by Libby Post:

NOTE: Libby's commentaries can now be found here.

December 10, 2009 - America's New Imperialism

While lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in New York State are still licking our wounds from last week's defeat of marriage equality, we have to be somewhat begrudgingly grateful that we live in a county that, at least for moment, allows us to speak out for marriage equality without the threat of jail time or worse.

Sound a bit extreme? Yes. A possibility? Absolutely, if you live in Uganda.

You remember Uganda-the country that gave us Idi Amin, the president whose eight year reign of terror will be forever linked to human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, nepotism, corruption and murder. According to human right groups, the number of Ugandans killed under his regime range from 100,000 to half a million.

Thirty years after Amin, human rights abuses, political repression, persecution and, possibly, government sponsored murder are still alive and well in Uganda. But the targets aren't the result of some political power struggle. No, the targets are possibly some of the most vulnerable, most repressed, most marginalized in that country-lesbian and gay Ugandans.

There's a bill being considered and supported by the Ugandan government-a government by the way that has close ties to the Radical Christian Right here in America-that in its original form meant life in prison for being gay or lesbian and a death sentence-as in the hanging or a firing squad kind of death sentence--for anyone who creates a crime of "aggravated homosexuality" which means punishing anyone who is HIV positive with death for having consensual same-sex relations, even if both parties were informed and practice safe-sex, or if the person who is HIV positive is unaware of his or her status.

Codifying homophobia in Uganda also means that if you knew someone was gay and you didn't report it-three years in jail. Or, it you tried to commit "an offence of homosexuality"-seven years in the joint. If you're a gay or lesbian Ugandan living outside your native country, your government will extradite you for sentencing.

Life in prison, the death penalty, a jail term for not turning in your neighbor-all of this was just a bit too much for some, and I say this clearly-just some-of our elected officials and policy makers. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responding to a letter from openly gay Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and a number of her colleagues expressed concern and outrage over the proposed legislation.

With Clinton taking a stand and the media-from LGBT blogs to Rachel Maddow to the more conservative of our two newsweeklies, Time Magazine-shining a light on this legislation, its sponsors-evangelical Ugandans with very close ties to some of our own like Rick Warren and the "pray away the gay" psychobabblers-have dropped the life and death sentence provisions. They've done that, it seems, with a wink and a nod-knowing full well what can happen once a person is jailed for being a known homosexual or a homosexual sympathizer.

As heinous as we here in the "liberal" northeast may find this bill, we all need to understand that it is one of the more dangerous examples of America's new imperialism. While our government has focused on nation building and spreading democracy, the Radical Christian Congressional cohort-you know the guys from The Family, the ones who live on C Street in that private club of a house that espouses a right wing Christian ethic while being a shield for philandering members of Congress-well those guys are working really hard to export America's culture wars to the poorest nations of the world. In this case-Uganda.

The Family-one of the insidious networks within the Radical Christian Right--as well as folks like Richard Cohen, a "ex-gay" who has freed himself from the chains of homosexuality through prayer, so he says, have sent their minions to Uganda to help shape this legislation. The bill's sponsor, Parliamentarian David Bahati, is a member of The Family, which by the way, sponsors National Prayer Breakfasts in D.C. and in Uganda. Bahati first brought up the legislation at the Ugandan Prayer Breakfast last year.

While The Family and it's Congressional allies-like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe-have had unfettered access to Uganda and its policymakers, when it comes to being accountable for their action they are notably silent. Not one Family U.S. Senator or Member of Congress will speak out against the bill. They "don't want to interfere."

When Act-Up started protesting against the treatment of HIV positive people here in the United States, their manta was "Silence Equals Death." It may be time to dust it off for a little cultural export of our own.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Well, the bells won't be ringing for me and my gal. And, no one needs to worry about getting me to the synagogue on time. Thanks to the New York State Senate marriage equality is all but a dream.

When the New York State Senate started debating legislation that would have allowed my partner, Lynn, and I the honor of each other's hand in marriage, there was that certain feeling of something in the air. Openly gay State Senator Tom Duane and a number of his colleagues were eloquent in their support. They pointed out that no clergy member would be forced to perform a wedding ceremony between two men or two women if it was against their religious beliefs. They pointed out that we're talking about fairness, equality, compassion and love. They intoned Jefferson, the Constitution, the Loving Supreme Court decision, the connections between racism and homophobia and homophobia and the Holocaust.

When State Senator David Valesky, a Democrat from a conservative Central New York district got up to speak I started to get a little weepy with hope. He was one of the Dems who early on said he was going to vote no. It seems he searched his conscience and the Constitution and found no reason not to vote yes. I thought if Valesky is voting yes then perhaps Darrell Aubertine, the first Democrat to represent the North Country in a dog's age may follow suit.

My tears soon turned to anger. Honestly, I have never been so disappointed in a single group of individuals in my life. 38 people-eight of whom were Democrats--voted no to a simple change in the domestic relations law that would allow thousands upon thousands of gay or lesbian committed couples in the Empire State to legally say "I Do."

Only one of the 38 had the backbone to stand up and say why he voted no. If there was ever a bunch of pansies, it was the 37 other Senators who hid behind the religious skirts of the Senate's only Democratic Pentecostal minister, Ruben Diaz. No one else had the courage to stand up and say why they were voting no. They're all cowards.

We may have lost yesterday's vote but now we actually know who in the Senate are our friends and who are not. They can no longer get away with stopping a floor debate and vote on this bill. Once it's out of the bag, an issue like this isn't easily harnessed. Eventually, it will pass.

And the road to that passage is simple-working to elect a pro-marriage equality majority in the New York State Senate. Notice I did not say a more solid Democratic majority in the State Senate. There is a difference. Until the Senate Democrats pledge to only field pro-marriage equality candidates I will support only those candidates who are-regardless of party affiliation.

Now, some may think that I'm naïve saying we could elect pro-marriage equality Republicans. But, believe me, I know they're out there. I also know there are some already in the State Senate. Yesterday's party line vote was a strong-armed Republican show of force to show Democrats just how fragile their majority is. All they needed was one early no vote by a Senate Democrat-which was furnished by first-term Queens Senator, Joseph Addabbo, Jr.-and they could smell blood.

But the Republicans shouldn't think they've got this licked. There are marginal Republican Senate seats on Long Island and the Mid-Hudson Valley. There are a lot of voters in both of those areas that support marriage equality.

And, just because the Democratic Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi lost re-election by 350 absentee ballot votes, Nassau County's Republican Senators shouldn't feel too emboldened. They shouldn't interpret that laser thin success with the ability to protect their seats. 350 votes out of millions cast is not a mandate.

To the Radical Christian Right, the Catholic Conference and the ultra-Orthodox Jews who opposed this bill-religious based bigotry flies in the face of what make this country great, the separation of church and state. Religious based bigotry is what brought us slavery in this country and the Holocaust in Europe. It has, at times, crippled our democracy and caused the deaths of millions of people. It has to stop-it has no place in civil discourse.

My mother used to say, "I'm so angry I could just spit." I'm sure she's spinning in her grave because of this vote. Well mom, I'm angry too but instead of spit and quit-which is what our opponents would like us to do-I'll just spit and polish a new agenda, a new strategy, a new approach to make sure one day I'll stand under the marriage chuppah with the woman I love.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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What makes tonight, Thursday, November 19th, different from all other nights?

It's the evening when, after a long struggle to have it actually happen, a group of talented and dedicated students at Albany High School will premiere their production of The Laramie Project.

For those of you unfamiliar with this work, The Laramie Project is a three-act play drawn from over 200 interviews with residents of Laramie, Wyoming, where on a desolate road in early October 1998 a young gay man, Matthew Shepard, was stripped, bound spread-eagle to a fence, savagely beaten and left to die in freezing temperatures.

By now, Matthew Shepard's name is synonymous with hate crimes. For over a decade, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender activists worked to include sexual orientation and gender identity in our nation's hate crimes law. Last month, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed by President Obama. With the power of the pen, Obama made it a federal crime to target individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Laramie Project was first performed in February, 2000 in Denver, CO. Since then, hundreds, if not thousands of performances have been seen in schools, colleges and theatres throughout the world. For some reason, however, it took years of cajoling and lobbying by staff, students and community members to allow the play to be presented at our own Albany High School.

So what did it take for school officials to change their minds and let their students explore how harmful hate can be? It took the master of hate speak himself, Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church and godhatesfags.com fame, to target Albany High in a protest earlier this year because, sin of all sins, the high school has a Gay-Straight Alliance. If Phelps hadn't sent his cronies here to hold their God Hates Fags, God Hates America, Fag Troops signs and pray that our souls would burn in hell, the folks in charge at the school district probably would have continued to dodge the parents, clergy, students and staff who wanted the show to be presented.

