Brody's Notes... Gay Activists To White House & Congress: "Enough Crumbs! We Want Entire Meal."

The Gay Agenda    Photo By Jen Walker  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Apr 19 | As the 2010 mid-term elections approach, LGBT activists are becoming galvanised to a more radical approach on LGBT specific issues, calling on LGBT people to personally confront politicians and to stop financial campaign support to Democrats running who are not expressing complete and total support on LGBT issues such as ENDA, DADT, and repeal of the Defence Of Marriage Act or simply supporting Gay marriage rights.

In a press release after the news of the presidential memorandum ordering Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to ensure that any U. S. hospital that receives or takes federal Medicaid & Medicare funds allows hospital visitation by LGBT partners, Lt. Dan Choi USAR, a prominent Gay Rights activist with GetEqual.org said: 

"Last week's hospital visitation directive is a welcome, but small step. Long gone are the days when will we accept crumbs and politely smile as if we were served the entire meal. We are tired of waiting. We are tired of seeing our money and our support go to politicians who promise us everything yet give us only small token gestures in return. We will continue confronting our elected officials, including President Obama, with direct action demanding that they fulfill their campaign promises to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act."

Michelangelo Signorile, longtime LGBT activist and host of his own show on Sirius XM's OutQ Radio, in an Op-Ed published in The Huffington Post over the weekend said:

"President Obama's order this week to extend visitation rights in hospitals to partners of gay and transgender people was a welcome advance. And he did it literally with a few strokes of a pen, writing a memo to the Health and Human Services secretary. That underscores the fact that it could have and should have been done in February of 2009. The president has said he is a "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights, after all, and anyone so committed would have done whatever he could as soon as possible.

The president instead issued this order over a year later, on the very day that he headed to Miami, launching a fundraising campaign to raise money for Democrats in the mid-term elections. Gays have been a loyal constituency that has donated much to the Democrats, and some of us are boycotting the DNC because of the sluggish pace on LGBT rights, particularly on don't ask, don't tell repeal, passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and repeal of the Defense of Marriage act. A lot of people are wondering if Obama's hospital visitation announcement -- which did not offer any new rights of any kind -- is in fact all that is coming in 2010, as he has not pushed Congress for a repeal of DADT this year and hasn't spoken out on ENDA either."

There are some members of Congress who recognise frustrations have reached a boil-over point on Gay equality rights. In a speech to the Victory Fund's annual Champagne Brunch, Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) told the audience in regard to LGBT equality;

''We're gonna win this battle, there's no question. … I know people are frustrated, 'Well, we're always fighting.' Of course we're always fighting, because we have taken on a major task: eradicating one of the great prejudices of human history. So, of course, we're going to keep fighting until it's all over.''

Congressman Frank also noted looking toward the mid-term elections on pro-LGBT interests;

''We're going to have a tough November – not because of our issues, and that's very important to note, but because of the political environment more broadly."

In a more combative tone, Frank told the crowd speaking in regard to the opposition he's faced from Anti-LGBT forces in Congress;

''Here's my radical homosexual agenda: Let us get married, join the military and hold down a job.''

A spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign said that the organisation is carefully evaluating candidate's positions on the LGBT issues and noted that HRC president Joe Solmonese will be participating in a Town Hall meeting hosted by SirusXM's OutQ host Signorile this week in Washington.

Other LGBT equality rights advocates invited to participate in that meeting include Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality; Rea Carey of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; blogger and activist Pam Spaulding of PamsHouseBlend.com; Aubrey Sarvis of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network; and Richard Socarides, former advisor to Bill Clinton on gay rights.