Democrats are the party that gave us a presidential candidate saying he’s against same-sex marriage while trying to say he’s for equality.

By Charles Karel Bouley II

I have a news alert for many of you: It’s an election year. Yup, this year, 2006, is a mid-term election year. And while it may not be as sexy or nasty as a presidential campaign, it’s probably the most important of all elections. Because this year we elect the people who really have the power: the Senate and the House. Two months out, there’s not a lot of election coverage in the news, and that’s just the way both parties like it. Republicans like it because all of their basically incompetent and evil deeds are not being discussed (since they are the ruling party), and Democrats like it because their inability to commit and their vacillation on the issues is one step short of the perpetual bachelor facing an arranged marriage.

As we approach this election, I realize that we gay and lesbians in the country are screwed, and not in a good, Sunday-afternoon-with-too-much-Absolut kind of way.

No, we’re hosed, because we love a party, and guess what? We don’t have one.

Typically the Democratic party is seen as the party of gays and lesbians. And I wonder why. That’s like saying a man who only beats his wife once a week is far better than a man who does it daily. Well, bruised is bruised and at one point or another dead could be dead.

The Democrats gave us DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, a failed social policy put in place to appease the right wing. Before that there was one of the biggest failed policies in the military, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” This insulting, ridiculous policy never worked and never will, and it again dodges the real problem, equality.

And that’s why we have no party, because no real leaders are screaming for our equality. Of course, it’s not really our fault. We didn’t abandon our party, our party disappeared, as did the Republican. Let’s be real, these neo-conservative Christian fascists in power are nowhere near the Republicans that scream for financial responsibility and less government. And these pansy Democrats who allow inequality and injustice on all fronts are, well, they’re not your father’s Democrats, that’s for sure.

Democrats everywhere should be taking stands, brave ones for today’s times, but right ones. Each one, each and every one, should pledge marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the United States. Period. End of debate. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do under our laws and Constitution (the United States’ owner’s manual). Every Democrat should step forward and pledge to open the military to any and all Americans that want to serve openly and proudly. Why? Because again, it’s the right thing to do (as other nations will attest). Gay adoption? Legal. Gay whatever? Legal, if non-gay counterparts enjoy the same freedoms. Democrats should demand equality for every American, and that includes gays and lesbians. Not watered down versions, not politically correct compromises, but equality on each and every level to make sure that gays and lesbians have the rights, powers and privileges afforded to other Americans. Their personal views should take a back seat to what is right under the law, under our government, under the Constitution. It’s what the great party leaders of old would do in today’s times.

Democrats should stand up and abolish the FCC as it exists today, and say Americans are free, and we hold speech to be the most basic of these freedoms, on or off the air. The FCC currently is acting outside of its own charter, and no one cares, they just take the fines and shut up, firing people that may speak out. That makes it harder for gays in media, trust me, because stations are afraid of “provocative” shows, fearing the wrath of Michael Powell and his censorship posse.

Democrats should stand up for the rights of women—all women—in the matter of choice. Of course abortion should be legal, morning-after pills, partial-birth, it’s all between a woman, her doctor, and her god and to believe otherwise is foolish and archaic.

Democrats should stand up and say that any religion that preaches hate, and that includes hatred against gays, must go, just like London has said “No” to radical Muslim clerics. Hillary should denounce any religious leader who condones hatred towards gays and lesbians.

But alas, they will not. They’ll pander, as they always do, to us, and we’ll say, “Hey, at least they’re better than the other guys,” never demanding they be better. They’ll attend this GLAAD function or that HRC benefit and we’ll say, “Oh look, they support us…” Then they’ll run off to Washington and either vote against us, not stand up for us, or compromise our futures away. No, they are not our party any more, they are a shell of what used to be a party concerned more with the politics than the people. They were the party that gave us Social Security, that gave us so many wonderful social policies, progressive ideas, and radically different ways of seeing the country. Now, they are the party that gave us a presidential candidate saying he’s against same-sex marriage while trying to say he’s for equality. They’re the party that sits by and watches the disaster of the Gulf Coast, where many gay men suffered and some died because they couldn’t get their AIDS meds or other treatments needed for months or even a year (bet you never thought of that, huh?). They’re the party that watched the death of Matthew Shephard, Eddie “Gwen” Araujo, and countless others and countered with paltry legislation that really does nothing. Yes, they helped block the marriage amendment, but you don’t get props for simply doing your job. You get them for doing something exemplary, like taking it that one needed step.

So what to do in November? Well, as one of my favorite characters of all time has said on TV, “In elections, you have to vote for either a giant douche or a turd sandwich every time, so you pick the best of the two…” (Kyle, South Park). It’s a shame a cartoon is right. The Democrats keep throwing turd sandwiches and giant douches our way disguised as pro-gay candidates who quickly forget they’re pro-gay once they get to D.C.

What to do? Run. That’s right, run. It’s time we have a voice in D.C. bigger than Barney Frank’s. Vote in each election, including this one. But how about we actually produce candidates from our community who can win. When we do that, we’ll finally have a party to call ours again. Until that point, we’re at the mercy of kindly heterosexuals who want to do the right thing, but just can’t muster the power to do it if it costs them one vote.

Well, it’s cost them one. Mine.