October 9th, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
Self Defeating
Sexual Orientation of McCain’s Senate Chief of Staff Revealed - News - LA Weeklypage 1 - LA Weekly
“Log Cabin claims [McCain] didn’t believe in making gay people second-class citizens. But that’s not what he said. He said we don’t need [the amendment] right now, but if the Defense of Marriage Act doesn’t work, maybe I’ll vote for it. With Sarah Palin,” he adds, “there was an anti-gay bill [in Alaska] that would have taken away domestic partnership benefits for government employees. She vetoed it because the Alaska Supreme Court [essentially said she had to]. She didn’t veto it because she likes gay people.“You want to talk about the psychology of gay Republicans?” Signorile continues. “These are people who grew up in Republican families. It is a huge thing for them to come on and lurch away from that. Instead, they try to adhere to it. They’re Republicans before they’re gay.”
…
“It’s total cognitive dissonance,” says Joe Jervis. “Buse and his partner have an open relationship, which is fine. But John McCain wants to repeal gay marriage in California, he’s supporting the anti-gay-marriage amendment in his home state of Arizona, he’s against the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell,’ he’s voted against hate crimes laws, he’s voted against ENDA [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act]. He always votes against LGBT rights, and his No. 1 man is an out gay man.How can someone like Mark Buse go to work every day for this man?”
I think that some wiggle room should be given to those who are trying to “fix it from the inside” but at some point it becomes a complete contradiction to who you are as a person if you work for a man who is completely disgusted by who you really are. Yes, people can be Republican and gay, its called being super rich and gay. I know a gay republican or two, and while I definitely don’t see eye to eye with them on most issues (because I am not super rich or super right wing religious) I still think they have the right to think that way (as long as they know they are wrong).
But when your day to day job is trying to put someone into power who wants to take away rights for you, or from anyone, it seems as though it should cross some sort of internal line; a line that says “as a member of a group that is discriminated against, I should NOT BE helping someone enable further discrimination.”
Just a thought.
via JMG
See also Post’s Labeled Mark Buse on JMG
