First, let's get three things out of the way. (1) I voted for President Obama, and expect to do so again; (2) It is awesome that, for the first time in US history, a sitting president has announced his support for gay marriage; (3) This may be an important step toward building a national consensus. Still, I felt more annoyed than excited about the President's announcement today. Some sources have portrayed this as an "edgy" or potentially divisive move (as has Obama himself). The President also stated: "I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient, that that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted..." As if, after wrestling with the facts, he has finally evolved into a supporter. via http://lgstarr.blogspot.com I say: bullshit. Like any self-respecting Constitutional law professor and civil rights advocate, Obama supported gay marriage before he became a presidential candidate. Then, once he decided to run, he eschewed these privately-held beliefs. Not coincidentally, the polls at that time showed that a majority of Americans opposed same-sex marriage, too. More recently, the political balance tipped, and a majority of Americans now support same-sex marriage. Then--voila--after testing the waters with VP Biden's announcement yesterday, President Obama suddenly comes out supporting same-sex marriage, too? The President's open support of same-sex marriage is wonderful, but let's be honest: if most Americans had supported gay marriage in 2008, he would have supported it back then. And if public support hadn't grown, he wouldn't have come out in favor of it now. President Obama is, foremost, a politician. If we pretend that we're that much more to him than another issue, another constituency, another factor in the political calculus, we're kidding ourselves.
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In my last post, I showed y'all the teal toenails I'm currently rocking. I posted on the BW Facebook site, "I'm so butch that I can paint my toenails without threatening my butchness." I asked readers to complete the sentence, I'm so butch that _______. Here are some of their responses:
Being butch shouldn't stop you from doing something you want to just because it's "girly" and people might laugh. These are my toenails right now! And I'm not alone, either! Earlier this year, A Femme in NYC wrote How to Know if a Femme Likes You. I've been wanting to write a butch counterpart to her excellent list.
Many butches are shy. I'm one of them. Sure, some butches will march right up to you, tell you you're hot, and ask you out. Not me. And not most butches I know. Faced with a hot femme (or butch--God, hitting on another butch brings up a whole host of other issues...), our confidence sometimes melts, a cocky grin turning into a tentative smile. If the butch object of your affection is one of the shyer members of our species, her hints will be subtle. These clues apply to butches interested in anyone--femmes, androgynous folks, other butches, or anyone else: 15 Signs That a Butch Might Be Into You
Got it?? OMG, as I finish up this entry (and I'm totally not kidding), there are a butch and femme tentatively flirting at the coffee shop I'm sitting in. The femme just grabbed the butch's hand to emphasize something, and the butch held it back, just for a second, and blushed. Telltale sign. Then the butch was all like, "Oooh, you should come check out this community garden we have, six of us will be there tonight having a few beers, yada yada yada," and the femme was like, "I totally will." Well played, ladies. So what do you think of this list? What are some of our other "butch tells?" At the end of each month, I kind of look forward to checking out the list of odd search terms that brought people to BW. Among my favorites for April:
That's a wrap for today. Be well, butches! |
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