Greetings from the Heartland

After a long sabbatical from writing, my warm wishes to everyone for the holiday season. See you all in the New Year, thanks for reading. -DA

Doesn't this sound familiar?

It's too much of a stretch to compare circa 1960 attitudes about blacks to circa 2004 attitudes about gays and lesbians, right? It is.

On Monday, the New York Times reported that during campaign 2004, Republicans targeted their campaign advertising where it impacted most - makes sense, right? Right. Republicans are smart about stuff like that. The report goes on to list the top shows among Republicans. Near the top of the list and especially popular with Republican women - is the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace."

It's far too overboard to say something like "they're good enough to entertain us, just don't ask for rights," or "they're funny to laugh at, just don't love each other PLEASE." Far too overboard, right?

Forget I said anything.

Mainstream media: Cheryl who?

As a sidebar to the resignation/firing of HRC Executive Director Cheryl Jacques, it is certainly worth noting that while her counterpart over at the NAACP also stepped down this week under far less dramatic circumstances, the media paid little attention to the ouster of the woman at the helm of the nation's largest gay rights organization.

With so much of the attention of the media and the candidates on gay rights in 2004, doesn't it make sense to cover post-election axings?

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Turn out the rights, the party's over

Turn out the rights, the party's over

The dawn of a second term for President Bush comes as another executive term sunsets this week.

On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign acknowledged that the beltway rumors were true: Executive Director Cheryl Jacques had been fired at an emergency board meeting Monday night. Critics have cited Jacques' decidedly partisan "George W. Bush: You're Fired!" campaign as part of the reason for her dismissal, rightly noting that the strategy didn't leave the HRC anywhere to go when the President was re-elected.

Jacques' ouster won't immediately bring back the moderate gravitas the origination has built up over the past years, but it will likely send a message to friendly Republicans on the Hill that they have seen the light.

The HRC has been an effective lobbying organization for many years - and especially so over the past half decade because of their acknowledgement of the importance of moderate Republicans to their cause. While HRC supporters characterize their shift to the left in the past years as a natural shift in strategy, the numbers tell a different story. In the 107th Congress, the HRC asked Members of Congress to sign a pledge that they wouldn't discriminate in their offices on the basis of sexual orientation; 68 out of 100 Senators signed.

In the 108th, however, the HRC broadened their pledge to include gender identity. While transgendered individuals are certainly worthy of protection - and no less worthy than gays and lesbians - the concept of a protected class for transgendered folks isn't as bipartisanly supported; this year, the HRC lost 46 of its previous pledges.

Many say this is progress, but in a town where politics is perception, the perception of progress is slipping.