It’s so frustrating to be on the receiving end of injustice, and infinitely harder when stifled by the very injustice you’re suffering. My message isn’t to ‘be more patient’ as much as to ‘do what you can in your position’ without placing yourself in a worse situation. Never give up, but at the same time, pick your battles by fighting only those where you have a good chance of triumphing. To act rashly can actually set back your cause(s).

Remember, many have been involved in this struggle for a very long time. The proof that we’re on the right path and justified in our convictions lies in the fact that so many more of us ‘hetero-normative’ types are willing to take up the fight alongside the GLBT and the discussion is now public and growing louder by the day.(Lori, hope I got your word correct)

No shrugging, no sitting back. No “it didn’t really matter, it’s all ok.” Yeah, McCain woulda been worse. But that shouldn’t stop you from doing what you’re doing — fighting back as best you can. Shouldn’t stop any of us from fighting an unjust and bigoted policy as best we can, in our often individual and often contradictory ways. It takes all kinds, always.

I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for you and your partner, Keori, having all this emotion about this and being unable to openly express it. Good thing we have these blog things, eh?

This damned policy will go down. If I had my druthers, it woulda never been. But the politicos didn’t listen to me then any better than they do now. But after many, many years observing and writing about government, talking candidly with some in government, I have come to this conclusion. Changing entrenched policies is like turning the proverbial battleship. Takes a while.

That’s how I know it will happen, and, as it always is, not on my timetable. But it will go down. And in the not too distant future. The process is already underway. It’s the same process that will one day soon allow us to marry our partners. The same process that decriminalized sodomy. The same process that took homosexuality out of the book of disorders. The same process that killed laws requiring men and women to wear gender specific clothing.

Doesn’t mean any of us should sit back and wait. And even those of us who may look like we’re sitting back and waiting aren’t. We’re just workin a different track.

Yeah, takes all kinds. That’s how things happen, when all kinds are involved.

I am passionate about this issue in particular because it is the unique hell I must live in. I feel for Lt.Col. Victor Fehrenbach, who was going to quietly resign his commission after being outed and investigated by the Air Force. Instead, he chose to stay and fight because he believed that Obama would fight for him as promised. Indeed, at the June gAyTM damage control cocktail hour at the White House, Obama himself reportedly told Lt.Col. Fehrenbach, “We’ll get this done.” Well, we’ve seen the fruits of THAT labor, and the result of THAT promise. I don’t know how Victor Fehrenbach feels knowing that he’s been stabbed in the back, his career allowed to go to waste, but I can imagine.

My partner was up for reenlistment, and the elections were the linchpin on which her decision swung. She promised me that if McCain/Palin won, she would not reenlist, and separate on schedule so we could live freely. However, because Obama promised that he would actively work to repeal DADT, she decided to reenlist, and I decided to support her. Now, instead of the pain easing a bit, it’s tripled. We’re not holding our breath watching the repeal gears slowly crank up to speed and move along. We’ve gasped with the sucker punches aimed in the gut as time and again, Obama has attacked and dishonored LGBT servicemembers and our families.

It’s not just impatience. It’s a sense of personal betrayal. I served ten years of my own life in uniform, in the closet. I’m still living in silence as a civilan, in the closet for the sake of my Beloved, whose boss promised her to stop perpetuating the bigotry that hovers over her daily. How else are we to feel? Are we to shrug and sit back and say, “Oh well, it didn’t really matter anyway, he has other things to do, it’s all okay, McCain would have been worse”?

Of course, that puts you in the position of believing what you believe, yet having to wish with all your heart that what I believe turns out to be true. You seem strong enough to handle that.

2012.

One hard lesson this 63 year old fellah had to learn, often the hard way, is that patience is needed when trying to change long-standing beliefs without driving possible supporters away from your cause. I’m still impatient, but my tongue is littered with bite marks.

Sometimes it’s possible to make more progress behind the scenes than openly. “Complete as much of your preparations in a hidden manner and only allow the enemy to see your plan after it’s too late for him to react effectively.” Sun Tzu. When dealing with high ego types such as politicos, much ’stroking’ is often needed in a way that they feel ’safe’ in going public with their support.

It took centuries of hatred & fear concerning the GLBT community being ingrained at an early age to get us here, and it’ll take not only effort, but patience, pressure, and time to effect major changes. The path we’re on is finally close to the ‘right’ one, but it’ll still have hills, bumps, detours, and pot holes along the way. In order for 100% change to occur, you have to keep exerting 100% of your ability to achieve that change, whatever the action is.

Old Injun go be quiet again.

“Liberation theology” is a philosophical focus in christianity which emphasizes good works, charity, equality, social justice, and refusal to judge. There’s way more “love thy neighbor as thyself” and much less “those damn dirty name-your-target.” It started out as a Catholic teaching, largely in the Franciscan orders. It’s become more popular in various Protestant circles in response to the “prosperity gospel,” which states that God rewards the righteous by making them rich, and it is in direct opposition to megachurches and the pastors who fleece the gullible (Rick Warren, Caldwell, Jakes, Hunter). Remember the “Matthew 25″ network during the campaign? That is a “liberation theology” manifestation.

Margo, I’m glad you got a laugh out of it. My mother, no kidding, believes that dinosaur fossils got sucked (whole and intact) into the earth’s crust when god created the planet specifically to test her faith 6,000 years later. o_O So your assessment wasn’t too far off! My parents didn’t get really whacky until they moved from the East Coast to Utah (thankfully after I’d left home already). It was hell for my brother and sister, who are biracial. My little sister had the n-bomb dropped in her face every day of her adolescence living in suburban Mormonville. Love of Christ, indeed. I have no use for religion. “Walk with those who seek the truth; run from those who claim they’ve found it,” I believe the saying goes.

Yes, you and I are on the same side. The difference between us is that I simply refuse to swallow the lie that Obama is on our side, too, or that any voice of reason is going to change his mind.

The mixed messages and silence is only going to further enflame the issue and further alienate people who might support his agenda. Rahm Emanuel – are you listening?