Because they were taught to think of sex as something disgusting and shameful. They’re full of hangups over sex and fearful and ashamed over their own sexual desires. In order to repress their own sexual thoughts they desperately want to minimize all sexual activity everywhere.

why is it social conservatives are obssessed with sex? Europe has a very active and vibrant culture, while ours seems to think that michelle Bachman or sarah palin actually have intelligence.

meanwhile: “the third was pornography as a mainstream activity in the arts”

when did that happen? I certainly wish it were the case, but pornography is usually as bad as it ever was.

How sad for you that the once-vibrant culture of the 50′s is gone. Ah, Leave it Beaver, The King and I, Harvey. Such a good time to be alive.

Unless you were gay. Or black. Or Jewish. Or poor. Or atheist. Or an unwed parent. Or different in any way.

It doesn’t surprise me that EQMD hired some ineffectual seat warmer from OH (one who has already left the state when she realized there was no money to pay her). It is obvious that these organizations do not hire based on needed skill sets or other assets.

Consider: HRC is an organization that primarily lobbies on the federal level in Washington DC. How do most sophisticated interests lobby in Washington? They retain lobbyists from outside lobbying firms on a monthly basis, targeting lobbyists with close ties to the party in power and with ties to particular members of key committees of interest. As the political environment changes – one party takes over the House, for example, or some legislation of interest is moved to a different committee – the interest group reconfigures its lobbying team. Finally, the interest group will have an office in DC and shell out some bucks to hire a former Congressperson, as you can see by looking at the PhRMA or the RIAA. In that way, they get things done. (BTW, I am not endorsing this corrupt system, just describing it.)

And HRC – by far the most powerful and wealthiest gay group in American history – how does it do business in DC? Well, it retains no outside lobbyists. It has 2 employees (paid year in and year out regardless if needed) who are lobbyists. One had no experience on Capitol Hill when hired. The other was a staffer in Tammy Baldwin’s office. That would be Rep. Tammy Baldwin of the party that doesn’t control the House and who, in any event, does not need to be lobbied by HRC. That is HRC’s lobbying team regardless of whether the Congress is controlled by the Dems, controlled by the GOP, or split. The environment in DC may change dramatically, but HRC just plows ahead year after year in its own little bubble.

HRC doesn’t have an office; it has an office building. And it is led not by a former Congressperson or Senator or Cabinet member, but by someone who was a fundraiser for a Democratic PAC some 15 years ago. He headed HRC when the entire federal government was under the control of conservative Republicans, when it was entirely under the control of Dems, and today. Again, the hiring doesn’t match the environment.
You see the results of all this – despite a budget of nearly $40 million per year, HRC is still working to achieve legislative objectives from 1980.

And even in this NY battle, the Times article notes that the gay coalition didn’t hire a well-connected consultant until after Cuomo read them the riot act. These people don’t hire to get things done. They hire people they know and like.

One last point on the state groups:

Did you know that the recently resigned/fired director of EQMD got hired? Now here you have someone who predicted 2 major victories (marriage and a gender identity bill) and boasted that EQMD was ready to defend both in statewide ballot referenda. Incredibly, both are defeated by legislatures controlled overwhelmingly by the Democrats. As the disaster unfolds, she flounders cluelessly while friendly co-sponsors turn into opponents overnight. After two public humiliations, she has no fallback plan, say, to at least get civil unions accomplished.

Instead, there is a period of in-fighting, all aired out in the media. Bizarrely, she issues a public statement that this is the right time for her to go, since she is very confident that marriage equality will be passed this year.

Then, after she departs, come the public revelations that the group is broke, thus ensuring that MD legislators will not fear crossing the group any time in the near future. In keeping with their standard practice, both she and her former board of directors blame one another in the media.

So just a few months after her confident predictions of a victorious year, she leaves this group defeated, humiliated, severely weakened, divided, and insolvent. Who would hire someone with this record? Why another gay organization of course! Who else would?

But surely Ohio and Michigan are no more conservative than Utah? And yet their advocates have slowly but surely been achieving steps

Indeed! That’s why I am critical of Bowman and the two groups in Michigan that engaged in so much infighting. As far as the Michigan groups go, however, back in February 2010, they reportedly merged into a single advocacy group so they could refine their activism, avoid redundancy and decrease the bickering or cross-purpose messaging. But as far as I’ve been able to observe (admittedly from out of state), they’ve done neither.

As for Equality Ohio, they apparently prefer to conduct all their efforts in secrecy as they can’t even be bothered to maintain an active and up to date web site and the only news ever mentioned is their, after the fact, once a year descent on the statehouse to lobby. The local Cleveland groups seem to do a better job, at least for their area.

But surely Ohio and Michigan are no more conservative than Utah? And yet their advocates have slowly but surely been achieving steps toward rights and protection – often small steps, but sometimes downright astonishing steps.

We need to figure out how to get true leaders, selfless ones, in these positions.

I agree… but I don’t think they need even to be selfless. I’ll take some jerk who recognizes the power that will come from finally harnessing a cohesive community, if it also means that he’s effective and puts the interests of our community ahead of everything else.

Thank you for pointing out the distinction between a politician and a statesman. It’s a distinction that doesn’t often get the attention that it deserves.

I do not appreciate being treated like a crazy person, especially by people who are obviously not paying any attention.

We lost in California becuase of that incompetent campaign.