So in a bizarre twist of fate, we have to thank Phelps for shining such a spotlight on his particular brand of hate and hate speak. It seems that his followers' presence in front of Albany High was the motivating factor in prompting the Albany Public School District to do what they should have done a long time ago-let the show go on.

Which it will for four performances-tonight, Friday night and Saturday night at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. After each performance, a panel of "community experts" will explore the core issues of the play. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm honored to say that I'll be one of those experts after the Saturday evening performance.

But the real experts here are the students and their fearless teacher-leader, Ward Dales. I had the opportunity to spend time with many of them earlier this week when Ward, Nora Yates, the Executive Director of the Capital District Gay and Lesbian Community Council, a group of student actors and I recorded one of WAMC's Student Town Hall Meetings.

The passion that the students bring not only to the play but to fighting homophobia, racism and hatred in the halls of their school is palpable. And just for the record, only two of the students sitting around the table with us identified as lesbian or gay. The rest, straight young men and women, people of color and white, were eloquent in their commitment of stopping the hate where they spend the majority of their time-at school.

For these Albany High students and for our community, The Laramie Project has become much more than just a play. It has become a rallying point-a way of showing our peers that saying things like "That's So Gay" or calling someone a fag is just not acceptable. We understand that words do hurt, that sticks and stones may break our bones and that hate speak can be just as damaging. It's the LGBT youth who are harassed in school who are more likely to commit suicide. It's the unchecked homophobe who gets away with that harassment who may eventually turn into people like those who killed Matthew Shepard-people who see LGBT people as less than human.

Supposedly, Fred Phelps himself is coming to Albany this week to protest. Let's give him the welcome he deserves-thank him for making the play possible and then go see it.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Never let it be said that when the New York State Senate is given an opportunity to do the right thing, they actually do it.

This week's extraordinary legislative session was anything but. Nothing was done to help the state's financial crisis. And, the hugely anticipated, rally inducing, candle-light vigilized vote on marriage equality was an absolute no show.

That's not to say LGBT activists from around the state didn't show up. We did. Carrying signs, chanting tried and true "we do we want" chants in the marbled, echo inducing halls of the State Capitol.

Who didn't show up is that constantly elusive, democratic New York State Senator I.M.A. Leader. Some of us know this elected as Senator Backbone or Senator Stand Up and Be Counted or Senator I Know How to Get Things Done. This Senator has been missing for over a year. All we get to see is Senator Maybe, Senator Not the Right Time, Senator But I Have To Get Re-Elected and Senator God Tells Me To Vote No.

I'm a tried and true Democrat-but the dysfunction that has come to symbolize the New York State Senate makes me want to go to the rooftops and shout "Throw the Bums Out!"

I was the first one to get all giddy and excited when the Democrats took control of the State Senate. I wrote about the upcoming golden age that would give New York's LGBT community the same rights and responsibilities all other New Yorkers enjoy.

How wrong was I? Instead, all of us-LGBT and non-LGBT-were given a legislative house of cards so fragile that the slightest breeze would blow the whole thing over. Given that finesse has not been part of New York's political game for quite some time, State Senator Pedro "It's My Way Or The Highway" Espada did his big bad wolf thing and just blew the whole house apart.

And who has to pay all the political minions to scurry about and pick up the cards? We do-the taxpayers. Whether they want to own up to it or not, the New York State Senate's inability to make a decision, take a vote, stand up and be counted, show any type of leadership at all costs us millions adding to the state's already burgeoning deficit.

If the New York State Senate really wanted to help the economy-even just a little bit-they would pass the same-sex marriage bill. This has nothing to do with God. Nothing to do with abridging anyone's right to practice their religion. Nothing to do who will or who won't wear white. Plain and simple, passing the bill will help the state's economy. It won't fix it but it will help.

Studies show that legalizing same sex marriage is an economic development engine for state economies. In May of this year, the Williams Institute out of the UCLA School of Law released two studies reviewing the economic impact of same-sex marriage five years after it was legalized in Massachusetts.

According to one of the studies, the Bay State gained a competitive edge in attracting young, highly educated "creative class" professionals who are part of same-sex couples. The other study confirmed that Massachusetts' economy has benefited from the revenue generated by same-sex weddings. Over $111 million was spent with local businesses for the more than 12,000 weddings that have taken place in Massachusetts. That means sales tax revenues for counties, business tax revenues for the state and a rising tide of economic development for everyone.

Now I'm no mathematician but I can use a calculator. On average, $9,250 was spent on each of those weddings. According to census analysis done by the Williams Institute, there are close to 51,000 lesbian and gay couples in the state-the majority of whom live in the Big Apple's five boroughs. Say just half of those couples got married and spent, since we're talking New York City prices, an average of $15,000 for their weddings. We're talking about pumping $390 million in the state's economy. If they only spent the Massachusetts' average of $9,250, we'd generate $240.5 million.

Maybe it's time for State Senator I Can Read The Writing On The Wall and Senator I Can Use A Calculator to be leaders and reshuffle the deck to deal all New Yorkers a winning hand that we can bet on-same sex marriage is good for the economy. That's something we can all take to the bank.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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It's taken decades. But, it's finally happened. A piece of federal legislation that is actually positive for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has finally been signed in to law by a sitting President of the United States.

Yesterday, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It's been over ten years since Matthew Shepard was left naked, tied to a fence in Laramie, Wyoming after being beaten and tortured because he was gay. It's also been over ten years since James Byrd, an African-American man, was tied to the back of a pick up truck by two known white supremacists, dragged and eventually decapitated on a dirt road somewhere in Jasper, Texas.

Both of these crimes happened in 1998-11 years ago. Both of these crimes were heinous and motivated by hate. Both of these crimes were not prosecuted as hate crimes-Wyoming's hate crime statute did not cover the LGBT community and Texas never thought a hate crimes law was even necessary.

With the power of the pen, President Obama has made it a federal crime to target individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The bill extends protections first passed in 1968 that covered race, religion or national origin. Under the law, judges can impose harsher penalties for crimes motivated by hate and the Justice Department can help local police departments investigate alleged hate crimes.

I'm still scratching my head why the Byrd murder, which was motivated by race, wasn't automatically seen as a federal hate crime-but I guess the law is just a little different down in Texas.

According to the FBI, law enforcement agencies around the country reported 7,624 hate crime incidents in 2007, the most recent year for which data were available. More than half were categorized as racially motivated, and about 17 percent were based on sexual orientation.

However, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs which maintains its own reporting structure through 35 affiliated groups nationwide, there were 2,424 victims of anti-LGBT violence in 2008. This represents a 2 percent increase over the total number of victims reported in 2007 and a 26 percent increase over a two year period. Known anti-LGBT murders rose 28% from 2007 to 2008 and are at their highest level since 1999.

Just when we thought it would be safe to go back outside as openly LGBT Americans, our lives are more in danger from violent homophobes than ever. And if we thought we could turn to local law enforcement for help and protection, that's not always the case.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports that abusive treatment of LGBT people by law enforcement increased significantly between 2007 and 2008. Physical abuse increased 150 percent from 10 incidents reported in 2007 to 25 in 2008. 196 of the primary offenders in anti-LGBT violence were law enforcement officials. Verbal abuse by police, including use of slurs, increased 50 percent and 32 of the reported incidents took place in police custody-at a precinct, jail, or in a police car. In 38 cases, the individual identifying as the victim was arrested. Overall, reports of abusive treatment by law enforcement increased 58% during a year when overall reports to police rose only 12%. While reports of courteous treatment increased 12% and reports of indifferent treatment decreased 4% in 2008.

There's something definitely wrong with this picture. While Obama's pen passed smoothly over the bill, there's still plenty of work to be done in our communities, our schools, our government and our law enforcement to make sure everyone understands what this new law means and why anti-LGBT violence is wrong.

There were plenty of folks fighting this bill saying that classifying LGBT people as a federally protected class is a slippery slope to other legislation that would give us other types of protections-like not being fired from our jobs or denied housing.

They're absolutely right-this bill does give us a foundation for more change. But it's not a slippery slope, it is a stairway to change that LGBT people in the country need and deserve.

We can only hope that the words of Rick Scarborough, the head of Vision America, a right wing group out of Texas, come true. He thinks that there is little Republicans can do to stop further gay rights legislation.

