting levels of deference to the power of the executive branch. In either case we’ll have more gutting of the fourth and fifth amendments. In either case we’re likely to see some negative impacts on first amendment issues (hate speech from the left and obscenity from the right). Romney is likely to put in someone who will be terrible on women’s issues and gay rights but better on second amendment issues and property rights, Obama will put in someone who is pretty much the opposite. Both choices are unacceptable and require writing off a lot of things that I feel are human rights in the hope (and thats all it is because how justices actually end up voting is pretty unpredictable) that we don’t get fucked on the rest. Moreover, given Obama’s history of throwing people under the bus in the name of expediency, I’m not terribly confident in what he’ll do with a SCOTUS spot when he doesn’t have to worry about a re-election.
AlbyZee: Not voting is certainly an option. Thats doubly true for me because my vote for president does not, and is unlikely to, ever matter. I live in Illinois, our electoral votes go blue by a huge margin as a matter of course and even if somehow the votes didn’t reflect that the ballot stuffing by the Chicago Machine would ensure the Democrats still carried our states. My vote for president is utterly irrelevant at best and a calming lie at worst.
More to the point, no, I’m not willing to accept that not voting isn’t an option. I won’t be bullied or shamed into participating in something thats ugly to me regardless of how many rockstars tell me that the alternative is death or how many civic-minded friends talk about it’s importance to democracy. The candidates suck, the “third parties” are a joke, and once big business and unions and other various lobbyists have finished picking the carcass my feelings on national politics have been rendered beyond irrelevant. Casting a ballot because its the right thing to do or holding my nose on principle and going ahead for the home team is bullshit.
Because it isn’t not voting that got us here. Thats putting the cart before the horse. Not voting is a result of apathy and that apathy is a result of the complete lack of control we have had over the political class in this country since at least the cold war. I live in a city where the major freeway was built by a popular mayor to cut the black section of the city from the white section. I remember Harold Washington being elected and my hippy father telling me as a small child that something wonderful had happened and that things had finally changed in the city. I also remember Washington dying. I remember watching my father’s politcal passion, a passion which lead him to stand in ’68 and be gassed by the police for daring to protest, die a death that took twenty years as a savage old racist’s savage son took the office of Mayor until the piece of shit finally gathered up all of his stolen money and mob ties and retreated to his fortress in the rich part of town to whinge about his police detail being marginally reduced while city workers had trouble paying their mortgages after a month’s worth of furlough days. Even at the local level my vote isn’t much more than unusually rough toilet paper.
No, I don’t believe that voting for the puppet on the left instead of the puppet on the right is going to lead to anything changing. I got excited last time around, I’ve been deeply disappointed, I should have known better, I’m done. Damn right I’m stomping my foot. Its all I have left to do.
I don’t think there’s any question that Obama is better than Romney on LGBT issues on the basis that Obama isn’t beholden to a party which as part of it’s platform promotes hostility and the peeling back of rights of LGBT people. What’s Romney going to do for trans people, for example that isn’t going to piss off his party? Has he ever even acknowledged them?
Meanwhile Obama has appointed a transgender DNC member, made getting passports with proper gender markers easier, banned job discrimination based on gender identity in the federal government, and much more that I could list. More than any president has done. But it’s debatable whether Romney would be worse? Not buying it. Romney couldn’t even stand by his gay staff member when he was pressured by random nobodies, but I’m supposed to buy that he might be no worse than Obama?
I generally find that when people say Obama hasn’t done much on LGBT issues, what they actually mean is “white middle and upper-class cisgendered gay men and women are still mad they can’t get married in all 50 states”. It used to be that they were mad they couldn’t get married and also that they couldn’t participate in American military efforts overseas, but they lost the ability to gripe about that when DADT was dismantled (note that trans people are still screwed on this front, but since when have they been a priority for Gay Inc.?)
Yes, Cagey. Exactly. Folks who whine about what Obama hasn’t done about LGBT rights just plain don’t pay attention to trans issues. Which doesn’t make you evil, but it does indicate something about your priorities. And they aren’t about whether I or my husband can present id consonant with our presentation regardless of whether we’ve ponied up for surgery.
And agreed with Donna, too. If you’re a person who possesses and wants to be in charge of your uterus? then the guy who says he’s going to “get rid of” planned parenthood is likely a good sight worse than the guy who had a consistent pro-choice voting record in illinois and the US senate, not to mention his recent fights as president. If you are queer or trans? yeah, a GOP president, any GOP president, is a pretty bad idea for your life and your friend’s lives. I know there’s no liberal/left consensus on hate crimes legislation, but aside from the prison terms issues, one thing hate crimes legislation provides is resources and directives to local law enforcement that investigating crimes against vulnerable populations have to be/are worth investigating.
