Obbzervations on Liberal Insensitivity
First, the introduction:

---

No, this shouldn't be an election year issue, but yes the Republicans are going to do just that and try to divide and conquer us all on the issue of marriage for Gay Americans. Of course, most of those on the Bush side use 'homosexual' as a pejorative, they're vehemently opposed to calling us as we wish to be called, rather preferring a more clinical term that to many in this Country removes our humanity.

So why isn't there a big ruckus? Why have we allowed ourselves to be a pejorative?...

Maybe I shouldn't be too sensitive here, for many it seems that switching between 'gay marriage' and 'homosexual marriage' is just a way to break up what may be a perceived monotony of usage. But let's be clear, many arguing against this issue, especially Christian Conservatives, refuse to use any word other than 'homosexual'.

Picture this, in an televised debate on the issue Jerry Falwell keeps using the term 'homosexual marriage' and his opponent holds strong to 'gay marriage'. What if we had the kind of organization in our community that we could all decide that on this issue particularly, we needed to emphasize our opponent's perjorative use of 'homosexual' in their arguments? What if a Jerry Falwell were to be corrected in the middle of his argument, what if he were told that 'homosexual' was an inappropriate term because it dehumanized a whole group of people? Why not? It is exactly what they mean to do by using that term.

Consider further if we all started talking about 'marriage for Gay Americans' rather than 'gay marriage'? All of a sudden I think more than a few light bulbs would flicker on, people would begin to start seeing us as Americans, who happen to be gay.

Oh how I would love the day when some Jerry Falwell were to say, we are vehemently against marriage for Gay Americans!...

---

Note that the writer condemns the evil baby seal clubbers for using the perjorative term "homosexual."

Well, let's take a look at some of the coverage of the Jeff Gannon episode. Let's start with a post at the right-wing blog the Daily Kos (emphasis in this and all other quotes mine):

---

Forgive me if I am not using the most current and polite language here, but the first time I saw those Jeff Gannon photos, I thought to myself, "There is a big ole homo."

Not that there is anything wrong with that ...

---

Since everyone knows that Republicans don't have a sense of humor, we have to assume that the right-wing Daily Kos poster was speaking seriously when he called "Jeff Gannon" a "homo." But the Daily Kos isn't the only right-wing blog throwing epithets; take a look at this post:

---

The next problem is not that Guckert is homosexual, but that he managed to somehow get past mandatory background checks despite being linked to male homosexual prostitution.

---

And of course, there's that organization "Friends of Liberty" (obviously a Klan front):

---

The sh*t has hit the fan, as regards an embedded Washington D.C. press reporter for a so-called "conservative" Web news site. In sum, "Jeff Gannon," late of Talon News/GOPUSA, is not even his real name; the guy has no journalistic credentials, leading one to wonder how he was given his White House Press credentials and why Sean Hannity has praised him effusively; his Web site (www.jeffgannon.com) is owned by a company that also owns homosexual military escort sites....

---

I'll grant that the following post isn't a mainstream conservative view, but it's out there:

---

When the Rude Pundit posted the work of Joseph A last week, wherein a reader created a Craigslist personal ad using Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert's photo...it was meant to be a joke, a little funny thing to degrade [someone] who so deserved to be degraded....

See, the Rude Pundit hoped beyond hope that the following would be revealed...it looks like lil' J. D. Guckert was a gay male prostitute. For $1200, you could spend the weekend with Guckert....For $200, you could have an hour. And one imagines that getting access to the President of the United States would make one's price go up....

'Course, the frosting, if you will, on this cake...is the article from Raw Story that White House Press Secretary Scott "Stonewall" McClellan visits gay bars in Texas. So, like, between the potential sodomite McClellan, the outed sodomite and GOP Chair Ken Mehlman, and the whoredom of Guckert, would one be wrong to think that the vicious sexual repression of the conservative movement is actually masking a burgeoning buggering brotherhood?...

Here's why it matters that the Bush administration allowed an alleged gay male prostitute with no journalistic experience into the White House on a daily basis and even allowed him to ask the President a question at one of Bush's precious little press conference debacles....

Al Capone couldn't be caught on a murder rap. Instead, the government nailed him and destroyed him because of tax evasion. If what finally brings down the Bush administration is the revelation of a secret cabal of homosexuals trying desperately to stay in the closet, then so be it.

---

It's time that someone condemn these right-wingers for bandying about the perjorative term "homosexual" throughout their tirades.

---

Of course, I have to admit that "Jeff Gannon" himself seemed to love the word.

In [Denver, Colorado], the non-profit group that runs the annual "Parade of Lights" Christmas parade has banned a local Christian church from participating in the event. The Christian themed float, with its Merry Christmas message and Christmas carols, cannot participate because of its "religious theme" -- even though they're allowing a "Two Spirit Society's" float, which honors homosexual American Indians as "holy people." Included in the parade's ban are signs that read "Merry Christmas" and the singing or playing of Christmas hymns.

[Daschle] has also prevented the Senate from voting on a constitutional amendment that would ban homosexual marriage by defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman and a measure to rein in excessive jury awards.

Homosexual advocates in California are hailing a new law that went into effect on January 1 that established "gay marriage" in the state. Assembly Bill 205 grants "all rights, protections, and benefits" of married couples to registered domestic partners.

---

So, why out conservative gays and not liberal gays? Because they're baby seal clubbers, that's why:

The LA Weekly has followed up on the Raw Story's lead and outed Republican California Congressman David Dreier, and many people are taking particular delight in it: Dreier represents a very conservative district, and has repeatedly taken anti-gay positions -- and not just your standard Federal Marriage Amendment-type stuff. According to the Weekly, he even voted against "the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program designed to give shelter to the impoverished sick, and against funding for the federal ADAP program that furnishes the poor with the AIDS meds they need to stay alive." Oh, the irony.

Our position on outing conservatives is simple: We think being a gay Republican must be torture enough. As for particularly virulent homophobes who are gay, well, they should be mocked and reviled because they're homophobes, not because they're gay homophobes. Oh, and because they [have sex with] other men. Gross.

Local gay activist Michael Rogers, who has led the effort to out gays working for conservative politicians, has compared Timmons to the late Roy Cohn, the high-profile gay attorney who started his career as an aide to former anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy.

“What this community is saying is that we will no longer tolerate the Roy Cohns of the world,” Rogers said. “We’re talking about gay men working for homophobes in the day, raising money for them and advocating their policies, and then going to the bars at night. Jay Timmons is a Roy Cohn.”

---

To be fair, not all of the communists are throwing epithets around at the baby seal clubbers:

Before there are too many comments regarding this: I don't personally care if someone is or is not a gay male escort. This is relevant because it exposes what Jeff Gannon's journalistic background is (none) and it shows that the gay-hating Rep administration are hypocrites once again.

At least genetic mishap didn't call him a homo.