why do straights hate gays?

this commentary was reprinted from an article found in the los angeles times. depressing but true.

WHY DO STRAIGHTS HATE GAYS?

An aging 72-year-old gay man isn't hopeful about the future.

By Larry Kramer

LARRY KRAMER is the founder of the protest group ACT UP and the author of "The Tragedy of Today's Gays."

March 20, 2007

DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,

Why do you hate gay people so much?

Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.

Gays should not vote for any of them. There is not a candidate or major public figure who would not sell gays down the river. We have seen this time after time, even from supposedly progressive politicians such as President Clinton with his "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military and his support of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, it's possible that being shunned by gays will make politicians more popular, but at least we will have our self-respect. To vote for them is to collude with them in their utter disdain for us.

Don't any of you wonder why heterosexuals treat gays so brutally year after year after year, as your people take away our manhood, our womanhood, our personhood? Why, even as we die you don't leave us alone. What we can leave our surviving lovers is taxed far more punitively than what you leave your (legal) surviving spouses. Why do you do this? My lover will be unable to afford to live in the house we have made for each other over our lifetime together. This does not happen to you. Taxation without representation is what led to the Revolutionary War. Gay people have paid all the taxes you have. But you have equality, and we don't.

And there's no sign that this situation will change anytime soon. President Bush will leave a legacy of hate for us that will take many decades to cleanse. He has packed virtually every court and every civil service position in the land with people who don't like us. So, even with the most tolerant of new presidents, gays will be unable to break free from this yoke of hate. Courts rule against gays with hateful regularity. And of course the Supreme Court is not going to give us our equality, and in the end, it is from the Supreme Court that such equality must come. If all of this is not hate, I do not know what hate is.

Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.

You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.

Homosexuality is a punishable crime in a zillion countries, as is any activism on behalf of it. Punishable means prison. Punishable means death. The U.S. government refused our requests that it protest after gay teenagers were hanged in Iran, but it protests many other foreign cruelties. Who cares if a faggot dies? Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?

Well, whoever thought we'd have to worry about Florida? A young gay man was just killed in Florida because of his sexual orientation. I get reports of gays slain in our country every week. Few of them make news. Fewer are prosecuted. Do you consider it acceptable that 20,000 Christian youths make an annual pilgrimage to San Francisco to pray for gay souls? This is not free speech. This is another version of hate. It is all one world of gay-hate. It always was.

Gays do not realize that the more we become visible, the more we come out of the closet, the more we are hated. Don't those of you straights who claim not to hate us have a responsibility to denounce the hate? Why is it socially acceptable to joke about "girlie men" or to discriminate against us legally with "constitutional" amendments banning gay marriage? Because we cannot marry, we can pass on only a fraction of our estates, we do not have equal parenting rights and we cannot live with a foreigner we love who does not have government permission to stay in this country. These are the equal protections that the Bill of Rights proclaims for all?

Why do you hate us so much that you will not permit us to legally love? I am almost 72, and I have been hated all my life, and I don't see much change coming.

I think your hate is evil.

What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.

And even if your objections to gays are religious, why do you have to legislate them so hatefully? Make no mistake: Forbidding gay people to love or marry is based on hate, pure and simple.

You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

happy new year?

ok ok - so it's been like forever and a day since i've posted last - there's good reasons i assure you. just to start off - to anyone who may be reading this - happy new year and may 2007 be the best ever - i mean hell - it has to be better than 2006 - it just hast to be!

i mean i'm not knocking 2006 - personally for me i had alot of accomplishments:

:: new job
:: new apartment (in brooklyn)
:: bought a new condo with my best friend mark (in brooklyn - move date tbd - hopefully february)
:: went on 2 fabulous international trips (london in july and buenos aires in november)
:: got in shape (or in a better shape than 2005 - thanks julia)
:: performed at carnegie hall (for the 5th time - mom finally was able to come and tixgirl wrote about it in her blog)
:: met some amazing new people (marcos, bruston, ryan, andy, john - aka 'the mean girls', roy, billy, amy - oh the list could go on for days)
:: tech-nerd purchases: computer (macbook- my knight in white armor), camera (canon sd 630- how did i ever take beautiful pics witout you), phone (treo 680- unlocked and ready for the world) and ipod(god's gift to life itself)

so in all - pretty great year.