You don’t like Obama on civil liberties? neither do I. But it’s pretty disingenuous to pretend there’s no difference.
I agree with pretty much everything suspect class and DonnaL said, as well as most of what William said. Our whole political system pretty much sucks right now, and the Democrats should be able to say more than “we’re better than the Republicans” since that bar is so low it may well be melting in the core of the earth. But, well, Obama is better than the Republicans, and he’s better in a way that makes a difference in the lives of LGBT folk.
As an anarchist, I disagree. I don’t vote, but that doesn’t mean I’m apathetic. Anarchists have other ways of engendering social change – none of which, by the way, necessarily involve destruction.
I am in the same position as William. I would be incredibly surprised if my state votes Republican. Why should I vote, then?
Vote because not voting is exactly what other apathetic democrats and liberals are planning to do. Vote because your comfy blue state could go red if enough people decide that their vote is too precious to waste on Obama’s disappointment.
I’m not apathetic; I’m realistic. My vote won’t change a thing. I don’t think NY’s gone Republican since Reagan. Let me check. Yep. Here’s what Wikipedia says on the matter:
“Today, although New York is still the third largest prize in the Electoral College with 31 votes, it is usually considered an uncontested “blue state”–meaning that it is presumed safe for the Democrats. The last time a Republican made a serious effort in the state was George H.W. Bush in 1988. Since 1992, the national Republican Party has effectively ceded New York to the Democrats. In addition, despite having a Republican governor for 12 years, New York appears to have trended more Democratic.
Even in the days when New York was considered a swing state, it had a slight Democratic lean. It has only supported a Republican for president six times since the Great Depression–in 1948, 1952, 1956, 1972, 1980 and 1984. ”
Not since Reagan, 28 years ago, and Mitt Romney doesn’t strike me as having half the charisma and popular appeal that Reagan did. I’m not too worried.
The only reasons I can imagine bothering to schlep out to vote would be if there are some interesting/important local races on the ticket, or if I decide it’s worth my time to register my existence to Obama’s left by voting Green or whatever. Most likely, that’ll depend on what my teaching schedule is on Tuesdays next term.
So you don’t get an incredible surprise.
What if you’re neither a Democrat nor a modern liberal? What if you support the Democrats not because you agree with all or most of their platform but because, on balance, they’re marginally less repellant than the alternative? There are a whole lot more than two political outlooks.
What if your vote truly doesn’t matter? What if the dead vote Democrat in your state? What if voters in non-Democrat friendly districts are systematically disenfranchised while the hour in a Dem-territory polling place often involves all the people who haven’t shown up yet suddenly voting the same way as the precinct captain? What if every single election someone gets caught paying the homeless in liquor for their votes? What if “vote early, vote often” is the unofficial motto of your local Democratic party. I realize that Illinois is unique and all, but you’ve got the privilege of living somewhere that representative Democracy is at least a theoretical possibility. I live somewhere where the Republican judge at the polls was knocking on doors a week earlier for the Democrats.
The way I look at it is an individual’s vote makes no difference. No presidential election has ever been decided by one vote.
But that’s not why I’d never vote for Obama. I’d never vote for Obama because it’s a symbolic act, and I don’t like what it would symbolize for me. It would symbolize that I’m OK with Obama as ruler of a government that’s sole function is maintaining patriarchy, rape culture, capitalism, neo-colonialism, white supremacy, heteronormativity, cissexism, and other forms of injustice. And I’m not OK with that. I don’t want oppression to exist, and the government is not oppressing people with my consent.
I’m happy with all that happened under Obama’s rule that has benefitted LGBT people like myself, and I appreciate people here pointing out the positive changes. But the only reason any of that has happened is through the activism of LGBT people and allies pressuring the government to stop blocking progressive changes. Every moment spent advocating for Democrats or Obama I believe is a moment that could be spent more effectively pressuring Democrats (and Republicans) currently in power to become more progressive as well as on community building, education, and direct action.
Now I want to elaborate on the particular issue of transgender rights because that’s of specific interest to me given what I’m going through in my life right now as a trans woman. I want to provide a view different in emphasis from the one others have expressed. With due respect, here’s what would really benefit trans people in my opinion. An end to the government making it difficult (and sometimes impossible) for people to get hormones due to the prescription system and other roadblocks. A person should be able to walk into a 7/11 and have whatever hormones ze wants in whatever quantities no questions asked.
Here’s some other things that would help. The end of a capitalist system where trans people have to pay tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket to get medically necessary surgical interventions. These procedures should be free. An egalitarian economic system would also entail that all people had guaranteed access to basic human needs like nutritious food, adequate housing, decent clothing, and sufficient cultural and educational opportunties. This would mean that no trans person would have to be closeted at work or risk being fired and losing everything because zer basic needs would be taken care of no matter what.
