I remember when I first saw Ted Haggard.  I was at home with my parents and we were watching the Sunday morning news, a tradition in my household.  They were debating something to do with evolution, or abortion or gay marriage or one of those nonsensical things that the Christian Taliban gets all hot and bothered about.  

In one of those windows (you know the ones where they have the different window panels with a talking-head in each one) was Ted Haggard.  I looked at him and my Gaydar immediately went off.  I said, "That guy is gay."  To my amazement (not surprise) he was one of the Christian Taliban's talking heads.... even though I thought he was Fire Island FLAMING

Well check this out:

A Denver male hustler claims to have had a pay-for-play relationship for several years with evangelist Ted Haggard - one of the leaders of the move to ban same-sex marriage in Colorado.

What can I say other than   I CALLED IT!!

The story gets juicier...

Cross posted from Stonewall Democrats of NYC's blog.

Peter Rosenstein wrote an OpEd in the Washington Blade calling for Dean's ouster because of his (according to Rosenstein purposeful) misstatements.  Now, to be fair, I'm none to pleased with Dean's latest "missteps" regarding our community, but I'm holding out passing any sort of judgement until I hear what he has to say at the NSD conference.  

Also, it is important to note that Rosenstein is a Beltway insider consultant and no doubt fairly wealthy.  This calls his motivation into question because those beltway folks HATE Dean.  Look, the guy puts his foot in his mouth and is trying to get the Democratic message out there.  However, he's been doing an amazing job as DNC Chair by building up and funding the state parties.  Rosenstein doesn't discuss that, instead he admits:

I long ago stopped contributing to the DNC, way back when I worried some of my money might go the re-election of Sam Nunn, the former senator from Georgia who came up with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

So here's a guy who stopped giving to the DNC in 1996.  A good 7 years before Dean was even on the national map.  

Cross posted from SDNYC blog.

First, here's where I'm coming from. I started reading "Crashing the Gate" and in the first couple chapters they rile against the special interest groups that sabotage the larger progressive movement. (It's been blogged by Kos ad nauseum.) Then I read this:

While the Democratic Party should be the party of the people, it has become, with a lot of help from Republican framing, a party of "immoral" abortionists, "extremist" tree-huggers, "corrupt" labor officials, "greedy" trial lawyers, "predatory" homosexuals, and "antiwhite" minority activists. After all these are the loudest and most influential voices in our party--pro-choice groups, environmentalists, labor unions, trial lawyers, and identity groups.

Well, I dont know about you, but I dont feel "loud" and "influential" in the Democratic Party and I don't feel I'm a "special interest". So when Kos and Armstrong were at Drinking Liberally yesterday for part of their book tour I took the opportunity to go down and ask Kos exactly what he meant.

Extremist religous groups are once again attacking American values of fairness and equality!  A group called the Center for Reclaiming America for Christ is joining the Amerifcan "Family" Association's boycott of Ford until they drop all advertising in GLBT publications and cease offering any and all same-sex partner benefits!  

You can read the full article here.

Don't let them claim the banner of Family and American values.  What they are doing is undeniably UnAmerican!  Here's what you can do.  Click below the fold and help the progressive fight for GLBT Americans!

This was in my inbox.  I find it awfully disconcerting:

As most of you know, Eric Stern resigned as Director of GLBT Outreach at the DNC back in February 2005, when he became Executive Director of the Stonewall Democrats. Unforunately, his old position has remained vacant.

The Gay and Lesbian Americans Caucus of the Democratic National
Committee made it clear that they would like to see a new GLBT Outreach Director selected. In their statement they asked that the DNC pledge to maintain and fund at least one full-time senior-level position of Director of GLBT Outreach at the DNC, whose primary responsibility will be policy and organizing.

Well today we have our answer.  Having been a strong supporter of Howard Dean, I'm greatly saddened by this decision.  If you are as mad about this as I am, there will be an excellent opportunity to protest this decision next week.  Howard Dean will be appearing in DC at HALO (1435 P Street, NW) from 6:30 to 8:00 PM on Tuesday February 7th .  If your are interested in gathering outside HALO to protest this decision, please let me know.

-----------------

This is probably old news on the blogosphere, but I thought it was worth repeating.  After all, they do seem eerily familiar...

(cross-posted from the Stonewall Democrats NYC blog)

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each.

Read the list here

On Sunday the Republican National Committee is going to start running ads against me in my home state of Nevada - well I must be doing something right if they are already that scared.

The ads claim that I am politicizing the war in Iraq. Quiet frankly this attack is so ludicrous it would be funny, if the topic were not so serious. Our soldiers are fighting everyday in Iraq, but instead of engaging in a legitimate debate on the merits of our current course in Iraq, George Bush and Dick Cheney do what they always do and attempt to smear their opponents.

This week alone, we've seen Stephen Hadley. . . Donald Rumsfeld. . . President Bush. . . and Vice President Cheney lash out at their critics. . . yet they all remain silent when it comes to giving our troops and the American people a plan. Tired rhetoric and political attacks do nothing to solve our problems in Iraq.

As a former boxer I know, your opponent always starts to swing wildly when you've got them on the ropes. The way to beat them isn't to hesitate, but to continue landing punches until he goes down. The Iraq war is too important an issue to allow cheap political attacks to prevent us from doing what is best for our troops and best for our country.

Back when I was Nevada Gaming Commissioner the mob planted a bomb inside my car. That didn't scare me from doing what was right then, and I certainly am not scared of George Bush and his gang now. Democrats are going to keep pressing forward demanding accountability for intelligence failures and demanding a strategy for success that will bring the troops home.

Call the White House and let them know you are tired of political attacks and want real solutions for Iraq. You can reach the White House by dialing:

202-456-1111

Thank you,

Harry Reid

PS Since Tuesday more than 55,000 of you have signed the letter to George Bush asking him not to pardon Scooter Libby. You can still sign onto the letter by visiting:

http://giveemhellharry.com/page/petition/libby

"Wow! Brazil is big," -
President Bush after seeing a map of Brazil the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had shown him.

Full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/07/international/07prexy.ready.html?th&emc=th