Q Toon: Faith, Hope and Love, aBiden

Human Rights Campaign issued their endorsement of Joe Biden for president this week on the eighth anniversary of his having proclaimed his support for marriage equality. That support was not an isolated outlier on LGBTQ+ issues, as the announcement explained:

As a Member of Congress over 36 years, Biden championed dozens of pieces of legislation providing greater protections for LGBTQ people. His support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) advocated for our dignity in the workplace. And his courage to do what’s right, even though it may be unpopular, twice stopped two constitutional amendments enshrining marriage discrimination as the law of the land. Biden’s early support for HIV/AIDS resources helped establish the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. While as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden helped secure the reauthorization of PEPFAR, which significantly expanded the funding and targets for treatment, care, and prevention of HIV/AIDS and repealed a statutory ban on visas for people who were HIV-positive.
As Vice President, Biden continued his decades-long fight for LGBTQ hate crime prevention playing an integral role in passing the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. He played a leading role in repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and opening service for transgender people giving LGBTQ service members the visibility and respect they deserve. In 2012, his support for the freedom to marry marked a major turning point for the marriage equality movement, contributing to a sea change in public opinion that ultimately culminated in a Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges that made marriage equality the law of the land.
Throughout his career, Biden has been ahead of the curve on expanding protections and rights for transgender Americans. In 2012, he called transgender rights the “civil rights issue of our time” articulating a truth that many — even in his own party at the time — left unaddressed. He reiterated that statement when launching his LGBTQ platform earlier this year. He worked with President Obama to install transgender Americans throughout the administration including to positions within the White House. Throughout his campaign, Biden has elevated the need to address the epidemic of violence facing the transgender community — especially transgender women of color — and articulated a strong plan to empower transgender Americans in the workforce to help combat conditions that lead to that disproportionate violence.

Not that Biden's LGBTQ+ record is solid gold. In 1996, he voted for the Republicans' "Defense of Marriage Act." He had a lot of company; it passed the Senate 85-14. (Bernie Sanders joined 65 Democrats and Steve Gunderson, R-WI, in voting against it in the House; none of this year's other major presidential contenders were in Congress at the time.)

On the other hand, the only LGBTQ+-positive thing the Corrupt Trump Administration can point to is Ambassador to Germany Ric Grenell's advocacy of decriminalizing homosexuality in other countries, which has yet to produce any tangible results.

The Log Cabin Republicans endorsed his reelection last year, notwithstanding Trump's attacks on transgender service members in the U.S. military. Rhapsodizing that "For LGBTQ Republicans, watching the 2016 GOP convention before Donald Trump took the stage was like a dream fulfilled," the Log Cabinettes were swayed by general issues of tax cuts and trade negotiations. Frankly, the Log Cabin Republicans are no more likely to withhold their endorsement of an incumbent president of their own party than the Stonewall Democrats would be.

The Stonewall Democrats haven't made a presidential endorsement yet this year. Social distancing, don't you know.

Long Road to Victory, Part II

Part II: The Democrats Evolve

Happy Independence Day! It's Smackback Saturday here at Bergetoons, and we're reviewing the history of the debate over same-sex marriage. (Part I was this past Wednesday.)

Republicans had no problem forcefully proclaiming that they were four-square against marriage equality from the start, but the issue posed more of a dilemma for Democrats. Gays and lesbians had been shoring up their status within the Democratic party for many years by the time the issue came to prominence; but same-sex marriage did not poll well in the 1990's.

Defense/Definition of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) swept into law across the country; many states passed these as amendments to their constitutions in order to prevent the legal challenges that nearly brought marriage equality to Hawai'i. Fearful for their electoral careers, Democrats went along with this antigay tidal wave. As far as Republicans were concerned, it didn't hurt that these ballot measures brought their right-wing Christian soldiers to the polls in droves.

Having used the issue to electoral benefit in 2002, 2004, and off-year elections, Republicans kept pushing a federal constitutional amendment to limit marriages to one man and one woman This from 2002...