now - onto why i've been absent. as we all know - the holiday season can be very hectic - you all were there it happened - it's over - praise jesus. the family came to visit on/around the 19th of december and were here until the 31st. we had a small family trip planned for the holiday up to block island to visit my aunt and uncle - gorgeous house - absolutely nothing to do but was nice nonetheless. as we all know - when family comes to visit - especially around the holidays - time set aside for the 'usual routine' are usually cut in half or taken away all together.

new years was great. roy volunteered his apartment for a dinner party/drink fest - and it was - it was great - and it was a perfect way to ring in the new year.

so now we are in 2007. my god - how time is flying by. i'm sure there'll be many an adventure ahead for us all this year. there was a shift in the political structure after all - so this year could be the beginning of a great era for our country - or at least give us the ability to begin fixing the crap that the current government has put us in.

already work is buzzing. 2007 has started - changes are in the air and i'm ready to see what challenges are ahead. so far i've already been to dallas and philly - who knows where else i'll be going.

already had my first issue with the nypd this year - yes indeed - i got a ticket - gasp - i know right - but i got a ticket for - get this - 'occupying more than one seat' on the subway. it went down like this:

i went to see 'notes on a scandal' with roy and bruston. was returning home after the movie. i was sitting - minding my own business - playing solitaire on the treo and listening to 'la traviata' on my ipod. the train stops at atlantic/pacific avenue in brooklyn. the doors open. a cop - sees me sitting 'slightly askew' - and asks me to get off of the train. he gave me a $50 ticket for that ridiculous charge. i wasn't drunk. i wasn't disorderly. the train wasn't full. but now i owe $50 for minding my business and trying to get home safely - yay - way to go nypd.

so we aren't even out of january and i have a 'scandal' on my hands - can't wait to see what happens in the next 11 months - lol.

so that's my brief update - more to come - i promise. golden globes are this weekend - i have to talk about that - and i've seen more shows that i can fill you all in on - other than that - have a great 2007 and more to come from me.

rumsfeldisms

i received this in an email today - thanks darris - but it was so funny i had to post it. see - as we say good-bye to mister rumsfeld - it only makes sense that we go back and look at his most profound quotes over the years. enjoy!

1. 'i would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. i think the past was not predictable when it started.'

2. 'we do know of certain knowledge that he [osama bin laden] is either in afghanistan, or in some other country, or dead.'
3. 'we know where they are. they're in the area around tikrit andbaghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.' -on iraq's weapons of mass destruction
4. 'death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war.'
5. 'freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.' -on looting in iraq after the u.s. invasion, adding 'stuff happens'
6. 'as you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.'
7. 'i am not going to give you a number for it because it's not my business to do intelligent work.' -asked to estimate the number of iraqi insurgents while testifying before congress
8. 'i believe what i said yesterday. i don't know what i said, but i know what i think, and, well, i assume it's what i said.'
9. 'needless to say, the president is correct. whatever it was he said.'
10. 'reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. we also know there are known unknowns; that isto say we know there are some things we do not know. but there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know.'
11. 'if i said yes, that would then suggest that that might be the only place where it might be done which would not be accurate, necessarily accurate. it might also not be inaccurate, but i'm disinclined to mislead anyone.'
12. 'there's another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. it is basically saying the same thing in a different way. simply because you do not have evidence that something does exist does not mean that you have evidence that it doesn't exist.' -on iraq's weapons of mass destruction
13. 'it is unknowable how long that conflict [the war in iraq] will last. it could last six days, six weeks. i doubt six months." -in feb. 2003
14. 'well, um, you know, something's neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so, i suppose, as shakespeare said.'
15. 'secretary powell and i agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where colin's still learning.'
16. 'learn to say 'i don't know.' if used when appropriate, it will be often.'
17. 'i don't know what the facts are but somebody's certainly going to sit down with him and find out what he knows that they may not know, and make sure he knows what they know that he may not know.'
18. 'i'm not into this detail stuff. i'm more concepty.'
19. 'i don't do quagmires.'
20. 'i don't do diplomacy.'
21. 'i don't do foreign policy.'
22. 'now, settle down, settle down. hell, i'm an old man, it's early in the morning and i'm gathering my thoughts here.'
23. 'if i know the answer i'll tell you the answer, and if i don't, i'll just respond, cleverly.'
looking back on all of this - it's no wonder he was bush's man of war - these quotes sound like they come from the 'president' himself - the morons - makes you proud to be an american - or scared shitless - one of the two. adios rumsfeld!