From his mouth to God's ears-there may actually be hope for LGBT Americans yet.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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It's hard to imagine but it was just a year ago that so many of us were breathlessly waiting out the last 10 days or so before the presidential election. Spirits were high. Hopes even higher.

A year later, many of us are holding our breath waiting for the outcomes of two ballot propositions that could once again take away rights from the lesbian and gay community.

In Washington State and in Maine, voters will get to decide whether they like laws passed by their state legislatures. In Washington, passing Referendum 71 maintains the current law which grants the state's registered domestic partners all the rights, responsibilities and obligations granted by or imposed by state law on married couples. In Maine, passing Question 1 would repeal the state's same-sex marriage law. Given the way the propositions are written it's Yes on 71 and No on 1.

Geographically, we have the two most northern states in the continental U.S. pondering our right to get married. Politically, we have two traditionally moderate, yet independent states grappling over doing what's right for a group of their citizens and their families. Legally, we have the anti-same sex marriage forces in both states fighting against the release of the names of folks who support their cause.

In my book, if you're not willing to stand up and be counted, not willing to put your name behind your convictions, not willing to take the heat for your political views-then perhaps, it's time to get out of the proverbial political kitchen and stop trying to make my life miserable. But just like those folks who post hateful, personal, political attacks on anonymous blogs, the folks who are spearheading these anti-lesbian and gay family campaigns, are hoping to give their supporters a free, yes you can be an ostrich and stick your head in the sand pass, so that folks like me can't call them out on the carpet.

In Washington State, Protect Marriage Washington has filed suit to block the public release of the names of the 122,007 people who signed petitions to put R. 71 on the ballot. There's something inherently wrong in being able to sign a petition that puts something on the ballot that impacts all of our public and private lives yet knowing who those people are has to be kept a big secret. What do they have to hide? Why is big brother Protect Marriage Washington putting up roadblock after roadblock?

They say it's to protect those 122,007 people from being harassed by gays and lesbians who are angry that possibly their friends, co-workers and even folks they consider family signed the petitions. Protect Marriage Washington is afraid that we may harass these folks. Since when is challenging someone's political perspective harassment?

Oh right, I forgot. The radical right plays by different rules than the rest of us. They can harass. They can demonize. They can use rhetoric that inflames hate crimes against us. But when it comes to us standing up for our rights and challenging them, well then they become the victims-first and foremost. They play the simpering, cowering "marriage is just between a man and a woman" victim whose first amendment rights will be abridged if someone knows how they feel about an issue. Isn't the first amendment all about being able to speak out? Freedom of speech also means having the freedom to know who is speaking.

The name game in Maine is a bit different. The groups supporting repeal of the law don't think they have to release the names of their donors. Stand for Marriage Maine has raised $1.4 million to deny us our right to marriage. A lot of that money has come from the National Organization for Marriage-NOM for short. NOM says that it just raised money for their general fund to support its mission not for the Maine initiative. The fact is this-NOM has given hundreds of thousands to the anti-same sex marriage campaign in hopes of skirting Maine's campaign finance laws. For instance, if NOM had bought TV time directly, they would have had to reveal their donors. By giving the money to another group, they think they don't. They're wrong. The Maine Ethics Commission is investigating the money trail. We won't have answers before the vote on November 3rd but at least another light is being shown on the shady ways money is handled by the radical right.

Not revealing names in a political battle is tantamount to not knowing who the hooded thug was that just mugged you-or worse. Those of us with conviction stand up and are counted. If you can't stand up, maybe it's time to just sit the battle out.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Joe McCarthy's witch hunts are back and we can't rely on the media, as we did in the 1950's when Edward R. Murrow put a stop to McCarthy's demagoguery with just one half hour news show.

No, some of the media in this country-specifically FoxNews-are not only complicit but are the ones spearheading the singling out of Obama appointees as "un-American," whatever that means.

First there was Van Jones. Fox's Glen Beck set his sites on Jones after ColorofChange.org, a group Jones founded in 2005, led an advertising boycott against Beck's show because he considers President Obama to be a racist. Jones, a well-known environmental activist, was "the Green Jobs Czar" in his capacity as an advisor to the Council on Environmental Equality. Masking his real outrage-that ColorofChange was working to get advertisers to drop his show-Beck took a page right out of Joe McCarthy's playbook and went after Jones' past.

Jones was "radical, revolutionary communist" (you know, a commie, a pinko) because of his 1990s involvement with STORM, Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement, which had bit of Maoist politics but was really organized to protest police brutality. Jones said something derogatory about the Republican Party-join the club! Jones spoke about environmental racism-how polluters dump their toxins in poor communities.

Beck got his way-Van Jones resigned. But the likes of Beck, Sean Hannity, the radical religious right and the hard-core earth-scorching Republicans are not satisfied. McCarthy not only went after commies and pinkos but he want after fags and sexual deviants as well. This is page two of the McCarthy playbook and it's happening right now.

Fox's Sean Hannity, who some say are jealous of the media storm that Beck created about Jones, is gunning, incorrectly, for Kevin Jennings, Obama's assistant deputy secretary of education for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. Jennings is an out gay man who founded the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network which has helped to change the way lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are treated in schools throughout the country.

What has the Fox noise machine cooked up against Jennings? They have accused him of failing to report a statutory rape when one of his closeted students at the Concord Academy in Massachusetts told him about an encounter he had had with an older gay man. Jennings wrote about it in his book, One Teacher in Ten: Gay and Lesbian Educators Tell Their Stories. The youth in question was 16 at the time-which is the age of consent in the Bay State. There was no statutory rape-perhaps, there was bad judgment by the student and the man he was involved with but no laws were broken.

Well, Sean Hannity was never one to let the truth get in the way of ratings. He's been going after Jennings with the same gusto Beck went after Jones. To bolster Hannity's insanity, folks like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association are circulating fear-mongering petition trying to get their dwindling base organized in order to get Jennings fired. Thankfully, credible journalists and media outlets have debunked the allegations against Jennings.

But Jennings isn't alone in the gay witch hunt. With the Jennings campaign gaining little traction, the radical religious right and Fox are now targeting Chai Feldblum, an out lesbian and legal scholar, who is an Obama nominee to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In a nation where the majority of states still do not protect LGBT people from job discrimination, it would be a breath of fresh air to have a sharp legal mind who understands our issues sitting on the EEOC. The right calls her, among other things, an incrementalist-you know, first employment rights and then we'll turn everyone gay with our super secret X-ray gun!

Feldman is a Georgetown professor, one of the writers of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a former clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun-in other words a top-notch legal mind who understands the nuance of law, the legislative process and the reality of our lives. That's just too much for the folks that rely on rumor, innuendo, false allegations and smear tactics to fuel their politics.

The Obama administration all but abandoned Van Jones--here's to hoping that the administration gets a backbone and stands up for its people. Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs tepidly called the Jennings' attacks sad and shameful--a baby step in the long march ahead to close the book on political witch hunts and the likenesses of Joe McCarthy

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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I grew up in a middle class family on Long Island with health care privilege. My mother was the breadwinner because my father got hurt and stopped working when I was 14.

He couldn't work but as a U.S. Postal Service employee his health insurance never stopped working. My mother was also covered at her job. Medical bankruptcy was never an option at my house. The various health insurances-public and private--kicked in and all the surgeries, all the hospital stays, all the medications, the wheelchair . . . everything was covered.

I've always had health insurance. I've had the same primary care provider since moving to Albany in 1978.

I have health care privilege. But, health care shouldn't be a privilege it should be a right. Unfortunately, for many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community it is neither. For LGBT people, health insurance and regular access to health care is the gold ring just out of grasp.

With all the talk about health care reform, a small chorus of voices has been growing to make sure the LGBT community is included in whatever reform bill is enacted.

I can see the quizzical look on faces now. Wouldn't LGBT people be covered simply because the bill will supposedly cover all Americans? If it was only that easy.

Health disparities-demonstrated differences in health outcomes for folks who are different from the norm-impact the LGBT community. Because we are faced with systemic discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, many of us do not receive LGBT-affirmative and culturally competent health care.

According to the National Coalition for LGBT Health, the adverse health effects of stigma, stress and violence impact my community disproportionately. These adverse health effects are further compounded by barriers-such as job discrimination, lack of family health insurance, afraid of coming out to our doctors for fear of their reaction-that prevent us from accessing even routine, primary care. Research has shown that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender substantially impacts whether or not we receive care and, when we do, whether that care effectively speaks to all aspect of our lives.

