Dan Savage on the "Obama administration's abysmal record, thus far, on gay issues"

The great writer/editor/prankster Dan Savage seemed to like the president's I'm-totally-gay-marrying-David-Axelrod joke at the White House Correspondents Dinner even less than I did:

Barack Obama condescended to use marriage equality as a punch line; he made, essentially, a Chuck & Larry joke about two straight dudes—Obama and Axelrod—running off to Iowa to "make it official" with the queers and their "partners." And that's hilarious, you see, because Obama and Axelrod aren't actually homos! So they don't need to go to Iowa to make it official! They can get married—to women—in all fifty states! HA!

The more I think about the joke Obama told at the WHCD the more ticked off I get. We're witnessing rapid and historic progress in the fight for gay equality and Barack Obama, who campaigned on our issues and described himself as a "fierce advocate" of gay and lesbian equality, hasn't acknowledged the breakthroughs in Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in a setting or a with comments that are in any way equal to the significance of this historic moment. The best he can do—all he's willing to do—is toss off an Adam-Sandler-level joke.

Link via Andrew Sullivan. Katherine Mangu-Ward gave advice for "what to do when your political party is just not that into you" back in December.

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Comments

[JW]

And yet, ol’ Dan will probably vote for him again anyway.

[Episiarch]

I like Dan, but every homo who voted for Obama under the belief that he was for gay rights is a fucking retard. The guy flatly stated that he didn’t support gay marriage, and he had Rick Warren at the inauguration. Maybe a little critical thinking would help, idiots.

[JW]

…but every homo …

Lighten up Francis.

I find this all to be very funny and I’m sure Obama does too. “What are you gonna do? Huh, punk? Vote for a republican?”

[mb]

why can’t I marry 2 women?

[nle]

Whenever Dan writes outside his sex column; he sounds like a crybaby.

[Mad Max]

Now that the President has cracked jokes at the expense of pot smokers and gays, does that mean he has now officially insulted half of his base?

He probably assumed they will forgive him.

[Mike in PA]

People who truly support gay rights will never support gay marriage. In fact, they’ll stop supporting state “marriage” to begin with.

[Craig]

To recap, Obama has so far joked about drug legalization and same sex marriage, despite the popularity of both among those who voted for him. What’s next, a joke about bringing the troops home from Iraq?

[Dagny T.]

Too bad nobody was talking about this before the election. I mentioned how weakass Obama was on gay rights to a gay coworker, and got the blankest stare ever. Little late now, Dan.

That said, Savage Love is the best part about The Stranger (except for maybe the escort ads at the back).

[Episiarch]

Lighten up Francis.

Chicks dig me, because I rarely wear underwear and when I do it’s usually something unusual. But now I know why I have always lost women to guys like you, JW. I mean, it’s not just the uniform. It’s the stories that you tell. So much fun and imagination.

[JW]

Epi–I’ll kill ‘ya.

[Cab]

Funny, and here I was thinking it was just a joke. Moreover, I thought it was pretty funny. I must be way off.

[Paul]

I can’t marry a man either. It just so happens I don’t want to.

Man, if only I could have told my ex-wife “I’d love to marry you, babe, it’s just not legal!”

[Heterosexist Every Body]

I thought it was funny and I DO like how he has changed his mind on other things.

[Heterosexist Every Body]

Why must Reason support government marriage anyway?

[Brian Defferding]

Oh stop being so prickly, Dan Savage.

But on the other hand, yeah Obama isn’t the gay rights supporter liberals and Democrats wish him to be.

[JB]

Obama and Axelrod are ‘straight’? Now that’s funny!

[Episiarch]

JW, you are a madman. When you stole that cow, and your friend tried to make it with the cow…I want to party with you, cowboy. The two of us together, forget it.

[Paul]

I thought it was funny and I DO like how he has changed his mind on other things.

Obama’s being presidential. He has to govern.

Goddamn, that never gets old.

But on the other hand, yeah Obama isn’t the gay rights supporter liberals and Democrats wish him to be.

Or the gay rights supporter conservatives thought he’d be.

[mk]

Given that the states are doing just fine on their own, I would think that the president leaving gay marriage alone would be a positive thing.

