SOTU speech over - my thoughts and ramblings

President Obama's speech is over and before the overpaid pundits tell us why we should love or hate it, let me give a few thoughts.

I liked it. It was on point but now it's time for him to push action.

And yes, I noticed what he said about DADT. And I know that others noticed his mention of the commitment to overturn the policy.

Now before some of us start ruminating in that particular way which we do, I would ask that you remember the faces of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They weren't exactly looking all that happy.

Maybe I am misinterpreting their desire not to show emotion, but then again, maybe I'm not.

Overturning DADT should happen and it will. But it won't be easy. We should remember that. Instead of directing venom at Obama's way because he "isn't moving fast enough," I would suggest that we continue to do what we do - and that is to exert pressure on the President. Remind him that we helped to get him elected and we lgbts as Americans deserve our rights.

But let's not get caught away with the hyperbole. Yes, we are all tired of being second class citizens but talking about how sick and tired you are may make you feel good via facebook or the blogs, but it entails more than that.

To tell the truth though, I have been very disturbed by some folks' overeagerness to paint the President as a "bigot." He is pragmatic to the point of annoyance at times, but to call him names reveals a haste that's not conducive to the community.

And if I may take it further, I especially hate how these discussions over Obama's commitment to the lgbt community have made us snipe at each other. I have different opinions about Obama's commitment to the lgbt community. I don't like some of the things he has done, but I am willing to give him credit on other things.

But sometimes I don't want to mention how I feel because I don't want to be sniped at by some (pardon the expression) self-satisfied, "righteously indignant" individual who seems to be so obsessed with his/her opinion of lgbt rights that an understanding of other opinions seems to be out of his/her mindset.

I don't think it's right that someone who doesn't know me all of the sudden feels justified to trivialize my life simply because I don't share that person's opinion.

We may disagree but no one likes being called names or having their commitment to lgbt equality minimized simply because they take different views of President Obama. Regardless of how you feel about the President, you shouldn't feel that you will be attacked by your own people.

But it's happening all of the time. And it reveals an inability to understand that while we are all lgbt, we come from different environments and different opinions on how we should take steps to get what we need in terms of equality.

We don't all come from the Castro, or any other big city metropolis. We don't all listen to Lady GaGa (until last month, I have never heard of Lady GaGa). And some of us don't follow the struggle for lgbt equality as much as others.

But at the very least, lgbts owe each other basic respect.

If we don't, then we are no better than Peter LaBarbera and the rest of the religious right.

Obama and DADT: What do you think the President will say?

Tonight is the night of President Obama's State Of The Union address.

If one listens to hyperbole, then it will be the most important speech of his presidency . . . until his next State of the Union address.

I wonder if Rep. Joe Wilson will open his mouth? I hope he does and I hope Michelle Obama wings him with a high heeled pump.

Seriously, tonight will be interesting on a lot of fronts, especially when it comes to Don't Ask, Don't Tell - the policy regarding gays in the military.

According to the Huffington Post, Obama is expected to call an end to it:

President Barack Obama will directly address the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in his State of the Union address on Wednesday evening, sources on Capitol Hill and in the gay-rights community tell the Huffington Post.

What exactly he will say about it remains a topic of intense debate, however -- though the betting among plugged-in sources is that he will call for its repeal.

"It is going to happen," said a source in the gay-rights community. "And it is going to be brought up in a somewhat significant way. But what that significance is we don't know." A Hill aide confirmed that the White House communications department told congressional press colleagues that the president would discuss the policy during his prime-time speech.

The article goes on to say that the pressure has been mounting for Obama to take a stance on the issue.

And why not? Maybe it's just me but the religious right as a whole seems to have abandoned this issue. Other than token opposition by Elaine Donnelly (and we all know what happened to her at the DADT hearing two years ago), there hasn't really been that much of a backlash against the notion of allowing gays in the military.

Still, if Obama does call an end to DADT, expect the customary cries about "military cohesion" and such to erupt.

It's what we have come to expect.

But seriously,  what do you think he will say?

The floor is yours. BE NICE!!!

Military wastes money on DADT and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Military Spent $500 Million Implementing Gay Ban - Where are the teabaggers? THIS is wasted money!

Maggie Gallagher: 'I'm in favor of marriage equality' - SURE you are, Maggie.

ACORN "Exposer" James O'Keefe and Buds Caught Playing "Watergate, Cajun Style" - Oh come on. It's the story everyone is talking about. You know you want to know more about it.

AIDS Rent Cap Clears Hurdle - A very interesting story.

Iowa Governor To Proclaim Gay-Straight Alliance Day - A short article but very good news.

Notion of same-sex parenting debunked because Focus on the Family says so?

From Truth Wins Out comes this claim via Focus on the Family:

A study in the Journal of Marriage and Family concludes that any set of two or more compatible parents are as good for children as a married, biological mother and father. In particular, lesbians, they claim, "seem to outparent comparable married, heterosexual, biological parents."

Glenn Stanton, director of family formation studies at Focus on the Family, debunks the findings.

"They're just completely overreaching their hand," he said. "Are we to think that nature has really sent each one of us down a second-rate road of having to be raised by a man and a woman?"

The research dismisses more than two decades of studies that show a mom and a dad each contribute to their child's upbringing.

"The research is very, very clear and it backs up what God has put into process," Stanton said, "that a man and a woman are the best people to raise that child to healthy adulthood."

Stanton says the findings appear to reveal an agenda on the part of the researchers and not scientific conclusions.

That's it. We don't have the name of the study, when it appeared, or anything else about it.

All we know is that it "debunks" the notion of same sex parenting because Glenn Stanton (who has already admitted that he has no expertise in issues about the lgbt community) and Focus on the Family says so.

Okay.

Well based on the track record of Focus on the Family and its tendency to distort legitimate research (especially in the cases of. Dr. Carol Gilligan Ph.D:,  Kyle Pruett, M.D., Angela Phillips, and Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc), I think that I would rather wait on independent confirmation rather than anything the organization or its spokespeople says.