The disparities underscore why any health care reform needs to be LGBT inclusive. The National Coalition for LGBT Health has developed guiding principles that will be crucial if health care reform is to be LGBT inclusive. Some of the principles are:

• Reform must include guaranteed access to care. If everyone was guaranteed care, it would overcome the lack of coverage so many in the community face because not all employers and not all states allow coverage for same-sex couples and their families. And when they do, we're taxed on it-our straight colleagues are not.
• Reform must remove linguistic barriers to care. The terms "family," "parent" and "spouse" in law and policy routinely exclude LGBT families and, in turn, our families are not able to access insurance programs such as the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
• Reform must prohibit the heinous practice of excluding care based on pre-existing conditions. We're discriminated against and our relationships aren't recognized and, in turn, LGBT people are more likely not to have insurance which means we're more likely to have a pre-existing condition because we don't have access to care.
• Reform must have fully inclusive mental health coverage-no this isn't to pay for reparative therapy to turn us straight. It's to pay for the recovery that needs to happen because of the discrimination and stigma that has lead to the mental health and substance abuse issues that adversely impact the LGBT community.
• Reform must include cultural competency. Universal access will have little meaning for the LGBT community if we can not access care from professionals who understand, recognize and affirm our identities.
• Reform must mandate coverage and services for transgender individuals. Health insurance companies routinely exclude "transgender-related services" and deny coverage for medical expenses that could be interpreted as being related to "sex reassignment." This leaves one of the most vulnerable communities even more vulnerable because many insurance companies deny coverage for non-transgender related health issues-even life threatening ones--simply because the person is transgender.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Sundown tomorrow, Friday, September 18th, marks a new beginning for Jews around the world-it is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

From Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, ten days later, we're supposed to look inside ourselves, review our actions over the past year, ask those we've trespassed upon in some way to forgive us and ask God to forgive us as well.

It's a lot to do in ten days-especially the asking those we've trespassed upon to forgive us. After all, it's easier to pray and ask God to forgive than it is to walk up to someone you've slighted, someone you may not really like or someone you love with all your heart and ask to be forgiven. It means being humble. It means being ready to not be forgiven. It means recognizing you're not the perfect human being you like to think you are.

Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina could use a little High Holy Day humility right now. Sure, he called the White House with a hollow apology for his now infamous "You Lie!" shout out during President Obama's health care address last week. But there was no intent in his apology. No kavanah, as many Jews would put it, no being in the moment, no embracing his apology with his heart.

He may not recognize it but any thinking person can see it-after all, his flaws have been spread over the media for all the world to see. In her New York Times op ed piece this past weekend, Maureen Dowd hit the nail on the head by adding the unspoken to show Wilson's real intent. Dowd wrote that what Wilson wanted to say, meant to say, but knew he couldn't say was "You Lie, Boy."

Instead of becoming a national embarrassment, Wilson's outburst has become a rallying cry for all the right wing wackos who can't abide by the fact that the Commander in Chief of our great nation is an African-American man. We saw it this weekend at the 9-12 March-angry white people holding up signs using imagery and words that vilify Obama, depicting him as "the other." Obama in whiteface and smeared red lipstick to look like an even more horrific "Joker" than the late Heath Ledger did. Obama and Hitler depicted side by side. Obama as an "undocumented worker." Obama as Che Guevara.

Their signs and rhetoric went just as far as Wilson's did. He didn't say "boy." Their signs didn't say the "N" word. But their intent was clear-their hatred for Obama is not because he's trying to reform health care, or trying to right the economy and get people back to work. No, their hatred for Obama comes from their fear of having an African-American lead this nation. Their hatred is racism. But because the 9-12ers, just like Wilson, don't use the "N" word, or the "boy" word, they think they can play the innocent card-I'm not racist, I just don't trust, don't respect a black president (and, parenthetically, I never will.)

Confederate flags abounded at the 9-12 rally. Joe Wilson railed against removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse in 2000.

I don't know about you but when someone carries a Confederate flag-the symbol of the South's quest to keep slavery legal-I think there's a message they want to convey. They think African-Americans should just be thought of as Africans, as the other, as folks who don't deserve equality, who were "better off," as many Southerners said during the Civil War, as slaves.

But these folks aren't racists. Oh, no! People like Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor are called racist because she recognized that "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

Well folks, she's right. White men, by and large, live a life of privilege and don't have a clue what the others in our country have had to live with. Their intent is to keep their privilege regardless of the consequences. Obama in the White House, Sotomayor on the Supreme Court are real time threats to that privilege and Joe Wilson and the 9-12ers know it.

With Yom Kippur on the horizon, I intend to ask to be forgiven for my trespasses. Joe Wilson and the 9-12ers don't think they've trespassed at all. They think it's their right to step on the entire country.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Lately, most of our judicial attention span has been focused on the U.S. Supreme Court. We all watched as Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson and federal-bench wannabee, Senator Jeff Sessions-a Republican from Alabama-tripped over their rhetoric trying to label Sonia Sotomayor with the R word-racist.

Their flailing about was just another death scene for the GOP-showing once again that they are not only outrageous in their allegations but out of touch with the country.

Now that Sotomayor is U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, we can take our short judicial attention spans and focus them locally. So, local in fact, I'm talking about Rensselaer County, right here in the Capital District.

Over the years, many of us have heard horror stories from an LGBT person dealing with the Family Court system. Sadly, even now, there are some judges who harbor deeply held bias against us and against our families. Their ignorance and homophobia couched in legal opinions have torn families apart.

Some judges have refused to recognize the validity of non-biological parents' love and commitment to their children while in fierce custody battles with their ex-partners. Until recently, lesbians and gay men in abusive relationships could not get Family Court issued orders of protection because our relationships had no legal recognition. They still don't but now there's a law on the books, the Fair Access to Family Court Act, which has opened Family Courts across the state to victims of domestic violence in same-sex relationships as well as unmarried straight couples and teens.

One of the people who has been in the trenches helping to protect LGBT people and their families-Geri Pomerantz-is now running for Family Court Judge in Rensselaer County. She is one of three Democrats on the ballot in this Tuesday's upcoming Primary Election but the only one who has dedicated her life's work to make sure all families-gay or straight-have access to justice.

Unlike her opponents, Geri doesn't come out of the Rensselaer County Democratic Party-a good thing when you consider how politicized judgeships have become. Without party backing, without the committee structure, Geri and her volunteers obtained hundreds more signatures on nominating petitions than her opponents, totaling well over twice the number required. Clearly, she is serious. Clearly, she wants to win.

Geri understands first hand how important "fair" is in the judicial system. She has dedicated her professional life to advocating for those who are traditionally shut out of the legal process. She understands that each family is unique and how important it is to be compassionate and fair in making important decisions affecting all families.

The Rensselaer County Family Court race isn't as sexy as the Murphy-Tedisco congressional race or the Jenning-Ellis mayoral primary race in Albany. Usually, folks don't get all riled up about a judicial race because, on the face of it, a judge sits all day in a court, listens to lawyers, plaintiffs and defendants, and doles out justice. It's nothing compared to running a city, handing out member items or having a good seat when the President addresses a joint session of Congress.

Or is it? Can we fairly compare the headiness of a call from the President asking for support on say, health care reform, to the joy of children being reunited with a non-biological parent after a messy custody battle between two ex-partners? Or can we fairly compare the power of a Mayor or any elected executive with that of a Judge who issues an order of protection against an abusive straight man who abuses his girlfriend?

No a Family Court race isn't a sexy race-and, by right, it shouldn't be. It's a serious race about serious issues that impact real people. As far as I'm concerned, Geri Pomerantz' experience as an attorney practicing in Family Courts throughout the Hudson Valley since 1987 as well as her compassion and commitment to justice for all, makes her the most serious candidate for one of the most serious judgeships you can win.

President Barack Obama told us that "Yes We Can" change the way things are done. I believe that to be true. I also believe that "Yes We Can" change the way our families are treated and the way politics is done locally by supporting candidates like Geri Pomerantz.

Primary Day is this Tuesday, September 15th. Democrats in Rensselaer County have yet another opportunity to vote for change by voting for Geri Pomerantz for Family Court Judge.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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It's been six months since I penned my last ProudlyOut commentary. Granted six months isn't that long but in politics a half a year can be a lifetime.

Barack Obama has seen his approval ratings fall to below 50%--not so bad for a guy who's trying to make change in a town where metamorphosis' first cousin is molasses. We all had such high hopes. When elected, Obama was hailed as the second coming for liberals, progressives and democrats.

Gays and lesbians thought the world would change right after Inauguration Day. It was déjà vu all over again--just like when we thought lifting the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military would be a snap in Bill Clinton's first few hundred days in office.