Lawd knows Bushitler would have had something to say about it.

[Naga Sadow]

Episiarch’s name is Francis? Sissssssssssssssy.

[Episiarch]

The name’s Francis Soyer, Naga, but everybody calls me Psycho. Any of you guys call me Francis, and I’ll kill you.

The name’s Francis Soyer

I think you mean names.

Yea, names.

[!]

It works! Cool!

[ed]

Barack Obama, who campaigned on our issues

“Our” issues? Got a turtle in your pocket, Matt?

[!]

ed,

Matt is one of those LA Cosmotarians.

I R AN H4X0R

[JW]

-Now, are either of you homosexuals?
-You mean, like, flaming, or…
-Well, it’s a standard question we have to ask.
-No, we’re not homosexual, but we are *willing to learn*.
-Yeah, would they send us someplace special?

[Naga Sadow]

I don’t remember that on “Stripes”?

[Episiarch]

You just made the list, JW. And I don’t like nobody touching my stuff. So just keep your meat-hooks off. If I catch any of you guys in my stuff, I’ll kill you. Also, I don’t like nobody touching me. Now, any of you homos touch me, and I’ll kill you.

[The Angry Optimist]

– We zip in, we zip out. It’s like going into Wisconsin.
-Yeah, well I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it.

[Orange Line Special]

NB are idiots for various reasons, but Reason’s new buddy is discussed here. See also this. I showed how Savage is an idiot in this comment; I didn’t bother working his name into the post that comment links to since he’s a nobody.

[Warty]

Y’all want to know a dirty little secret about Stripes? It sucks.

[scrooge]

francis, are you there? you left your toothbrush at my house.

[Warty]

Fuck off and die, Lonewacko.

[The Angry Optimist]

CHRIS KELLY!!!

*shakes fist in the air*

Y’all want to know a dirty little secret about Stripes? It sucks.

What what WHAAT??! What did you just say young man?

[Abdul]

Dan savage and Andrew Sullivan only perpetuate the stereotype of homosexuals as hysterical crybabies. Try to act like one instead of just marrying them.

[Episiarch]

Warty just wishes he hadn’t drunk all that cough syrup this morning.

[!]

| May 14, 2009, 1:50pm | #

I R AN H4X0R

Not a very good one.

[Xeones]

Nice changeup, Warty. Keep it fresh.

[JW]

I think that we owe a big round of applause to our newest, bestest buddy, and big toe… Episiarch.

Warty–You didn’t cry when Old Yeller got shot? I’m sure.

[Xeones]

You didn’t cry when Old Yeller got shot? I’m sure.

Nope, he laughed like a maniac and hit ‘rewind’ 12 times.

[Episiarch]

Old Yeller is just Cujo packaged nicely by the pathological liars at Disney. Don’t be fooled!

[JW]

I’m sure there are a lot of ways Warty’s gone that you haven’t.

[Warty]

I jacked off and then vomited down my shirt. Why do you ask?

[nle]

What was the doorknob licking about? Yes I’m guilty I clicked the link

[Grandpa Withers]

“why can’t I marry 2 women?”

You know what the punisment in my state is for bigamy? Two wives.

[phalkor]

concur, Stripes sucks.

[The Angry Optimist]

phalkor, I will have you assigned to a weather station above the Arctic Circle.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

As we used to say in the reign of the boy king, the president doesn’t issue marriage licensese. It’s not politicians or activist judges who have moved gay marriage farther and faster than any other social issue in recent memory. It’s changes in popular opinion. At the end of eight years, gay marriage will be normal throughout most of the country. President Obama will end up benefiting from that, and teh gheys will end up benefiting too, and history will forget his insults and fake support. I wish I could say the same for the drug war, but at the end of eight years, people will still be doing hard time for smoking weed.

[!]

TC,

It is NOT fake support! You take that back!

He is working from within the system for H&C and Love.

[Mad Max]

‘At the end of eight years, gay marriage will be normal throughout most of the country. . . . at the end of eight years, people will still be doing hard time for smoking weed.’

At least they’ll be able to marry their cellmates.

[Handy Andy]

“At the end of eight years, gay marriage will be normal throughout most of the country.”

