Surprisingly, St. Barney is Being Consistent

From The New Civil Rights Movement:

Recently-retired Democratic Congressman Barney Frank says he supports the immigration reform bill that does not contain protections for LGBT binational couples, which the Senate Judiciary Committee passed yesterday.

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“As a member of the House fighting for fair treatment for those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,

Okay – STOP!

Stop the history re-writing!   You did NOT fight for fair treatment for trans people.

Now, continue…

I greatly appreciated the strong support I received from members of the Hispanic caucus. I urge my friends not to push an amendment which would destroy the chance for success on the immigration issue which is important to the Hispanic community, without advancing our cause in any way,” the retired Massachusetts Congressman stated.

“Unfortunately, while Congressional Democrats are ready to provide this aid for same-sex couples, the overwhelming opposition from the Republican members to our rights means that a bill protecting them has no chance of beating a Senate filibuster, or passing the right-wing dominated House,” Frank added. “Given that reality, the morally and politically appropriate course is to help adopt a good Immigration Bill, and continue our fight for marriage rights on a parallel path,” Congressman Frank concluded.

As I saw in a comment to this on Facebook:

Must be nice for him as he married a partner who presumably doesn’t face deportation or the prospect of them both having to move out of the US.

So…

St. Barney is supporting an application of “incremental progress” that doesn’t negatively affect him.

So…

Yep, he’s being consistent – which does set him apart from the incremental-progress-always-on-trans-inclusion-but-never-ever-ever-ever-ever-on-gay-inclusion crowd.

Obituary: The Advocate (1967-2013)

Cause of death?

I realize that my perspective on identifying with trans is one of utter privilege.

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For the record, I don’t intentionally try to have it all ways.

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As a person who presents utterly female yet identifies completely as a gay male, I fight on the front lines of trans and wonder why a community represented by the rainbow isn’t yet making room for the many shades of gray.

Here is a link to the full cyanide capsule - though I’ll add what I think is currently the best comment to the piece, by Emma Caterine:

The utter ignorance of this woman and the fact that she is being published on this site is embarrassing. If I hear one more “ally” say something like “Trans rights are without a doubt the next frontier in the gay civil rights movement” I’m going to puke on an HRC canvasser. We were the movement, then your cis gay male “girlfriends” stole it from us so they could get six figure salaries working for banks and real estate companies that perpetuate the wealth disparity in this country that falls hardest on trans women. Literally the only benefit of this article is hopefully all trans people know now to stay far away from this parasitic self-righteous chaser.

I will add a second benefit: specific, proof positive that what used to be The Advocate is as dead as dead can get.

Pic of the Day: May 22, 2013 (Special ‘Zombie Bambi’ Edition)

Near Coralville Dam, north of Iowa City, Iowa, yesterday evening.

A Request to Freedom to Work

From AP via Yahoo news:

[A] gay-rights group called Freedom to Work teamed with a high-powered Washington law firm to file what they described as a groundbreaking discrimination complaint against Exxon in Illinois.

The complaint [here], filed with the state’s Department of Human Rights, says Exxon was sent two nearly identical resumes for a job opening at its office in Patoka, Ill. The only substantive differences were that one of the fictional applicants was clearly depicted as a gay-rights activist, and had higher college and high-school grades than the other applicant.

According to the complaint, Exxon’s human resources office at its home base in Texas confirmed receipt of both applications, then made several efforts to contact the applicant with the lower grades to set up an interview. The applicant who indicated she was gay received no such follow-ups.

Would you at least consider teaming with that same “high-powered Washington law firm” to send sets of test resumes to high-powered Washington LGB( ) organizations to prove what we already know regarding their attitude toward hiring trans women?

So He’s Jewish and Has an Italian Surname – Why Isn’t the Issue Inherited Political Wealth?

From CNN:

Eric Garcetti won the Los Angeles mayoral race, and will become the city’s first elected Jewish mayor.

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Garcetti’s mother is Jewish, and his father, Gil, the former district attorney whose office lost in the O.J. Simpson murder trial in the 1990s, is of Mexican and Italian descent.

No – simply mentioning that his dad (Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden get a pass?) blew the O.J. prosecution does not equate to dealing relevantly and substantively with the fact that, yet again, a PK (politician’s kid) has been able to worm his way into the taxpayer-funded family business.

But, that would involve engaging in actual journalism – instead of evangelism, eh?  Maybe Wolf Blitzer should care more about the mitosis of American neo-nobility than whether a tornado victim is sufficiently christian.

While Ralph Wiggum America Paid Attention to Republican-Manufactured Fake Scandals and Jody Arias…

…gas prices rose 50 cents per gallon in a week.

The Koch Brothers thank you for not wondering if there might be any connection.

A Fair Question: The Sequel

Set the controls for the heart of the sun named Irony.

I think we just witnessed a carefully orchestrated farce that all sides had agreed to early on.

The author and the subject matter?

The John and….

the initial inclusive ENDA of 2007?

Of course not.

Of course not….

of course not.