Once again, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community was hoodwinked by its own desire to see a political messiah when all we really got was a well intentioned individual whose "heart in the right place" rhetoric made us all believe that change was possible. And it is-just not immediately.

Change is elusory. We want it tomorrow but it doesn't happen overnight. We want the same instant gratification when it comes to our nation's capital that we get when we grab our TV remotes and change channels with one of our opposable thumbs.

We had expectations that Don't Ask, Don't Tell would already be gone, that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would already be passed, that the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act would be a top domestic priority. We've been disappointed-just like when you surf all those channels available on cable or satellite and there's still nothing on.

When Obama took the oath of office, the country handed over the most powerful position in the world to a mortal (yes, a mortal) who would not get everything right but who would work hard to overcome what was wrong. That doesn't mean, that we, as a community, hand over the reigns to political action, it doesn't mean that we can go home, kick off our shoes, pick up that remote and not have to work on equality anymore.

Just because he's on our side (and, yes, I do think he is) doesn't mean we don't have to keep working to make sure our issues are a priority. But, just because he's on our side doesn't mean that issues that affect all Americans-not just the queer ones among us-aren't going to be placed front and center on Obama's political agenda.

As a lesbian and a business owner, I want health insurance reform. As a lesbian in her 50's with sights set on some type of retirement in the next twenty years, I'd like the economy back in balance and my investments in the black. As a lesbian mom, I'd like to have all these wars go away so that my son isn't faced with a draft notice when the Armed Forces can no longer market their way into a robust military force.

As a lesbian, I see Obama's front and center issues -health care, the economy, Iraq and Afghanistan - as my issues as well. I am, after all, an American. And being an American means speaking up. Despite Obama's rhetoric, it is up to us and our allies to make sure our voices are heard over the din of the Teabaggers, right-wing ideologues and corporate interests who lie and use "death panel" scare tactics to subvert progress.

Don't for a minute think these folks are going to go away once health care reform happens. These are the same folks who use "God hates Fags" tactics to make sure our rights are kept just out of reach. The same folks who would vote for Sarah Palin for President in 2012. The same folks who think waterboarding is a safe and efficient way of winning a war.

What the last six months has shown us is that Obama's Election Day victory wasn't a blank check for LGBT rights. If anything, Obama's victory has shown us is that those who want to stop progress, advance hate and capitalize on the politics of ignorance are getting their mojo back and that we can't take anything for granted.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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OK, so what I've been saying for years--that we're just like everyone else--really is true.

We're black, white, Hispanic, Asian American and every other race and ethnicity. We're Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Protestant and, yes, even some of us are born again. We're professionals, we're blue collar workers, we're service workers, we're pink collar boys and girls. Some of us have kids, some don't. Some of us are able bodied. Some of us are disabled.

A recent study by the Williams Institute out of the UCLA Law School has also given us one more item for our list of great equalizers-lesbians and gay are also poor.

The myth that all gays and lesbians are affluent with lots of disposable income is just that--a myth. The study, conducted by the only think tank that advances critical thought in the field of sexual orientation law and public policy, has found that lesbians, gays and bisexuals are just as likely to be poor as our straight counterparts.

Because it is so difficult to gather statistical information on transgender people, they were not included in the study but one can make the assumption that they are at higher risk of economic insecurity and unemployment simply because of who they are.

The initial findings, based on analyzing data from the 2000 U.S. Census, the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the 2003 and 2005 California health Interview Surveys, found that poverty rates for lesbian, gay and bisexual adults are as high or higher than rates for heterosexual adults. Those rates are also comparable or higher for same-sex couples when compared to heterosexual couples.

It was not surprising that lesbians are in worse economic shape. Looking just at the percentage of couples living below the poverty line, lesbian couples have a poverty rate of 6.9% compared to 5.4% for straight married coupled and 4% for gay male couples. When the poverty rates for all members of the family-adults and children-were calculated, the poverty rate for lesbian families is 9.4% compared to 6.7% for straight families and 5.5% for gay male families.

The study also found that poverty rates for children of same-sex couples are twice as high as poverty rates for children of heterosexual married couples. In fact, one out of every five children under the age of 18 living in a same-sex couple family is poor compared to almost one in ten (9.4%) children who are the progeny of straight married couple.

African-Americans in same-sex couples and gay or lesbian couples living in rural areas also have particularly high poverty rates.

None of this should be particularly surprising. Why shouldn't we be subject to poverty and economic hardship when job discrimination based on sexual orientation is systemic in so many parts of the country? And those benefits that straight married people take for granted-social security, pensions, no inheritance taxes up to a certain point, all kinds of benefits at work-they're not available to us. We have to pay big time when we inherit and get nothing when it comes to social security survivor benefits.

It seems to me that providing marriage equality to lesbians and gay men would help stabilize our economic status. We'd be able to cast off the economic yoke that those who want to keep us marginalized are so invested we maintain even though they don't want to own up that we too are burdened by the economic realities of our times.

Over the at the Heritage Foundation, the right wing's well funded conservative thinking think tank, one of its scholars, according to a piece in USA Today, dismissed the study as "garbage" because it looked only at couples and doesn't compare single gays to single mothers.

Well the folks at Williams would have loved to compare the economic status single gays and lesbians to single moms but there's no data because most nationwide surveys do not ask about sexual orientation.

Indicative of the difficulty in getting solid statistical data on the LGBT community, the folks over at the U.S. Census recently announced that they would waste precious taxpayer dollars to remove any same-sex couple from being listed as married in the 2010 census.

This is a Bush hold-over. So, Barack, now that the U.S. will sign the U.N. resolution decriminalizing homosexuality how about taking a baby step back here in the states? All we need is one of your executive orders and our relationships will count, at the very least, in the Census which would be another small step in being just like everyone else.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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While some of us in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are still holding our breath and, perhaps, even stomping our feet about the lack of an out cabinet member in Barack Obama's administration, the number of openly LGBT appointees, while scarcely two dozen, is actually scores more than we've ever seen before.

After a bit of searching through various LGBT websites, I googled "LGBT Appointments Project" and found a list of twenty folks. The Appointments Project, set up by the Victory Fund's Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute and supported by le crème de la crème of LGBT national organizations, started looking for LGBT folks to serve in the new president's administration before we even knew who was going to be the new president.

I thought that was a bit premature at the time since we all knew that if McCain won only the closeted gays in the GOP would get jobs. Nonetheless, the Appointments Projects was prescient and when the Obama transition team was ready to go, so were we-with hundreds of potential resumes of qualified queers to serve our country.

Right now, twenty of us have been appointed and we're not talking low level staffing positions either. The highest ranking appointment is that of John Berry, Director of the Office of Personnel Management. After eight years of malignant neglect by the Bush White House where the federal executive order banning discrimination against lesbians and gays was all but ignored yet not revoked, we'll now have a thoughtful manager with experience in personnel issues who will oversee the implementation of workplace policies throughout federal government. Berry is a long-time civil servant who is credited with turning around the Smithsonian's National Zoo. If he can turn around the National Zoo, managing millions of federal employees should be a piece of cake.

Jeffrey Crowley, an actual HIV/AIDS advocate and openly gay man with a Masters in Public Health will be Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy-our new AIDS czar. Crowley previously served as the Deputy Executive Director for Programs at the National Association of People with AIDS where he helped implement several key initiatives including The National HIV Testing Day Campaign and the Ryan White National Youth Conference.

Nancy Sutley left sunny LA for a sometimes dreary-although the cherry blossoms are coming-DC to take the helm of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She'll be at the forefront of greening America and will be Obama's principal environmental policy advisor.

While many in the community were pushing for Fred Hochberg to become head of the Small Business Administration or to be a safe bet for Commerce Secretary, the long-time LGBT activist and entrepreneur will instead head up the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Given the state of our economy, Hochberg may just be the right person to help tip our trading scales just a bit.

LGBT political veterans Brian Bond and Dave Noble are also on the list of twenty appointees. Bond, who has headed up the Victory Fund and held positions at the Democratic National Committee, will be the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. That's the office that communicates and promotes Obama's policies to constituent groups and gets their feedback for fine tuning.

Dave Noble helmed the National Stonewall Democrats and was government affairs director at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. He then went to the Obama campaign to head up the LGBT vote operation. He is now the White House liaison for NASA.

Perhaps one my favorite appointments is Fred Davie, an out African-American gay man, who is now sits on the Policy Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Davie is the president of Public/Private Ventures, a think tank that creates and strengthens programs that improve lives in low-income communities. While he will be one of many voices, hopefully he'll be a voice that will stop faith-based initiatives from just rubber stamping the homophobic programs of the radical Christian right.

