Dronenburg
San Diego County Clerk Ernest Dronenburg Jr. is back in the news, particularly with the LGBT community. Why? Many in the community have broken with District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis because she endorsed Dronenburg. Dronenburg asked the state Supreme Court to halt same-sex weddings after the federal court ruled Prop. 8 unconstitutional. He said the ruling should only apply to the two couples that brought the suit and only to county clerks where the couples lived.
Sounds like anti-gay rhetoric to me. Moreover, the San Diego Board of Supervisors distanced itself from Dronenburg and his comments. Bonnie Dumanis, isn’t it about time you did the same?
Biden
Vice President Joe Biden spoke at the Human Rights Campaign Los Angeles Dinner Gala last weekend. Biden said employment discrimination against LGBT people was “barbaric.” Of course, it took less than a minute for bloggers and some in the LGBT media to call out President Obama for not issuing an executive order to prevent LGBT discrimination in federal contracting. These are the same people who wanted Obama to issue an executive order to overturn Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
The United States is a country of laws. Repealing DADT is permanent; an executive order would have been temporary. The former is absolutely preferable and requires much more work on our part, but we no longer have to worry about overt discrimination in the military.
I want the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which protects LGBT people in the workplace, enacted into law. An Obama executive order would give Republicans cover by allowing them to say “the federal government does not discriminate against LGBT people.” Obama knows that and thinks our community should do the work to get legislators to pass the law, as we collectively did for DADT. When will some in our community learn that there are no political shortcuts?
RuPaul
Blogs and listservs have all been discussing RuPaul. Why? Many in the transgender community are upset with RuPaul’s use of the word “shem***” on his television show. What is most surprising is RuPaul learned nothing from being called out for use of the word tra**y a few years ago. GLAAD believes both words should be avoided.
While RuPaul’s Drag Race does let many get a glimpse of drag culture, not using words that many in our community find offensive should not be a stretch for RuPaul. I am sure RuPaul would not use the n-word and would be offended if one of his contestants used the word. Many in the transgender community, particularly women, are saying enough is enough. Guess what, their voices are being drowned out by many men in the broader LGBT community. The answer is simple; listen to the underlying transgender community. Shouldn’t they be the ones to decide what is offensive to them? I sure don’t want anyone telling me why they should be able to say the n-word.
Marriage equality
Marriage equality added another state this weekend: Michigan. Hundreds of couples were married before the federal appeals court stopped the issuance of marriage licenses as they consider an appeal to the ruling. The states continue to fall like dominoes since Prop. 8 was declared unconstitutional in federal court and the Defense of Marriage Act was overturned. Not one federal court has upheld a state marriage ban since the Prop. 8 decision. As cases make their way to the Supreme Court, it looks like the nation will have same-sex marriage within two years. I mean does anyone think the Supreme Court will invalidate marriages in 18 states?
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