Wishful gay thinking, Tim.

[phalkor]

phalkor, I will have you assigned to a weather station above the Arctic Circle.

Svalbard please! The only year-round city is Longyearbyen. Pretty cool place, totally looks like the edge of the world. Also its got a huge doomsday seed bank! Can I come back before winter though? It gets awfully scary up there with 23.5 hours of darkness.

[Matt Welch]

“Our” issues? Got a turtle in your pocket, Matt?

That was Savage’s writing, not mine. That said, I don’t think I’ve heard the turtle reference before, and therefore don’t know what it means, and so the answer is “yes!”

[ChicagoTom]

It’s not politicians or activist judges who have moved gay marriage farther and faster than any other social issue in recent memory.

I call bullshit.

The courts got the ball rolling quite nicely.

Once MA had it forced upon them by the courts and the ensuing shit-storm died down people realized “hey whats the big deal” and less and less opposed it.

I believe the courts have been the biggest force for change on this issue. And even the politicians seem to be more effective than the people’s will (how did the peoples will work out in CA???)

Furthermore, didn’t most voters in most states overwhelmingly approve of the Constitutional bans that have taken place in the last 8 years? It seems like the issue of gay marriage doesn’t have much success when its put to the voters.

[Barry O\'Bama]

Remember, blacks on the down-low ain’t faggots.

[Paul]

“why can’t I marry 2 women?”

You know what the punisment in my state is for bigamy? Two wives.

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same. -Oscar Wilde.

[ed]

Matt Welch | May 14, 2009, 2:21pm | #

“Our” issues? Got a turtle in your pocket, Matt?

That was Savage’s writing, not mine.

So sorry. Anyway, when someone says “our” and he’s the only one talking, you might assume he is speaking for the turtle in his pocket as well. It’s arcane, I know. I believe the expression has its origins in Delaware. Or not.

[Xeones]

I believe the expression has its origins in Delaware.

So it’s Biden’s fault? No, wait — i’m sure he plagiarized it from somewhere else.

[phalkor]

I’ve got something in my pocket, for you.

[T]

you might assume he is speaking for the turtle in his pocket as well. It’s arcane, I know. I believe the expression has its origins in Delaware. Or not.

Around here, it’s always been a mouse. Or occasionally, amongst the less genteel, a turd.

[Blue]

Only THE Obama can bless your sweet wedded bliss. Not some politicians or priests or overpaid clerks at the courthouse – ONLY THE Obama can.

[while riding naked on an unicorn]

[T]

Only THE Obama can bless your sweet wedded bliss. Not some politicians or priests or overpaid clerks at the courthouse – ONLY THE Obama can.

I had a judge from the New Orleans civil court, who sounded just like Elmer Fudd, do mine. I don’t think he would’ve looked good naked, on unicorn back or otherwise, so I ‘m glad he wore a suit.

[Xeones]

I’m with the folks who have a hard time feeling bad for disappointed Obamautomatons. Even if you truly believe your choice is limited to giant douche vs. turd sandwich, if you pick the giant douche, you don’t get to complain when your vagina stings afterwards.

[Warren]

Dan Savage is an ass. Fuck you faggot! This is your fault.

[ed]

Around here, it’s always been a mouse

Yeah, but mice bite.*

*I know, I know. And turtles snap. Both of which might not be problematic for The Gays??.

[Xeones]

Both of which might not be problematic for The Gays??.

The Gays?? are vore fetishists?

[ed]

The Gays?? are vore fetishists?

Hey, I could have said “gerbils.”

[A.G. Pym]

Another area where O has not demonstrated support for LGBT issues is in the complete silence of his administration on the “Iraq gay holocaust:” the Iraqi government and some religious authorities have declared LGBT essentially “un-people” and virtually require them to be killed.

Well-sourced, angry column at:

http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/08/why-reagan-was-a-better-friend-to-gays-than-obama/

[R C Dean]

Another area where O has not demonstrated support for LGBT issues is in the complete silence of his administration on the “Iraq gay holocaust:”

Hey, if they aren’t going to say boo about oppression of women under sharia, you can’t expect much on oppression of teh gheys.