Of course, there are way more gay men than lesbians in appointed positions and it's not clear if any are bisexual or transgender. However, this is sure a hell of a lot better than the last eight years under Bush and thankfully there was no Jessie Helms-type in the U.S. Senate to vilify any of the appointments as he did when Bill Clinton nominated Roberta Achtenberg Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1993.

We're in the house now and we're even sitting at the table.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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I was sitting in the conference rooms of the Empire State Plaza. Not exactly the bowels of the Edward Durrell Stone marble and concrete behemoth that holds the seat of state government in New York State but not a place with the best cell reception either.

I was there because my client, the Community Health Care Association of New York State, was holding its annual Advocacy Day on Monday, March 2nd-yes the same day that the 1-95 snow storm hit New York City and the east coast.

Despite the weather, a few hundred advocates came to Albany to talk to their legislators about strengthening the state's healthcare safety net. Community health centers have always been at the forefront of providing quality primary care regardless of a person's ability to pay.

Throughout the AIDS crisis, health centers have been there for people living with HIV and AIDS. In New York City, the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center housed the first community-based HIV clinic and today is New York's premier provider of sensitive, culturally competent and clinically appropriate health care and related services for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as well as for people with HIV and AIDS.

As President Obama grapples with the economy and trying to make healthcare accessible, if not universal, it is important for us, as a community, to remember that the nation's economic, education, national security and healthcare issues are also our issues. While we wait for the supposed "golden age" of LGBT rights to dawn, we also have to recognize the role we can play in the larger issues surrounding us.

Despite the stereotype that the LGBT community, gay men in particular, have more disposable income, we've all been impacted by the economic downturn. We've lost jobs just like everyone else. We've lost our health insurance and will find it difficult to pay COBRA just like everyone else. We bought less holiday gifts just like everybody else. We've lost homes to foreclosure and some of us are even homeless.

Our businesses are feeling the impact. The nation's oldest and the Big Apple's first gay bookstore, The Oscar Wilde Bookshop is closing at the end of this month because of, as the owner says, the current economic crisis. A Different Light in West Hollywood will also go dark soon but its sister-shop in San Francisco and its online store, ADLbooks.com, will remain open and active.

Because so many of our gay or lesbian-owned businesses depend on the disposable income of our community and since that disposable income is getting smaller and smaller by the minute these days, many of our businesses are feeling the crunch.

That lack of disposable income is also having an impact on our community's charitable giving. Always willing to give to support the myriad organizations in our community-local, statewide and national-everyone is scaling back on their charitable donations and many of our organizations are feeling it.

Lambda Legal cut 10 positions. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation made some cuts last fall. One of my favs, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association is down to two staff members. Even the venerable fund raising machine, the Human Rights Campaign, is trying to renegotiate its contract with 75 workers who are members of 1199 SEIU.

Our present economic climate is more like a blizzard of continual bad financial news. This week, the Dow closed below 7,000 for the first time since 1997.

But the one thing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has going for it is that we're survivors. We know how to weather storms of all sorts-from the AIDS crisis to hate crimes to being fired not because profit margins are down but because homophobia is up.

Despite all the hardship, we have the opportunity to set the example just like we did during the early days of the AIDS crisis. We banded together. We formed organizations like the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center and the Gay Men's Health Crisis. We took care of each other-we cooked, we cleaned, we wiped brows.

Today, we face an economic crisis--one that knows no race, religion, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. This is an opportunity for us-just like those pioneers who formed community health centers in the face of health disparities in underserved community. This is an opportunity for us to reach out to our neighbors, people we may never have spoken with and lend a hand. You never know, they may help you right back.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Their basic message is "God Hates Fags."

Their brand-it's just hate.

Who am I talking about? A guy named Fred Phelps and his merry band of rabid homophobes from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS.

You may remember them, not for the name of their church or even the name of their erstwhile leader, but from their protests at the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. Phelps sees their deaths not as a consequence of war but a consequence of God's hatred of America because of the country's acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Given recent events, it's hard to imagine that America has truly embraced the LGBT community. Politically, our rights are either taken away-California voting for discrimination and by voting against marriage equality-or just outright denied-30 states still allow basic employment discrimination against LGBT people. Socially, we're still at the top of the list for being targets of hate crimes and LGBT youth are still terrorized in school. Religiously, we're still demonized in pulpits across America (not just at the Westboro Baptist Church).

But Phelps has never let facts get in his way. He'll twist and turn any person, any event, any institution to fit his "God Hates Fags" message.

He calls Barack Obama the anti-Christ. He says God is America's enemy. He contends that Matthew Shepard is in hell. And, he considers anyone or any institution that supports the LGBT community "Fag Enablers," also hated by God.

And lucky for us here in the Capital District, Phelps and/or folks from his church will be visitng next week, Friday, March 6th to be exact, to spread the word of hate. For some reason, Albany High School and the University at Albany have gotten on his radar.

Phelps and company's message to Albany High students is right on his website, GodHatesFags.com. It says "Each time your parents, and the other adults told you "It's okay to be gay" they tell you three things: 1) God is a liar; 2) There actually is no God; 3) You have free will. Those are all lies, and we will tell you the only truth that might save your never dying souls, to wit: God Hates Fags, God Hates Fag Enablers, God Hates You, The Siege Is Here, You Hate Your Kids/You Eat Your Kids, Obama Is The Antichrist. Now if that does not fix you, nothing will."

Because the University at Albany's slogan is "The World Within Reach," Phelps is going up to the uptown campus to make sure that the students know "there is no more important thing in the WORLD than to have the truth preached to you."

Thankfully, we don't have to worry about hundreds of crazy homophobes trolling the streets of Albany. Phelps and his crew are a small lot with colorful, hate mongering signs who simply know how to work the media.

Our local LGBT and allied community have been organizing for a few weeks. We're taking a higher path. Instead of counter protests, we're holding separate events-a candlelight vigil in front of City Hall on Thursday, March 5th at 5 p.m. and a Unity Breakfast at the University on Friday morning. Both of these gatherings will have many, many more people than the Phelps clan and will show our city and our region that we are a community that, as the organizers of these gatherings are saying, won't take the bait and instead will unite against hate.

Using hate as a brand has been quite successful over the years. Hitler used it against the Jews. The KKK uses it against African-Americans and anyone who isn't white. Karl Rove mixed it with fear to get George Bush elected.

Like them, Phelps lives his brand. His goal is to keep the hate alive. No matter who else he targets, it always comes back to the LGBT community. Jews are "Fag Jew Nazis." Phelps says "Being black won't get you to Heaven. But promoting fags will take you to Hell." On his fellow Christians . . . "Because they have created an atmosphere in this world where people believe the lie that God loves everybody. This soul-damning lie is the reason that fags are so out-spoken today."

It's too easy to say that Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church are from another planet. Unfortunately, they're really on ours. It's up to us to live our brand of love-because, when all is said and done, love really does conquer all.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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I don't know which one is worse-the idiocy of homophobia or the duplicity of it.

For embarrassingly idiotic behavior, we just need to go to Oklahoma. Recently, at the Sooner State House, openly gay representative, Al McAffrey, a Democrat representing Oklahoma City, asked the Rev. Scott Jones to deliver the invocation. Jones is the openly gay pastor of Oklahoma City's United Church of Christ Cathedral of Hope and keeping with custom introduced the people who were with him-notably, his "loving partner and fiance, Michael."

Well, that's all some members of the legislature needed to hear. They turned a deaf ear to the lovely prayer Jones delivered. Because he's gay and invoked the notion of family in the most inclusive way possible, numerous members of the House voted against placing Jones' remarks and prayer into the chamber's official record.

They could have been gracious-but no. Homophobia is never gracious. Instead, idiocy ruled the day and a number of politicians-all Republicans, of course-got on their high horse to politicize the situation. One legislator called Jones' introduction of his partner "an attack on the beliefs of a whole lot of Oklahomans." Another said that a Christian family was a man and a woman and that was just the way it was.

It turned into a parliamentary procedural nightmare with points of order flying this way and that. Never before had anyone objected to a prayer being put on record. At first, Rep. John Wright raised the procedural point that prayers were only voted upon on Thursdays. That in itself is just too funny and just as revealing. He later came clean and said his actions were motivated by faith-his version of it at any rate.

Sally Kern, another representative from Oklahoma City, also sputtered and stammered trying to find the best way to vote down the prayer. This was par for the course for Kern, a self-proclaimed Radical Christian Right homophobe, who has said that homosexuals are the "biggest threat to our nation . . . even more than terrorism and Islam." Will someone please buy her a copy of "Religion for Dummies?"

