I went to my first Drinking Liberally event here in the Lou last week. it was held at the Royale, where they serve most excellent Tanq gimlets with fresh lime juice- straight-up with a sugared rim. mmmm gin gimlets... must thank that Mid-Atlantic women's college liberal arts education for developing my refined taste in cocktails. or as one guy I met at DL said, my refined taste in old lady drinks. as he explained, old ladies just want the booze. I suppose this is better than being saddled with the "girlie" drink tag.so while sipping my gimlets, I chatted with the LGBT coordinator for the Obama '08 campaign in StL. seemed like a nice enough guy, though I was a bit disappointed in his response to the current McClurkin controversy.
just to summarize: Obama has hired a preacher/gospel artist, McClurkin, to participate in campaign fund-raising events. this particular guy is, to put it nicely, an anti-gay bigot. oh, who just happened to be "converted" from his sinful homosexual ways by finding Jesus. and he likes to go around associating himself with the likes of Exodus and others who praise the ways of curing gays! many liberal bloggers called out the Obama campaign on including McClurkin in this event, most prominently John Aravosis of Americablog, who has done an amazing job of keeping the story hot. eventually the HRC called out Obama for his position on this guy, and this is what I asked his LGBT coordinator I met at DL about. and the response...
"We are trying to be 'Big Tent' Democrats."oh really? excuse me... blech
and then he proceeded to bring up Hillary and her positions/problems. don't get me wrong, I am not some huge Hillary supporter. in fact, I haven't really gotten behind anybody in the primary race. right now Chris Dodd and John Edwards are the only 2 guys who are consistently voicing positions that are progressive enough for me to get excited about... and there is not much chance for either of them gaining the nomination. and talking about Hillary is just a distraction from the bigger issue: in an attempt to be "Big Tent"- a phase that I absolutely hate- Obama and his campaign are giving a platform and a microphone to a known bigot. and denouncing his position does not take away this fact. you can't say, "wait, we don't think he is right, but we want him to come to our party because he will bring votes and money from people who think like he does!" Bah!
I am a progressive. and I am not anti-religion. those two things are not mutually exclusive, regardless of what the Right Wing Machine would have you believe. but anyone who preaches that being queer is an abomination is preaching hate. period. and why anyone who is claiming to be a progressive would want that associated with their campaign is beyond me. I have yet to hear a valid explanation from an Obama supporter or queer person why I would want to be under the "Big Tent" with a group of people who think I should be "cured" and that homosexuality is a "curse!"