[ed]

the “Iraq gay holocaust”

I’m sure it’s on Obama’s list, A.G. #3,745. Right after Cat Neutering.
Give it some time. It took Jesus himself years before he could walk on water.

[John C. Randolph]

Gee, the liberals are finding out that their president was only paying lip-service to the issues they care about?

Now they know how the conservatives felt when GWB set a new spending record.

-jcr

[Jim Treacher]

You’d think that by this point in his life, Dan Savage would be used to having hot guys lie to him.

[Tony]

What are gays gonna do, vote Republican? We’re a solid part of his base, and therefore he has nothing to gain by doing anything but make token gestures, and a lot to lose by freaking out the moderate/conservatives who actually caused him to win. Do I like it? No. Do I wish he’d stand atop a parade float in designer underwear waiving a rainbow flag? That would be FABulous. But marriage rights have been progressing at a rate I never thought possible this soon, without his help. Having Republicans in power is an actual threat to me, so preventing that is more important than having my president trumpet his support for gay equal rights. We don’t need him.

And anyway Reasonoids aren’t exactly taking to the streets on this issue either–and they explicitly believe in individual liberty, and don’t have any political power to lose.

[Syd]

Seems to me gays have been doing just fine the last few months. Gay marriage is about to be legal throughout New England, in New York, and is already in Iowa. The administration certainly isn’t hostile to the spread. Perhaps this is not the best time to whine?

[NLE]

HOw many people here think being anti marriage is equivalent to persecuting and harming gays?

Anyone…anyone

It’s still government marriage, and most of those laws dealing with married couples suck. Go ahead and call me a bigot, but i sure don’t want to put my property and money at risk just to have a piece of paper that says I’m married.

The victim rhetoric is pretty annoying.

[DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist]

“What are gays gonna do, vote Republican?”

How about voting for a third party or independent candidate who actually DOES support your rights???

[The Angry Optimist]

Come on, DHS, if you don’t vote for a Democrat, you must be, by Tony’s logic, a Republican.

[Tony]

How about voting for a third party or independent candidate who actually DOES support your rights???

Because there are only two viable parties nationally or in my state. Okay one and a half.

Getting anything done in this country requires you to join with the party that most reflects your views and influence it from within. Demanding absolute purity from politicians before supporting them is a good way to waste your life.

[DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist]

“Getting anything done in this country requires you to join with the party that most reflects your views and influence it from within. Demanding absolute purity from politicians before supporting them is a good way to waste your life.”

Because we know how well that strategy has worked for supporters of small government who stuck with the Republicans in hopes of influencing it. Don’t we? I mean, George W. Bush and John McCain have not supported any legislation that would grow the size and power of government now have they? And Bush vetoed the Bailout bill in late 2008, didn’t he?

[highnumber]

Which has worked better – staying with one of the mainstream parties or voting outside of them?

Seriously, does anyone have an answer?

[DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist]

Highnumber,

Well, I would like to point out that the Republican party started out as “third party” that formed from the Free Soil party and Northern Whigs. The Free Soil party, even though it no longer exists, had a huge impact on the American Political system. I look at the Libertarian Party, the Boston Tea Party and the Constitution Party in that way. Even though these parties have little chance of electing a POTUS they can have a bigger impact in the long term by staying true to their principles.

[J sub D]

Gee, the liberals are finding out that their president was only paying lip-service to the issues they care about?

Now they know how the conservatives felt when GWB set a new spending record.

And like the conservatives, most of Obama’s liberal supporters will bend themselves into linguistic knots explaining why they still support him.

[Paul]

And like the conservatives, most of Obama’s liberal supporters will bend themselves into linguistic knots explaining why they still support him.

I know, ain’t it cool. Like watching a tennis match between team red and team blue.

[Tony]

Because being ideological purists with no political power whatsoever is enlightenment!

[DHS Thinks I\'m a Terrorist]

“Because being ideological purists with no political power whatsoever is enlightenment!”

I cannot speak for all libertarians but I would say that having political power does far more good than harm. It is like a hard drug, powerful and addictive but the damage it does to oneself is enormous.

http://wiki.epicurus.info/Politics