Gay Camp Pain Contributions

Is it naive to continue to dream that the American people can come together to drag this country from the jaws of corporate control, political power and greed?

As we continue to hold onto hope, we occasionally find ourselves doused with cold reality -- like today, when we saw an article in today’s RainbowZine that Hillary Clinton is raking in donations from LGBTQ activists and celebrities.

Considering she does NOT support equal marriage rights, is a hawk on foreign policy, takes money from corporate lobbyists, it makes us wonder why…

Do they believe she is the most qualified candidate? Or is she the candidate most likely to WIN?

The way the media and conservative pundits see it, Hillary is the inevitable Democratic Presidential candidate. Unfortunately, we believe that Karl Rove and his talking thugs will do whatever it takes to bring her down – AFTER she wins the primary. And if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, after they destroy her, the Republican will be a shoe-in!

After all, the majority of voters would NOT want to "waste" their vote on a 3rd party candidate, right?

In America, we have a 2 party system that is largely controlled by corporate interests. Throughout history, both the Dems and the Repugnicans have worked together to rig the system so that a third party candidate will have a very difficult, if not impossible, time even getting their name on the ballot, let alone participating in the debates (have you seen a third party candidate debate on any network?)

We are often cautioned against casting our vote for a 3^rd party candidate lest we waste it - or worse -- because it will hurt the Democrat and help to elect the Republican. Thus we are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Lately, we've begun to believe that the whole notion of wasted votes is just plain ignorant! We only waste our vote when we spend on a candidate that we don't actually believe in.

What we really need to do is to educate ourselves -- and each other -- about the election process and the party system.

When all Americans finally understand that the purpose of a democracy – the reason for voting in the first place – is to cast a vote for a candidate that best represents our individual conscience -- not just someone who represents a political party that is controlled by one or more entities motivated by profits and power -- not by what is best for America.

The question is, do we have the courage, no matter what the consequences, to walk into that voting booth and pull the lever for – or write in the name of– a candidate who stands up for what is right and good?

If enough voters do that, we could change it all in one day.

Speaking of educating, the Republican Party’s platform on LGBTQ issues is as follows:

"States should not recognize gay marriage from other states: After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization, the union of a man and a woman in marriage. Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country, and anything less than a Constitutional amendment, passed by the Congress and ratified by the states, is vulnerable to being overturned by activist judges. On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard. The Constitutional amendment process guarantees that the final decision will rest with the American people and their elected representatives. President Bush will also vigorously defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which was supported by both parties and passed by 85 votes in the Senate. This common sense law reaffirms the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states.

Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage: We strongly support a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we [oppose] forcing states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage. The well-being of children is best accomplished [when] nurtured by their mother & father anchored by the bonds of marriage. We believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage.”

And the Democratic Party platform is not much better:

“We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families. In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there. We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a "Federal Marriage Amendment." Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart.”

As for the Greens:

“In keeping with the Green Key Values of diversity, social justice and feminism, we support full legal and political equality for all persons, regardless of sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

a. The Green Party affirms the rights of all individuals to freely choose intimate partners, regardless of their sex, gender, or sexual orientation.

b. We support the recognition of equal rights of persons gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender to housing, jobs, civil marriage, medical benefits, child custody, and in all areas of life provided to all other citizens.

c. We support the inclusion of language in state and federal anti-discrimination law that ensures the rights of intersex individuals and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, characteristics, and expression. We are opposed to intersex genital mutilation.

d. We support the right of all persons to self-determination with regard to gender identity and sex. We therefore support the right of intersex and transgender individuals to be free from coercion and involuntary assignment of gender or sex. We support access to medical and surgical treatment for assignment or reassignment of gender or sex, based on informed consent.

e. We support legislation against all forms of hate crimes, including those directed against people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender, and intersex."

We suggest you check out where each party and their candidates stand on all of the issues. Until then, we’ll just leave it right there for you to contemplate…

Is Karl on the Down Low?

To paraphrase the famous orator, George W. Bush, there's rumors on the ‘Internets’ that Karl Rove is gay.