Also, I want an end to a prison industrial complex where trans people are ten times more likely to serve time in jail than cis people, including when they are survivors of hate crimes like CeCe McDonald. Also–I’ll be happy when anti-trans political movements like the Religious Right, lesbian separatism, and the American Psychiatric Association have ceased to exist. Has Obama helped to dismantle these movements? Not exactly.
Maybe I’m too radical. . .expecting too much? Fuck no. Everyone has an equal right to what they need to survive and thrive and be happy and free, and I’m going to push for that ideal my whole life until I see it with my own eyes. Even if I never see it.
And Obama is a dishonest, manipulative, power-hungry right-wing shill for a tiny, rich, mostly white and male elite. He’s also an enabler of a Christianist Right that thinks I’m a man and would rather I commit suicide than be happy. He can go fuck himself.
Sincerely,
a person who has professionally raised tens of thousands of dollars for Obama because she thought she couldn’t find a better job because she was depressed because of the oppression that people like Obama support. And who finally quit her job out of disgust last Friday. Thank Maude.
@LotusBecca
Have you ever considered moving to another country? I’m not saying that in a flippant way, because I certainly have considered it, for the same sort of disgust you mention. I’m sure you have plenty of good reasons for not moving, especially the whole job quitting situation, but if you could move to somewhere like Denmark or The Netherlands, for example, where LGBT issues are taken much more seriously than they are here, would you? I’ve often wished I could have convinced Mrs. Fat to move to any number of EU countries rather than stay in the US, and I just recognized that same air of exasperation in your post that accompanies that wish.
Perhaps “incredibly surprised” was an understatement. Perhaps “the only way it would happen would be foul play of some sort or another.”
Yeah, I was sleepy and got weirdly preachy. I like to vote though, I like what it represents, even in the fucked up form it has now. I’m of the opinion that everyone should vote, even if it’s for foghorn Leghorn, because we can vote.
Citations please?
I now live in a non-Democratic friendly district in Illinois, or as most people call them a Republican stronghold of the mostly UMC and wealthy, and I call BS on this assertion. Unless you’re talking about downstaters, suburban Chicago Republicans almost universally trend towards the wealthy and upper class. I’m not going to give a moments concern for their potential disenfranchisement, because that’s so far from reality as to be comical. Downstate Republicans may love to bellyache about how they get left out in the cold of Illinois politics and how corrupt the Dems have made things, and for that assertion I will simply point to Republican Governor Ryan and the widespread corruption he managed to spread.
Yeah Steve–interesting you ask because I have thought about this quite a lot. At different times and for different reasons I’ve considered moving to Scandanavia, Spain, Canada, Mexico, India, Thailand, and Australia. But of late I’ve been feeling pretty content in the US. I mean oppression exists everywhere, but the culture I feel the most connection to is the American counterculture–so this country seems like a good place to both live my life and resist said oppression. And I’m happy here when I’m spending time or living in a bohemian neighborhood in a major city with a large LGBT population.
Downstaters are exactly who I’m talking about. Hell, look at the games that have been played over concealed carry over the last few years. In Illinois you have a system in which the Democrats, through their overwhelming numbers in Chicago, have managed to set up a situation in which the rest of the state doesn’t get much of a say at all. The gerrymandering and routine denial of up or down votes have severely restricted engagement at the state level and the electoral college system has made the presidential race a foregone conclusion. Sometimes I’m thankful for that (contraception coverage comes to mind) but even when it benefits issues I care passionately about I can recognize how fucked up it is that huge portions of the population have basically been relegated to political jousting dummies. Thats especially true when so many of Illinois’ red areas aren’t UMC once you get away from the white flight suburbs of Chicago.
They do get left out and they are every bit as corrupt as the Democrats in this state. I’m not talking about good guys and bad guys, but I find it deeply problematic that politics in Illinois are just plain broken. I find it deeply problematic that its still pretty common in some parts of Chicago for aldermen (through their precinct captains) to check how someone registered in the primary before doing deciding to help constituents. I do still vote in local elections (and, more often than not, I hold my nose and vote for the Democrat) but that doesn’t change how utterly fucked up our system is. We’re not even really a two-party system. We’re a system where a tiny number of deeply corrupt white politicians in Chicago with mob ties go through the motions of democracy before robbing everyone blind and a somewhat larger number of deeply corrupt politicians who are either not white or not from Chicago crowd around and hope to pick whats left on the bones.
How can I really feel motivated to vote when so many elections are uncontested? How can I feel like it matters when the mayor hires the FBI agent investigating him at more than double the last guy’s salary and without an open hiring process? Just because I’m sure the Republicans would do the same thing doesn’t make this shit OK.