What's so embarrassing is that these legislators weren't embarrassed by what they said-they think their comments were perfectly within reason since they also think that Oklahoma is a Christian state, a radical Christian state that is. They weren't embarrassed but I'm sure their 64 colleagues who voted to include the pastor's prayer had plenty of chagrin to go around.

Now let's turn our attention to the newly minted California-Utah political pipeline. We all know that the Mormon Church pressured, cajoled, and even threatened their members to give money to support Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that turned back time as well as justice last November by making marriage equality illegal in California. The latest reports show that of the $20 million that came from Mormons, $2.7 million was contributed by Utah businesses and individuals. The church really must have put the pressure on because $2.5 million came in the last three weeks of the campaign. The Church, itself, contributed more than $180,000 in in-kind contributions.

The business and individual contributions were legal-both are well within their rights to support or oppose ballot initiatives. The Church's contributions came under scrutiny because they didn't report them in a timely manner.

However, it seems that it is the reporting of all of these contributions that have come into the spotlight. Thanks to the Watergate scandal, all political contributions have to be reported. It's all a matter of public record. Those fund raising lists have become political gold mines.

In their inimitable way of always playing the victim, even in the face of victory, the folks who spearheaded the Yes on Prop 8 campaign sought an injunction to stop the public dissemination of the names and addresses of those who supported adding discrimination to California's state constitution. This is where duplicity comes in.

They contended powerful homosexuals would target Prop 8 supporters by boycotting their businesses, or making threats against them. Now, I think it's counter-productive for us to act like the thugs who continually harass us. However, economic boycotts-that's well within our rights. After all, the American Family Association routinely boycotts businesses that support the LGBT community. If a business or two go under because of their homophobia, so be it.

Whether it's stupidity in Oklahoma or duplicity in California, the one thread here is that none of these folks want to take responsibility for what they do.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Sex and politics is like watching a train wreck. You know it's going to be horrific but you just can't help yourself.

Add two gay men, one perhaps underage, and you've got a train carrying nuclear waste derailing and heading for a superhighway at rush hour.

Just ask Sam Adams, Portland, Oregon's openly gay mayor. His election was heralded by progressives everywhere after winning a 12-way primary last May with 58 percent of the vote. There was no run off because he captured more than 50 percent of the ballots cast. Yet during the campaign, he successfully dodged rumors that he had had a relationship with a much younger man.

The scuttlebutt was that when Adams was 40 years old and a city commissioner he had a relationship with Beau Breedlove, then an 18-year old intern. Both of them denied it.

But in the last few weeks, new evidence has surfaced and Adams was forced to admit to the relationship. It has also come out that Adams asked Breedlove to lie about it. Well, the proverbial cat is out of the bag and Adams is facing calls for his resignation and a criminal investigation.

It's sordid for sure. But it's also incredibly disappointing.

Once again, a male politician has let the wrong head do his thinking for him.

I've been watching the gay listservs on this and the response has been interesting but not that surprising. Most of the men who respond are saying as long as it was consensual and Breedlove was 18, there was nothing wrong with them having a relationship. On the other hand, the women are quick to point out that there's an inherent power imbalance, that it is inappropriate to have a relationship with someone 22 years your junior especially when the junior is still a teenager. It's one thing for a 40 year old and a 62 year old. It's another, at least in my book, for a 40 year old and an 18 year old-regardless of gender or sexual orientation-to have a sexual relationship.

Beyond the age difference eewww factor here, there's also the question of just plain common sense. If you're a gay or lesbian politician, despite all the advances we've made, you still have to live up to a higher standard. Any mention of sex and a gay pol immediately opens the homophobes' doors to chants of "See we told you so. You can't trust those gays. It's all about sex with them. They're predators. They go after children."

Plain and simple, we face a double standard. Despite all the hoopla around Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky or even John Edwards' two-timing Elizabeth in the face of her fight with cancer, there's still a wink and a nod that happens when straight male elected officials get it on with younger, female subordinates. That, "yeah, you still go it" stud thinking just takes over. After all, politics is about power and there's nothing more powerful than using your power to have sex with whomever you want.

That's not to say that there aren't a few straight male pols who got caught and paid for it. Look at Eliot Spitzer. Mr. Clean was caught getting dirty and his political enemies-from both sides of the aisle-lined up to make sure his days were numbered.

It seems to me that Spitzer's problem bears some resemblance to that of gay politicians. Of his own doing, Spitzer put himself out there as a reformer, a punisher of prostitution, a family man who loved his wife and kids, an elected official who was above reproach because he lived his rhetoric. He set the standard high for himself and he had to live up to it.

Gay elected officials also have a very high standard. I wish I could say that we set it for ourselves and that we recognize that we have to be more careful and more conscientious. But that's not the case. Simply because we are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender-simply because we live outside of society's norm of heterosexual sex-the bar is set incredibly high for us and one misstep, one wrong move, one encounter can bring our credibility crashing down around our feet.

Sam Adams says he's staying. What's more important is whether or not he can effectively do his job now that he's fallen from the pedestal he never asked to be put on but couldn't avoid even if he wanted to.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Last week was certainly the political week that was.

First, Barack Obama took the oath of office and we took back the country. Then, the Capital District brought out its best and the first U.S. Senator from upstate since the 1970's when New York State Governor, David Paterson, appointed two-term democratic Congresswoman, Kirsten Gillibrand, to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. And, then as if that wasn't enough, former republican State Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno, was indicted for reaping millions from companies that did business with the state.

Bruno's indictment is long in coming. After a three year federal investigation, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District, Andrew T. Baxter, got in front of the media and told them that Bruno "exploited his office by concealing the nature and the source of substantial payments that he received from parties that benefited from his official actions"

When all was said and done, the Feds said Bruno received more than $3 million over a 13-year period from a handful of companies seeking state contracts and grants, as well as contracts to manage pension fund investments for at least 16 labor unions. Indignant to the last, Bruno vowed to fight the charges with his family by his side.

Perhaps he should reconsider which family members he picks. His daughter, Susan, is being questioned about the questionable resume she used to get what many consider a no-show job at the Research Foundation of the State University of New York. His son, Kenny, who disgraced the office of Rensselaer County District Attorney only to leave it to become a high paid lobbyist emerged as a focus of the federal investigation against his father because, as the New York Times said, he surfaced "as a nexus between his father and a wealthy businessman."

His family woes aside, when Joe shakes folks down it doesn't always mean money exchanges hands. In order for the then-Republican controlled State Senate to let New York's Statewide Omnibus Non-Discrimination Act, what we've come to call SONDA, come to a floor for a vote, Bruno exacted a political price from the Empire State Pride Agenda.

It was the fall of 2002. Lesbian and gay ally H. Carl McCall was running a good campaign against sitting New York State Governor George Pataki. While Pataki was on record supporting SONDA, Bruno wouldn't let it come to a vote in the Senate, where it was sure to pass, unless the Pride Agenda endorsed Pataki. Bruno shook down the New York gay community's leading political organization in order to undermine McCall's campaign. After waiting over thirty years to get the bill passed, the Pride Agenda's leadership, then Matt Foreman, acquiesced.

I was as disgusted then as I am now recounting the story. As the founding chair of the Pride Agenda, I received scores of irate phone calls. I didn't blame people for being angry. I was too. New York's LGBT community knew who our real friend and ally was. We stood by McCall but he went on to lose the race. The only solace I had was being able to sit on the floor of the Senate on December 17th, 2002--the day SONDA passed.

While Joe Bruno rattles his saber, another prominent politico from the other side of the Hudson River from Albany is rising in prominence. Kirsten Gillibrand, a two-term Congresswoman representing the 20th congressional district, won the sweepstakes on who was to replace Hillary Clinton as our junior U.S. Senator.

Faster than a New York minute, Gillibrand went from a member of Congress who did not support marriage equality to a U.S. Senate-designee who fully supported marriage equality. Perhaps it was a call from the Pride Agenda's Alan Van Capelle or perhaps it was the recognition that as U.S. Senator Gillibrand had to broaden her perspective because she was representing a much wider constituency than that of her rural, mostly Republican district. Whatever the reason, she changed her tune for the better. She's even listed on equalitygiving.org's "Yes I Do" webpage of Senators and Members of Congress who support marriage equality. I was disappointed, however, that my new Congressman, Paul Tonko, who voted yes as an Assemblyman for marriage equality, isn't listed on the page yet.