Apparently, Jeff Gannon, aka James Guckert (he’s the hot gay military stud/male escort turned White House correspondent who mysteriously spent several nights in the White House), is writing a tell-all book about his relationship with turd-blossom (Bush’s pet name for Rove).

That could explain Rove's sudden need to step down and spend more time with his family.

Guess he's got some 'splain'n to do!

So, you ask, what’s the problem with Karl Rove having a gay affair?

Ah, where to begin…

As the chief policy wonk in the Bush administration, Rove encouraged, aided and abetted Bush to use the equal marriage issue – in part - to divide the country into red and blue states.

His ultimate goal was to create “a long-lasting GOP majority” and he would do whatever it takes/took to accomplish it. In short, Rove is the guy who wakes up every day devising ways to make life harder for us as if we were pawns in his cruel little game.

If the rumors are true and Karl is on the down-low, his hypocrisy – his nerve -- is just breathtaking!

Not only does he hurt us explicitly by pushing for homophobic policies, his closeted dalliances are an implicit admission that he believes there is something wrong with being gay in the first place. The message that is broadcast to everyone -- gay or straight – is that we should be ashamed of who we are and should keep the truth about ourselves buried deep underground where it belongs.

Rove’s internalized homophobia – especially given his powerful position in the highest office in America -- tacitly says that our relationships do not deserve equal treatment under the law because they are like dirty little secrets.

And because he continues to live openly in a heterosexual marriage – complete with a child -- his deception is even more devastating. He has chosen to live his lie and subjected it upon his own family and millions of trusting American’s.

It's as if Rove cheated on all of us.

If Karl finally goes down (no pun intended) we hope it is with a great big thud.

The whole issue really make us wonder -- are there any straight Republican men left in this country? Doesn’t it seem to you the louder they yell about fags and homos, the more likely they are to be winking at some cute guy in the subway?

What’s up with that?

And any self respecting, openly gay man should tell guys like Rove to get lost! Because they choose to live dirty down-low lives, they should be left to wallow alone in fear and desperation.

We are certain that Karl Rove will reject the ironic argument that his sordid tale offers two of the most excellent rationale for equal marriage rights yet:

1. If we give the Karl Rove’s in this country the rights and privileges of marriage, they will no longer need to feel ashamed of who they are. They will be able to stand up, be proud and live openly;
2. Karl’s story may also convince conservatives that should support equal marriage rights – if only to protect all the wives who so often find themselves married to men who are only using them to hide from others what they hate in themselves.

Biting the Hand that Feeds You

We have all heard the cliché, “don’t bite the hand that feeds you” which is commonly known to mean that you shouldn’t ruin a relationship with someone who pays you or takes care of you in some way.

The expression is meant as a cautionary message to those of us who are dependent on “the man” (i.e., greedy corporations, predatory lenders, etc.) for our everyday needs and a reminder that we should be careful about offending or demanding too much lest he cut us off from his “generosity.”

Even though the reverse is also true – that “the man” benefits – often more -- from our labor and our sweat, the “hand” in the metaphor almost never refers to the hand of the worker who generously gives of her time and energy. And the teeth that are cautioned not to bite, rarely belong to those who profit from our work.

America's trickle down, capitalistic economy has rendered most of us too tired to bite – or even think about biting.

It's all we can do just to get through the work day only to go home and pay the bills, cook, clean, care for the kids or other loved ones – and for many, go on to work at a second or third job before having the time and opportunity to lay down to rest.

Of course working just to pay for rent and food is hard enough – but omnipresent advertising for unaffordable products on TV, radio, magazines, sides of busses, taxis billboards, etc., makes life even less satisfying knowing that - no matter how many hours you put in - the large screen TV, stereo, computer, ipod, car is always out of your financial reach.

They say that the free market abhors a vacuum, and thus “the man” – seeing an opportunity to squeeze that last dollar out of a thin wallet -- stepped in to “help” poor people get the stuff they previously could not afford.

Thanks to pay-day loans, rent-to-own stores, instant refund tax preparation services, credit-card companies, tote the note used auto dealers, and more recently, sub-prime mortgage lenders -- poor people can have all the possessions necessary to live the American dream. Or at least the American dream that was invented by advertising agencies.