I’ve considered the idea of leaving the US, but I’m attached to the same things in America as LotusBecca. So I probably won’t leave – at least not for a long time. Also, because I was born here, I feel compelled to stay here for my fellow Americans. I I have the feeling that, if I leave America, I’ll be “leaving them behind”, so to speak. But it’s not nationalistic pride or anything – I detest nationalism. Perhaps that’s a silly feeling, but I can’t shake it off.
I think I have a related feeling Mxe354. One of the big reasons I’ve considered leaving America before is because this country has so many problems in my opinion. But my leaving wouldn’t do anything to solve any of those problems–it would just mean I might be able to avoid them to a greater extent than I can now. But I think there’s got to be people in America who recognize this country’s problems and are committed to trying to heal them. So I don’t want to leave my fellow Americans behind either. I want to resist the oppression that exists in the U.S.
LotusBecca & Mxe354:
It’s important to remember that all countries have problems, especially when it comes to recognizing and protecting the rights of minorities, women, and LGBT persons. I have been pretty fortunate to live in a lot of places–and not just Western/Developed countries–and everything looks bad when you’re in the middle of it. As you both alluded to, I do feel guilty and useless more often than not. I’m not able to change anything back “home” nor, as a foreigner, can I really affect much change where I live. This is not said in snark or any judgement, but I’ve just seen a lot of US expats who’ve left the US for political reasons and many are unhappy (and feel like me).
Also, I don’t think it’s nationalism to love your home (which is different from the nation). The longer I live outside of the US, the more I miss things beyond just family and friends. There is such a comfort level knowing all the cultural rules, even down to body language.
LotusBecca,
Agreed wrt what trans rights should look like. But there’s been quiet and significant movement the last few years, and it’s not nothing. I’m not satisfied, by any stretch, and of course it’s the result of hard work by activists. But in order for activists to push an administration’s hand, the administration has to be one at least somewhat willing to be pushed.
I also certainly agree with everyone here expressing frustration at the broken state of U.S. politics, the limited choices, the corporate interests involved.
I actually agree with this. I would never be a person who’d say Obama is no better than Romney. Obama is much better than Romney, and I hope he wins. Which is why I can’t fault people who choose to support Obama. But he still isn’t someone I can personally support. I just feel like there’s a lot more productive avenues to direct my political energies. And I’d like to see more progressives really lose faith in Obama and develop more alternate political strategies, which is why things like the Occupy movement with its anti-establishment ethos have been really heartening to me.
And I just want to say I hope it’s clear that my engagement with you on this point is coming from a place of talking within our community about what it all means, even though it’s happening in this space. I am not lumping your criticisms of Obama or his administration in the “uses same sex marriage as stand in for LGBT rights” category.
Thanks for saying this suspect class. And I think it’s great that you and Cagey have been pointing out the progress that’s been happening under Obama, including some things I hadn’t heard about. It’s important to be optimistic and keep the feeling of positive momentum going forward. And it’s obviously important to both of us to counteract the erasure of how internally diverse the LGBT community is. If we have any disagreement at all, I’m pretty sure it’s around specific tactics rather than overall values.
I’m sick of having to balance my right to self defense with my wife’s right to choose.
Given the reference to the “second amendment” later in this ridiculous comment, I have to assume that the “right to self defense” referred to here means the “right” to carry a gun around.
And I’m amazed that no one has called out the ridiculous degree of privilege involved in believing that you have to “balance” the “right” to carry a fucking firearm, (which many countries where democracy functions at least as well as it does in the United States* do not recognise as a right at all, and frankly I’m glad I don’t live somewhere where the volatile angry people are disproportionately likely to be armed, whether or not I have the “right” to the additional peace of mind this fact gives me) with the right to basic medical care. I guess when it’s not your right to basic medical care at risk it’s more likely to seem like a really hard balancing act. Such a terrible choice to make.
*yeah of course this is not a high standard right now. I’m just saying, all the millions of people who are denied this “right” are not especially tyrannised or downtrodden. They do not suffer for it, or even give a shit about it. It’s not in any way like the right to food and shelter and education and due process. Or like the right to receive medical treatment.
Oh for crying out loud. Voting for Romney is like voting for the Klan. Period. I dont give a rat’s ass how much Obama COULD have done I’m more concerned with what he or someone else WILL do to negatively affect people that aren’t political powerhouses.
Romney is anti-black, anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-lower economic class, the list goes on and fucking on. Seriously if you have the luxury to truly think about which one is better chances of you being non-white is slim to fucking none. The chances of you being lower-middle class or below is slim to fucking none. This is getting ridiculous. How many times does Romney have to do or say something shitty before it’s even a debate anymore?!!