UPDATED: How Foolishness gets Started: The White House/DADT drama

So today, AmericaBlog Gay reported:

''Joe [Sudbay] and I were just informed that the White House congressional liaison office is telling US House members not to include the repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' in the Defense Authorization bill, and not to have a vote on DADT on the House floor, this year.''

Then, the frenzy started! From Twitter to Blogs, this (unproven) info ran frakking wild. Folks were already blaming Obama and my mama for this. In fact, there were tweets all about how 'Obama lied' 'Barney betrayed us'

I would say within an hour, folks were taking this info very seriously, even though there was NO ASS PROOF.

Now, most of y'all know me, I usually wait to hear it from Swift Wind's (horse's) mouth before I hold it as truth and it's a good thing I did, because Chris Geidner from Law Dork/MetroWeekly got the real info:

A White House official responded this afternoon via email, writing, ''These rumors are blatantly false. The President has been clear in his desire to see Congress repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and the Department of Defense is already moving forward with its own review.''

In an explicit denial of the claims, the official wrote, ''The Office of Legislative Affairs continues to engage lawmakers, and at no time has the White House asked any Member to take this issue off the table.''

A spokesman for Frank, who has been critical of the lack of action from the White House on DADT repeal in recent weeks, said of the report, ''We have heard no word of that whatsoever. From what I can tell you, that's just wrong.''

Once again, certain LGBT bloggers jumped the gun, but I expected that. However, my heartache comes from the many of LGBT peeps that took this mess verbatim. It's really sad to see how easily our community can get whipped into butter. I hope that in the future, we can wait for the true source before overreacting.

UPDATE: AmericaBlog claims they are right!

"If the White House thinks it's a lie to say that they're not on board, then there's a really easy solution. Get a senior White House official, on the record, by name, to go public and tell us that President Obama wants to have the repeal legislation included in the Department of Defense authorization so that DADT is repealed this year. And, have Obama send that message to the Hill through his budget requests. Then, we'll believe it. Otherwise, we're sticking with our sources who have been consistently more reliable on LGBT issues than this White House or any of their apologists."

Okay, and I hope John and Joe do the same, by revealing their anonymous source. Because for all we know, Cooky the Clown could have told them a false statement.

Question of the Day: “Internet Left Fringe” style

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Okay, now is this saying the White House called all gays, or the gays who attended the march a part of the “Internet Left Fringe”?


Some folks have already twisted this as expected

Are Some of our Gay Bloggers leading us into a Wall?

I'm just going to cut to it. This so called gay revolution is heading into a wall if we continue to operate from misconceptions, misinformation and assumptions.

I've noticed from several blogs, actually from several gay blogs that are considered "The top of the top" that their anger and misinformation can really hurt our movement.

Here are some examples

AMERICAblog attacks Jennifer Chrisler, head of the Family Equality Council, for going to the DNC event. The blog goes as far as calling her a "sell-out", then says

"I'm sure Chisler, as she sips her champagne and eats her fancy French hors d'oeuvres to commemorate the gays and lesbians who rioted for her civil rights 40 years ago, will do her best to hold the president's feet to the fire.

Please.

You should see her quotes in the article, how she wasn't satisfied by the "limited benefits" provided for in the memo the president signed last Wednesday. Yeah, real unsatisfied - that's why she stood over him clapping like a giddy schoolkid, providing him the political cover he needed at a time that our community needed her.

I seriously hope someone looks into who the donors are for this apologist organization. No gay person should ever give a dime to the Family Equality Council again. Ever."

So I guess if you have a different opinion from John Aravosis, you are an enemy of the state. Maybe John will request that any other LGBT person who attends the DNC event to burned at the stake.

Then on Pam's House Blend, they have a header that reads, Star and Stripes confirms HRC deal with WH to de-prioritze DADT. But as you read the piece, you see this:

Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin discovered quite a bit of business in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

One can only assume it is referring to HRC, since it is our lobbying org on the Hill: An official with the House Democratic leadership said the House is committed to repealing "don't ask" but has agreed with civil rights groups to put new hate crime legislation and a workplace nondiscrimination bill on the legislative calendar before taking up the military issue.

So, you say, it's confirmed it's HRC and then turn around to say that, One can only assume it is referring to HRC...that's misleading and assuming.

Also that Stars and Stripes article doesn't name the HRC as the civil rights group, so even that is a big assumption.

And Queerty, another popluar gay blog consistently post broke ass, poorly researched mess daily.

I have to ask...What in the Hell is really going on? Why are they pushing this stuff, when it's either inaccurate, a flat out lie or just pure foolishness. Now, I'm not trying to start a fight (I would win from all the Buffy I've watched), but I'm really getting worried that all this hype can hurt our cause. Right now, some of the LGBT community are fired up; mostly from reading these blogs.

But if the info is wack, what good is it?

Attacking and tearing down each other will not solve anything in our quest for civil rights.
Running on assumptions and hunches are not productive towards our progress.
Trying whip up foolishness and drama is destructive and divisive to our community.

This bothers me so much because many LGBT folks read these blogs and others like them. If folks are pushing misinformation and mess in their faces then that's a disservice to the community. They have to realize that our community is looking for hope. Let's help them find it, not lead them into a dark mirky ditch.