I Didn't Say It ...

Pete Buttigieg, reacting to the partial results of the delayed Iowa caucus vote:

“It validates the idea that we can expand a coalition not only unified around who it is we’re against but around what it is that we’re for. And it validates for a kid somewhere in a community …. wondering … if he belongs, or she belongs, or they belong, in their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country, there’s a lot backing up that belief.”

He may not win the nomination, but he made history.

And he made a community proud.

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Lamar Alexander, GOP Coward, saying believes _____ withheld military aid to Ukraine to “encourage” its government to investigate the Bidens:

“If you have eight witnesses who say someone left the scene of an accident, why do you need nine? I mean, the question for me was: Do I need more evidence to conclude that the president did what he did? And I concluded no.”

So, he did what he did, and you think that’s okay for a president to do. And you think this acquittal, which you will vote for, will embolden him to be just as corrupt?

Seriously. Fuck off. No, seriously fuck off.

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Rashida Tlaib, Democratic congresswoman, apologizing for leading a chorus of boos for Hillary Clinton at a Bernie Sanders event:

“I am so incredibly in love with the movement that our campaign of #NotMeUs has created. This makes me protective over it and frustrated by attempts to dismiss the strength and diversity of our movement. However, I know what is at stake if we don’t unify over one candidate to beat Trump and I intend to do everything possible to ensure that Trump does not win in 2020. In this instance, I allowed my disappointment with Secretary Clinton’s latest comments about Senator Sanders and his supporters get the best of me. You all, my sisters-in-service on stage, and our movement deserve better. I will continue to strive to come from a place of love and not react in the same way of those who are against what we are building in this country. This is about building a just and equitable future for my two boys, children across the country, and future generations.”

Nice that you apologized, though you never should have done it in the first place because you are standing on the shoulders of Hillary Clinton and every woman who came before you.

Show some respect.

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Martin O'Malley, former candidate for president and governor of Maryland, on Bernie:

“Bernie’s still being given a bit of a free pass by the national media. I do not believe that he would be a strong candidate for our party in the fall. And, except for three months out of every four years, he’s not even of our party.”

Bernie is not a Democrat, until election time.

Bernie has not passed, written, proposed, any notable legislation in his entire career.

That said, if Bernie’s the nominee, he gets my vote.

PS O’Malley is dreamy AF.

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Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican Senator, has already vowed to impeach Joe Biden if he’s elected president, after saying that using impeachment as a weapon is wrong:

“I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened. Joe Biden should be very careful what he’s asking for because, you know, we can have a situation where if it should ever be President Biden, that immediately, people, right the day after he would be elected would be saying, ‘Well, we’re going to impeach him.’”

Take a seat, Joni, because if the Blue Wave strikes again, your party will be irrelevant.

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Frank Bruni, NYT columnist, Pete Buttigieg’s so-called ‘gay reckoning’:

“He has weathered complaints, even derision, from L.G.B.T.Q. progressives, many of whom say he’s not gay enough, his manner and mannerisms too strait-laced, his policy preoccupations too moderate, his success infuriatingly reflective of how readily and well he assimilates into heterosexual America.”

I don’t know where to start … not gay enough? Not fucking gay enough? What does that even mean, because it seems to imply that all gay people should act exactly the same, and we don’t and we never have.

Strait-laved? Why, because he appears to be a nice man? Oh, that’s awful!

He’s too moderate? That’s not a bad thing; think about that pendulum swinging all the way back from the far right of hatred where it sits now, to the far left of utter liberalism. It’s not gonna happen.

I don’t see him assimilating into hetero-culture. I mean, how many heteros are kissing their husbands on the campaign trail? How many heteros are telling their long coming out story?

Knock this stuff off; it serves no one, least of all the LGBTQ+ community.

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LGBT Rights: We Have Marriage Equality, But Our Fight Is Far From Over

Nearly five years ago, September 2010, there was a rash of LGBTQ youth suicides as a result of bullying — Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown, to name a few — and so, every September, as our youth starts back to school, many start back to being bullied again.

And while things have changed for the better since 2010—we’ve seen gays and lesbians being allowed to serve openly in the military, we’ve won marriage equality—we still have a way to go before we are fully accepted, though even I know we’ll never be completely accepted by all.

And that also applies to our youth, who have far less protections than we adults have, and who, may times, suffer far worse fates at the hands of haters than adults; and that’s why LGBTQ students need protection from discrimination and bullying.

Al Franken, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota, delivered a powerful address to his colleagues about anti-LGBT bullying and discrimination, speaking about Seth Walsh, a gay teen, one of those who took their own lives in September 2010:

“By seventh grade, taunts and verbal abuse were a constant part of Seth’s day. Students called him faggot and queer. He was afraid to use the restroom or to be in the boys’ locker room before gym class. [In] September of 2010, Seth hanged himself from a tree in his family’s backyard. He was 13. Seth left a note expressing his love for family and friends but also his anger at the school.”

Franken then introduced an amendment attached to a bill updating No Child Left Behind laws that would provide LGBTQ youth the same legal remedies available to other kids under federal civil rights laws:

“If a black child was referred to by a racial slur at school, would we say kids will be kids? If a Jewish student got beat up because he wore a yarmulke to school, would we wave it off and say boys will be boys? If a shop teacher told a female student she didn’t belong in his class, would we be fine if the school just looked the other way? No, we would not. In fact, there are federal civil rights laws that are specifically designed to stop this kind of conduct.”

And so Senator Franken asked his colleagues to stand up for LGBTQ youth and reduce bullying, by voting for a bill to "end discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity in public schools."

And our Senate said, resoundingly, “No.”

Nearly every single Republican voted to let LGBTQ youth continue to endure bullying and taunts and harassment simply for being gay, or even being perceived to be gay; only six Republican Senators voted for Senator Franken's amendment.

Tennessee Republican Senator Lamar Alexander lead the charge in voting ‘No’ to the amendment because he fears it would bring “costly lawsuits” which just proves that Alexander, and all those other Republicans care more about money that LGBTQ youth.

And so here’s a list of all U.S. Senators who voted ‘No’ and please note that they are all Republicans:

And here are the Senators who voted to protect LGBTQ youth from bullying:

Not voting were U.S. Republican Senators and 2016 presidential candidates Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. Also not voting was U.S. Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, who has been out after undergoing cancer surgery Monday.

If you like, and perhaps you should, find your Senator on this list, and if they voted ‘No’ maybe let them know that you find their actions unconscionable; you find it disgusting that gay lives matter less than money.

And, if you’re lucky enough to have a Senator vote ‘Yes’ let them know you appreciate their efforts and ask them to continue to fight to protect LGBTQ youth.

The march does go on ….

NCRM