a week :: a recap

what a week (and it's only thursday) - my god - political change - celebrity drama - and rumsfeld.

knowing that this week was mid-term elections for many states - i already knew it was going to be a humdinger. the democrats had a great opportunity to take back the house, senate, and the top seats of the states and they did - smack that ass mister bush - i guess we will be in this week to measure for drapes! (on a side-bar - did you hear bush's comment in his post-election speech yesterday talking about how he could recommend a replublican decorator to help nancy pelosi measure for drapes - what a dick - anyway - here's a quote from the herald tribune - 'the president joked that he had given house minority leader nancy pelosi, in line to become the first female speaker of the house, the name of a republican interior decorator to help her pick out drapes for her new office. the comment was poke at the california democrat's pre-election remark about having her pick of capitol building suites.') it's truly exciting times indeed. the losers were of course the republicans (yay) and the gays (boo).

gays still can't get married - no shock there - not sure what it'll take to gain those kinds of rights. i'm not even sure i'd even jump on the marriage thing even if we were able to but to deny the right to anyone to do what they wish when they are in love isn't right. who knows - one day it may happen. hopefully by then i will have found love and have different views of the subject - until then - i'll stay bitter and single - lol. but not neil patrick harris - that's right - dr. doogie howser came out of the closet this week stating that '(he is) quite proud to say that (he is) a very content gay man living my life to the fullest.' - not a big shock there but good for him - hey neil - wanna get married?

on the subject of marriage - what the hell is up with britney spears (who i like to call shitney brears) and k-fed (aka loser)? come on now - divorce - like we didn't see that coming. i think britney finally looked in the mirror and realized how pathetic her life had become. she went from being pop princess back to poor white trash in a matter of 9+ months (a baby or two can do that to you). she did marry an talentless hack who has been mooching off of what's left of her fame for way too long. she's no longer cute - she's fat - and let's just say - tragic. someone yesterday even told me that k-fed's tickets were being given away in chicago because no one cared to buy them.

i think this is potentially a great move for britney - her loyal fans will come to her rescue - leave it to the gays to take a tragic someone and turn them back into a grand diva (i submit donna summer as exhibit a). i expect this could mean a 'comeback' for our dear pop princess? at least a vegas show - or - branson! [read more on gawker]

last but not least - let's take this time to say good-bye to an old fart - donald rumsfeld. evidently 'president' bush had to have a fall guy for how poorly the war in iraq was going - so - let's put it all on don's head. why not - he's only been in his post longer than anyone ever in the history of our country.

now now - i don't think this is a bad idea - the guy should have been pushed out years ago - i just think it'll be a mess to clean up and i would hate to be in robert gates' shoes right now. if confirmed - gates will take the place of rumsfeld as the secretary of defense. this task will be like trying to clean an oil spill the size of texas with an sos sponge and some pledge.

with the democrats back in power - we just have to play nice for two more years when we can fully take back the white house. hillary clinton for president anyone? won't that be fun!