And this from 2004...

In an attempt at compromise, some pro-gay Democrats offered lesbians and gays legal arrangements that were sort of like marriage, but not quite. The state of Vermont was first to pass a Civil Union registry, which made its governor, Howard Dean, a darling to some LGBT Democrats.

"Civil Unions" and "Domestic Partnerships" allowed Democrats to offer some support to gay and lesbian couples while still holding out some hope of not being tarred and feathered in the next election as "destroying the Family." As we'll see in another installment of this series, the religious right and their political allies really had no interest in yielding a millimeter.

Lest we forget, during both of his campaigns for president, Barack Obama was reluctant to voice any support for marriage equality, in spite of a sterling record on other LGBT issues (and in spite of having indicated his "unequivocal" support in a candidate questionnaire for a Chicago LGBT newspaper back when he ran for the Illinois State Senate in 1996). I drew this cartoon in 2011, when he visited the Human Rights Campaign to tout his administration's record.

That changed -- but that's a topic for another day.

Resistance Is Futile

Just a little something I threw together for my Trekker friends -- one of whom suggested that I had better sign it.

Before it shows up on George Takei's Twitter feed.

In re Obama at the HRC

I am told that a prominent gay blogger is greatly displeased with last week's cartoon about President Obama's speech at the Human Rights Campaign dinner.

There may be more to post about it later. For now, I haven't heard anything from him directly, and haven't seen the conversation that is reportedly taking place.

Q Toon: Obama at the HRC Dinner

Speaking at the Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday, President Obama listed his administration's accomplishments in furthering LGBT rights.

Originally, I had set up this cartoon to liken LGBT voters unhappy with President Obama's record to those Republicans who fantasize about Chris Christie getting into the presidential race -- having had those same fantasies about Rick Perry's bigger head until he actually became a candidate.

Since I drew the cartoon, Christie has decided that he won't run for president after all, which leaves the Republican party stuck with its earlier dream candidates. And Mitt Romney.

I'm glad that I decided that the Christie analogy version of the cartoon was too preachy. I cast about until I hit on the "Mama didn't raise me..." line, which seems to argue against the original point that I hoped to make, but I think it's a better cartoon. (It still allows President Obama to point out the positives in his record.)

Q Toon: Target ♥s Tom Emmer

LGBT rights groups are dismayed by political donations made by Target corporation (and also Best Buy) to a Minnesota business PAC called MnForward, which supports antigay Republican candidate for the state's governor, Tom Emmer. Target (and Best Buy) have had 100% positive ratings from the Human Rights Campaign for LGBT-friendly workplace policies, but Emmer is on record as opposing not only marriage rights for same-sex couples, but also Civil Unions, Domestic Partnerships, and anything else more intimate than Total Stranger relationships.

Target has responded to the criticism of their donation to MnForward by saying that they reserve the right to support any candidate whose vision for Minnesota they consider to be business-oriented. HRC has responded with an ad of its own:

"[Y]ou have severely damaged those carefully cultivated reputations and violated the spirit of the gold standards bestowed on you. In fact, the long-term effects on families that shop at Target and Best Buy throughout Minnesota and the U.S. will be devastating."

--HRC newspaper advertisement, August 1, 2010

It's not just Tom Emmer's anti-marriage policies that raise concern. Emmer's campaign has also donated $250 to "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide," a so-called Christian punk rock group that advocates killing homosexuals:

“Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America. This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination... If America won’t enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that.”

--YCRBYCH front man Bradlee Dean, on their AM radio show, May 15, 2010.

Emmer, who has appeared on Dean's radio show, visited Dean's home, and attended a meet-and-greet fund raiser for the group, has at least disavowed their Death to Gays stance; but he claims that the band are "nice people."

Apparently, Emmer has a much more flexible definition of Minnesota Nice than I had when I was at St. Olaf.