The Little Democrats That Couldn't

In a recent article from 365gay.com, “House Democrats are reportedly resigned to removing the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime bill from defense authorization legislation. Congressional Quarterly reports that House Democratic leaders believe they lack the votes to pass the measure.*” Although the bill passed the House in May, Bush the Arrogant threatened to veto the measure when it came to his desk. To get around Bush’s lack of human compassion, the Senate attached its own version of the Shepard Act, which passed in September, to a 2008 defense authorization bill, playing the odds that our war-hungry President would sign it just to make sure his oil profits wouldn’t suffer, unlike all those brave American soldiers that are dying for the oil industry’s bottom line.

After both the House and Senate passed their own versions of the bill, the measures then went to a conference where the bills would be reconciled for a final vote, but it has since been hogtied by typical bureaucratic bullshit. “Congressional Quarterly in a Tuesday report said that there now are enough votes to scuttle the legislation if the Shepard Act remains attached to it.”* Excuse me, but if there were enough votes for each bill to pass independently, why are there not enough votes now to pass a joint bill? In other words, which ones have thrown us under the bus once again? I am guessing it was not the Republicans, who have never tried to hide their contempt for the GLBT community, but rather those Democrats who played our community like a fiddle with their usual empty promises of change in exchange for votes and a cushy, well-paying job.

It is likely that a joint bill will die without ever coming to a vote in this session of Congress. Bush the Despot will never sign the Shepard Act as a stand-alone bill and Congress has sold us out once again by not showing any true leadership ability by making a firm stand in the arena of civil rights. Do we hold our breath hoping that more Democrats in Congress and a potential Democrat as President next year will turn the tide in our favor? If you believe that, then I have some oceanfront property in Death Valley you may be interested in buying. Was it not a Democrat President that signed both DADT and the Marriage Defense Act into legislation? While the frontrunners for the Democratic Party, Hillary and Obama, make a lot of noise in support of GLBT rights and equality, neither will endorse gay marriage and full equality. Obama does support civil unions but he, of all candidates, should know that separate is never equal.

It is an outrage that the safety and well-being of a certain segment of taxpaying American citizens, albeit second-class citizens, should be used as a bargaining chip by politicians to garner votes for their next run at public office. I hope they keep in mind those votes were bought with the blood of Matthew Shepard, Ryan Skipper and others who have been brutally murdered, and the millions more that suffer from prejudice and discrimination every day simply because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. They might also try to remember that in a Democracy, it is not always about promoting the will of the majority, sometimes it is about protecting the minority from the will of the majority.

* Excerpts taken from article on 365gay.com