Falling flat again and again

I know it's only been a few days since I last posted to this blog, but it has been a busy few days. On Tuesday I had lunch with a friend to celebrate birthdays (his is the day after mine) and then I went off to an enjoyable movie. On Wednesday it was lunch with some former work colleagues, a visit to the doctor (sign a form to keep my "preferred" status for my health insurance), visit the campus library, stop at Eastern Market to stock up with tea, and then spend the evening at the Ruth Ellis Center.

That movie I went to see was Every Little Step. It documents the creation of the musical The Chorus Line back in the 1970s and follows several singer-dancers through auditions for the show's revival. Stay with me now. That means the movie is about auditioning for a show in which the show is about auditioning for a show. I enjoyed it, though wondered why the whole process took at least eight months.

Alas, these few days of not posting happened to be momentous. One blogger described it as the Stonewall of our time, though quickly admitted such a claim is best left for history to bestow. It is especially fitting that Stonewall was 40 years ago next month. If you don't remember gay history, the Stonewall Riots happened when the drag queens in Greenwich Village in NYC decided they'd had enough of police raids and decided to fight back.

This was a week in which gays had enough of Obama's slandering and dithering and decided to fight back. And they did so with enough volume and consistency that both Obama and Harry Reid in the Senate were thrown off message and left scrambling for a way to placate us, only to find their attempts fell flat.

The trigger for this rage is last week's nasty support for the Defense of Marriage Act written by the Department of Justice. At the very least Obama should explain whether he saw it before it was filed and whether or not he personally agrees with it. That hasn't happened yet.

The Human Rights Campaign, usually seen as a subsidiary of the Democratic Party and the gay ATM finally got a spine and blasted the DOMA brief.

A couple of bloggers wrote a speech that Obama could give to soothe gay rage. They did it by directly lifting from Obama's June Pride Proclamation and interpolating from campaign speeches that Obama gave. Obama didn't give that speech or any other.

Dan Savage offers a civil disobedience method to get Obama's ear. He and his husband are annoyed enough they are thinking of doing it themselves. Every day one gay couple goes to the White House and asks to speak to Obama. When they are denied a meeting they refuse to leave and only do so when arrested. The president would be faced with the issue daily. Drip, drip, drip.

Well, if the prez. isn't moving on DOMA, what about Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Obama has been saying it has to be done through legislative action. But Harry Reid said there were no plans to repeal DADT, that he's looking for an executive order instead.

That didn't go over well, so Reid tried to change his tune. Maybe he and the senate might be able to find the time for it if Obama submits a bill. That didn't go over well either, starting with too condescending.

In addition to sending letters, to writing scathing blog entries, and getting occasional newspaper coverage, gays are also fighting back where it hurts -- in the wallet. Joe Biden is to host a Democratic Party/LGBT fundraiser next week. In response to the DOMA mess many prominent gays are canceling.

Obama tried again. This time it was a big press conference to announce support for the Domestic Partners Benefits & Obligations Act, which would treat partners of federal employees to full spousal benefits. In the meantime Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum (somewhere one can find the difference between that and an Executive Order, but I haven't looked yet) to provide gay couples with the very few benefits available without changing the law. Health care was not one of them. Besides only 2% of Americans work for the government and perhaps only 5% of them are gay (probably, due to Bush, a lot fewer). What about the rest of us, Mr. Prez.? Another effort that fell flat.

A blog responder wonders if Obama is being fiendishly clever. Perhaps he is provoking us to becoming outraged to provide him with impetus and cover to do all we want him to do. Or maybe not. Maybe it doesn't matter because we are now outraged. Does it provide him with enough cover? Don't know yet.

U.S. Conference of mayors passed a resolution to support freedom to marry. Why is Obama silent?