Unfortunately for “the man,” the chickens have come home to roost and the poor, according to Barbara Ehrenreich, quit paying their mortgages and they simply stopped shopping:

"Both Wal-Mart and Home Depot announced disappointing second quarter performances, plunging the market into another Arctic-style meltdown. H. Lee Scott, CEO of the low-wage Wal-Mart empire, admitted with admirable sensitivity, that it's no secret that many customers are running out of money at the end of the month."

It seems the downtrodden have been trod on so long that they just can’t get up the gumption – nor do they have the resources - to shop.

Not quite the revolution anti-capitalists had hoped for, but the effect may still be the same!

According to an article in Business Week Magazine:

“[W]ages for the working poor have been stagnant for three decades. Meanwhile, their spending has consistently and significantly exceeded their income since the mid-1980s. They are making up the difference by borrowing more. From 1989 through 2004, the total amount owed by households earning $30,000 or less a year has grown 247%, to $691 billion, according to the most recent Federal Reserve data available."

And don’t believe for one minute that the LGBTQ Community is somehow better off and less likely to be affected by poverty. Despite the myths to the contrary, gay men's incomes are 11% to 27% below average and lesbians' are 12% to 30% below.

But of course the Federal Reserve Bank has stepped in to help the corporations and financial institutions that prey on poor people stay afloat -- as they stand by and watch the poor drown in debt.

And, why not? Capitalism is profits over people. Therefore, since working class and poor people purposefully got themselves into this mess, why should the Government bale them out?

“Nobody, poor or rich, is compelled to pay a high price for a used car, a credit card, or anything else." Some see the debate ending there. "The only feasible way to run a capitalist society is to allow companies to maximize their profits," says Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "That will sometimes include allowing them to sell things to people that will sometimes make them worse off."

Apparently, greedy capitalistic institutions -- in their desire to wring the last dime out of the hands of the poor -- may have discovered that by doing so, they were the ones who were effectively biting the hands that were feeding them after all.

Time to Pay the Piper

We were recently asked why, if this is a blog about LGBTQ rights, do we write about seemingly unrelated issues?

The answer is simple: we believe that we are all interconnected and that there is no way to separate out what is vital to us as lesbians from what is vital to us as Americans, as people.

If there is no Republic of America -- or if there is no sustainable planet Earth - then there will be no legal rights for us to fight for -- no Constitution upon which we can base our arguments. Thus we do care about and write about geopolitical, economic and environmental issues.

And there is no way to ignore the truth: that we are living in a time of empire, of extreme economic imbalance, global warming, extreme climate shifts, human overpopulation and mass extinction of species.

Corporatism and greed created the Industrial Revolution which has in turn created the highly technological and modern world we live in today.

Throughout the Industrial Revolution, in general, Americans and other "Westernized" peoples have benefited greatly from a post industrial economic and technological boom.

Unfortunately, all of this was accomplished at the expense of those living in areas that were raped of their natural resources so as to fuel the boom.

The land and the people, plants and animals in areas once rich with natural resources have become barren and impoverished.

The planet -- and all of its inhabitants -- can no longer sustain this level of abuse. It must -- and it will -- come to an end.

It was fun while it lasted but now it is time to pay the piper.

The question remains, what will you do?

When will you be ready to rethink the way you live your life -- your own consumption -- the size of your own carbon footprint?

Are you aware that there is NO WAY we, the majority of beings living on the planet Earth, can continue to sustain this lifestyle?

Are you aware that the choice is no longer yours to make? That the planet is already doing what it naturally must do to rid itself of the cancer that we have become?

How will you react when only the very wealthy will have the ability to drive, to vacation, to purchase clean water and untainted food?

Will you panic, loot and riot -- giving justification for the mass slaughter and clampdown that is already being planned for?

Despite the dire warnings in this post, there is something hopeful to consider: recently we watched an interview of Joanna Gabriel who believes that this crisis offers an opportunity to create a more just world of sustainability. In other words, a global disaster could simply be a cleansing that forces us to "create the kind of world we wanted all the time anyway."

The message is one of hope and optimism. We hope you will watch the interview, below, and pass this link on to all of your friends and family members.

If we can't stop the destruction of life as we know it, then at least we can control the way we deal with it!