Senate Democrats permit yet another 60-vote threshold to stop any progressive policy movement.

Surprise… surprise… surprise…

Is this a serious question?

We’ve been getting the run around on ENDA from Obama and federal Democrats since 2009.

Why anyone still tolerates this nonsense is beyond me.

I strongly agree with the inside & out strategy the article mentions and to which you add more context.

I would also add the strategy of a legal angle to any movement. The Log Cabin case on DADT was another big piece of the puzzle.

Of course, there are a couple of cases next week that are the result of decades of work (mostly of outside the beltway-type folks) that are another huge piece of the puzzle.

I agree with the article and your additions — just don’t forget to suggest a legal angle for any sustained movement.

But to me it doesn’t matter why.

And thinking like this is exactly why the LGBT movement in the US is years behind other developed and less-than-developed countries.

Knowing when you’re being used matters a great deal.

And how will “her vocal support” help us “move the ball forward”?

She’s not bringing anybody new to the table.

What will HRC do next? Have Harvey Fierstein come out in support of gay marrriage?

Clearly HRC rolling this out on a Monday morning (heralded through the “progressive” blogosphere) is a planned event.

But it is really strategically advantageous for someone already viewed as a crazy liberal opportunist by mainstream America to fall in AFTER Bill Clinton did weeks ago (again, so carefully “planned”)?

Well, once again, it’s strategetically advantageous for the Clintons’ political ambitions, just not necessarily gay rights.

Let’s not be so naive as to forget who is serving whom.

Headlines of “Hillary Clinton Supports Gay Marriage!” isn’t convincing anyone who isn’t already on our side to be on our side. And certainly not anyone sitting on the Supreme Court.

Who are these people running the media campaign, and why are they leading with a figure like Hillary?

March 18, 2013

About damn time.

Wouldn’t want to get behind another GOPer like Portman coming out for marriage equality, would we?

In the Windsor case before the court, doesn’t the Federalist Society-darling Chief Judge of the Second Circuit already give us heightened scrutiny as a standard?

It seems the Obama administration is playing catch-up to a right wing judge.

As a fellow North Carolinian, I mostly agree with Pam’s response.

My feelings also include… why the #^!! can Obama take the personal time to deal with a brief, but not pick up a pen and sign a frickin non-discrimination order?!

Clearly, he has the power to sign a non-discrimination order. He simply doesn’t want to.

Panetta issued some orders.

Still waiting on Obama to do the same.

GetEQUAL is taking action. What are the other LGBT orgs doing?

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/02/10/advocates-urge-obama-to-issue-enda-executive-order/

The Obama White House trotted out Shin Inoyue to throw cold water on the ENDA executive order after some protestors brought the issue to the White House fences again last night.

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/02/10/advocates-urge-obama-to-issue-enda-executive-order/

Why this ENDA EO is being reported as a possibility in the WaPo AND picked up by FDL is beyond me.

Their spokesperson said it’s not happening.

Thanks to everyone who has debunked Obama’s revisionist history.

Federal District Judge Virginia Phillips in California beat Obama to the punch by finding DADT unconstitutional.

This gun-to-the-head from the federal courts is the singular reason why the administration and the Pentagon finally backed down.

Of course, the compromise DADT repeal legislation everyone hails as “permanent” (any Congress could reinstate DADT just as any President can change orders) doesn’t include non-discrimination language like the original versions of DADT repeal. And these Center for American Progress-Obama led compromises allow inequality to fester still as we’ve seen in story after story post DADT repeal.

Making this federal contracting connection is key. I’d love to see the federal contracting connection made every time a corporation (Chick-fil-A, Hobby Lobby, etc.) makes plain they’re discriminatory practice.

Well, if the President is serious about his commitment to equality, as he mentioned in his inaugural address (“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law“), he may want to take a look at that non-discrimination executive order again. After all, Ashley Furniture is a federal contractor and would have to stop this behavior right quick if he signed it.

+10

Four years of inaction speaks louder than few seconds of cheap talk.

Count this Hunter strongly, proudly and without reservation in the “actions speak louder” contingent.

Let Obama’s pen speak swiftly, and yet with more force, as his lips did.

I preferred Obama and the federal Democrats pass ENDA when they had historic majorities in 2009-2010.

I preferred Obama sign a non-discrimination executive order after Democrats were obilerated at the state and federal level in 2010.

I preferred Obama sign a non-discrimination executive order after his election this past November.

I prefer executive action to executive words.

his second term only began today

emphasis mine

My point exactly. So much talk. So little action.

The suggestion that waiting four years and hearing some pretty talk is something I should be grateful for is so plainly insulting. Why is this hard to fathom?

It saddens, angers and worries me that this air of excusing inaction seems so prevalent in the mainstream LGBT movement.

Obama’s second term talk is so cheap it’s sickening.

Sign the ENDA executive order now or STFU!!!

If I see another post or talking head fawning over Obama’s mention of G and L in a speech, but not noting that he hasn’t lifted his pen to sign an executive order, I’ll scream.

Obama signed 23 executive orders last week, but the ENDA order hasn’t been touched.

Less talk. More action.

It’s painful to see Alvin — someone who has heroically documented religious anti-LGBT animus — give a pass to the White House on Giglio.

It’s also painful to see people not grasp that the White House’s desire to kowtow to Giglio and his ilk is in inextricably linked to why Obama hasn’t signed an ENDA executive order yet.

The Giglio issue matters. It’s directly related to political homophobia that still drenches US politicians.

Waving this issue off as unimportant is both poor strategy and tactics in the LGBT movement.

What’s the excuse for Obama’s failure to lift his pen now?

It’s December 2012. No more excuses for inaction.

Time to demand accountability from Obama and his surrogates.

Rich gays and lesbians are circulating a letter “from the LGBT community” about the fictional fiscal cliff, but aren’t saying one word about the White House’s failure to act on a non-discrimination order.

Accountability-time has arrived.

The soon-to-be-out-of-work Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) would seem to be something of a fit somewhere for the administration.

This spot is as good as any other.

Regarding the question “Why don’t you just leave?” I refer to the late Paul Robeson’s response to bigoted Congressmen asking him the same question about leaving the USA during the McCarthy era. Robeson responded “…and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?”

Regarding the meme that NC’s Amendment One was too early or unwinnable. That’s just a damn lie. The spectacular failure of the NC Amendment One vote was due to a spectacularly incompetent campaign.

In 2006 — 6 years earlier in the US LGBT movement — Virginia passed their “Amendment One” by 57%.

In 2012, NC passed its Amendment One by 61%.

And of course here in 2012 Minnesota is rejecting and more narrow — NOT civil union-banning — amendment just 6 months later.

As we’ve seen across the country today and in years past (Virginia), competent campaigns matter. NC did not have one against Amendment One.

While that sounds like a negative assessment of NC, it’s actually meant to illustrate that the future of LGBT issues in NC isn’t that bleak.

But it does matter greatly if competent people are running a movement or campaign when you try to make political or legal change.

As my alma mater says, I’m a Tar Heel born, I’m a Tar Heel bred, and when I die, I’m a Tar Heel dead.

I’m not going anywhere. But I am looking for competent leadership.