Last week certainly was a political week for the record books. Barack Obama is now our president. Kirsten Gillibrand is now New York's junior Senator. And, Joe Bruno? He's on his way to becoming a footnote in New York's political history.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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Listening to the media after President Barack Obama-it's so good to say that, no more president-elect-anyway, listening to the media after President Barack Obama gave his inaugural speech there was disappointment because there was no one easy catchphrase, no one easy quote to take away.

There was no, "Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You," or no "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" or no "better angels of our nature." No, there was no easy sound bite because there is no easy answer to the challenges our nation faces.

Perhaps, the era of sound bite politics-snippets like "Mission Accomplished" or "I'm the decider" or "You're doing a heck of a job Brownie"-yes, perhaps the era of sound bite politics is over.

As I watched the reviews of the day by my favorite trio of pundits, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow they couldn't just show a two to three second snippet from Obama's speech because there was too much substance, to much seriousness of purpose to gloss over in just a moment.

Obama is a serious president for serious times. He's smart and politically savvy-able to denounce the Bush administration's last eight years without demeaning the man. He's redefining political discourse and how politics are done.

The 83 percent approval rating President Obama had when he took the oath gives him the support, perhaps even the mandate, he needs to change the way things get done in D.C. I am hopeful that we will see change. The Republican members of Congress who will try to stand in his way won't be plowed down by an Obama steamroller. No, they will be put in their place by their own constituents-people who need jobs, people who need to keep a roof over their heads, people who need health care.

The folks who need help-more and more of them are no different than you or I-they don't care about the minutiae of the stimulus package. They care about getting back to work. They care about bringing their kids to the doctor and getting them a good education. They care about keeping their homes. They care about the things Obama cares about, they care about the things the majority of the people in this country care about. The Republicans in Congress who try to stop the change that's needed won't be seen as the champions of the people. No, they'll be seen as the obstructionists that they are.

Change was the order of the day on the day of Obama's Inauguration. By one minute after 12 noon yesterday, right after he was officially President but before he took the oath, the White House's website changed dramatically.

With the header, "Change has come to America" and a graduated soft blue that is continuing Obama's branded colors, the web site lays out his agenda-from economic revitalization to civil rights to health care to the war in Iraq.

Of course, I was curious to see what was under civil rights and there, plain as day for all to see, was a sub-head-"Support for the LGBT Community."

This is the first time any sitting president has detailed our agenda as his. Despite the flap over Rick Warren, when it comes to policy-the stuff that really counts-Obama has been with us, is with us now and will continue to be with us throughout his presidency.

The first two bullets were issues we all expect-hate crimes and non-discrimination. But the third bullet-it was entitled "Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples." No it's not marriage but Obama's message is clear-he support full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. He wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100 plus federal legal rights and benefits currently provided to married straight couples are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and "other legally-recognized unions."

In the middle of his speech Obama said, "We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America." I'm there because his vision for America is my vision-one that thinks, works, tackles the hard stuff and values all of us regardless of who we wake up with in the morning.

That's change we can believe in and it's more than just a sound-bite.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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I've been talking to myself about Israel for quite some time.

As a second generation Jew whose father fought in WWII and who lost family members to Czarist pogroms and the Holocaust, I firmly believe Israel has a right to exist.

As a progressive, I've always hoped for a peaceful settlement forged by diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians. I do think it's possible even though the United States has squandered eight years of opportunity.

As a lesbian, I've always worried about the ultra-Orthodox community trying to undermine the rights Israel's secular government has given to its LGBT citizens.

Now, with the military actions happening in Gaza, I've had to think long and hard about what I think. For the first time in my life, I'm actually in full agreement with what the Israeli armed forces are doing. Enough is enough. How long was Israel basically supposed to just bend over and take it as Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, continued to fire rockets across the border?

But just as important is my need, my community's need to support a country that supports its LGBT citizens. I think history will bear me out that from an LGBT perspective, supporting Israel is the right thing to do.

I remember back in the late 1970's when revolution was fomenting in Iran and the Shah was deposed we were all hoping for a freer, a more democratic Iran. Well that certainly didn't happen. Instead we got a repressive Islamic regime where homosexuality was a crime punishable by death. You had your choice of what type of death-being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword or dropped from the highest perch-but nonetheless death was your fate.

Not much has changed in the just over 30 years since the Iranian revolution. Now, under a supposedly democratically elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, gays and lesbians are facing their own pogrom. Unlike Russian Cossacks coming through Jewish villages on horseback reigning terror at the turn of the 20th century, Iran's pogrom is more high tech. It starts with internet entrapment. Those found out to be gay or lesbian are forced to inform on others and then there's the torture and executions of those found guilty of engaging in "homosexual acts."

Iran is just one example. The only country in the Middle East that fully supports its LGBT citizens is Israel. We can serve openly in the military. We can adopt the children of our partners. We are protected by an anti-discrimination law. Sodomy is not illegal. The foreign-born partners of Israeli LGBT people receive residency permits. While same-sex marriage is not legal, Israel's Civil Service Commission extends spousal benefits and pensions to the partners of LGBT employees.

On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority, the government body that is responsible for both Gaza and the West Bank, uses Islamic law as the basis for its treatment of LGBT Palestinians. In other words, we're criminals plain and simple.

Like Iran, those who are caught are forced to expose others. One 21 year old Palestinian gay man was caught having sex with another man by his brother. The brother turned him in to the police. His ordeal was horrific. He was hung by his arms from the ceiling. He was forced to stand in sewage-filled water up to his neck, his head covered by a sack filled with feces. During one interrogation, police stripped him and forced him to sit on a Coke bottle.

Gay Palestinians are routinely accused of collaborating with Israel and then pressured to become suicide bombers to "purge their moral guilt."

When progressives in this country talk about what they consider to be humanitarian atrocities in Palestine they only focus on Israel. Sure, civilians are being killed in this latest action. How can they not be when Hamas purposely uses non-combatants as human shields.

My question is when will the progressives who are taking up the mantle of Palestinian freedom also take up the mantle of humane treatment of LGBT Palestinians?

Rule by religious fiat-Islamic, Christian or Jewish-is dangerous and anti-democratic. It does not foster freedom. We saw it during the programs in Eastern Europe, we saw it in Hitler's Germany and we're seeing it in the Middle East where Islamic fundamentalists are killing LGBT people just because of their sexual orientation.

History is repeating itself. As LGBT people in the United States, we can speak out-supporting Israel, is the gay thing to do.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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I like Mitchell Gold's style and I'm not just talking about the savvy branding he's used to turn his furniture company, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, into the go to place for comfortable but stylish sofas, chairs and accessories.

No, I like Mitchell Gold's style because he puts his money where his mouth is. Here's an out gay man who, along with Williams, has built a $100 million business in the country's furniture hub, N. Carolina. He treats his employees as if they were all namesakes-he treats them like gold with on-site day care, a college scholarship fund for their children and great benefits.

But go beyond the comfie sofas and chairs and you find a man who is driven by a commitment to gain full civil and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. He's been on the board of the Human Rights Campaign. The business supports the Empire State Pride Agenda, New York's statewide LGBT political organization. But Gold knows that simply working the legislative process or waiting for the courts to do the right thing isn't enough.

He's taken his marketing know how, his commitment to LGBT civil and human rights and his own money and formed Faith in America, the only organization in the country that is focusing a pinpoint laser on the religion-based bigotry that has held back our advancement.

According to Gold, the reason why we now have constitutional amendments banning marriage equality is because our opponents did a better job of selling their religion wrapped message and we didn't a good enough job of calling their efforts what they were-religion-based bigotry.

Those are fighting words if I've ever heard any. He's taking Faith in America to towns-small and big-across the country to reframe the Radical Christian's Right rhetoric as religion-based bigotry. He's branding the Radical Christian Right as he brands Faith in America as one of the only LGBT organizations willing to stand up and call the Radical Christian Right for what it is-a bunch of bigots who hide behind the Bible.

"When all the state amendments were fought," he told me in a recent interview "when you look at those campaigns, no one educated the voters to tell them they were falling into the trap of religion-based bigotry."

Gold believes we have to connect the dots-we have to make a compelling case to show the connections between the civil rights struggles of the 1960's and those of today. He told me of a conversation he had with the Rev. Al Sharpton who told him that those fighting for freedom can not let the oppressor define the terms we're going to use to work for full equality.

Gold and Faith in America are defining the terms through a media campaign that makes it clear that religion-based bigotry is what kept women and people of color from reaching their full potential and is what kept interracial marriage illegal until only 42 years ago.

He's also connecting the dots through publishing. Gold edited a book called Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America. "The book has exposed a lot of people to the fact that there are gay teens in a lot of trouble because of this type of bigotry," he told me. "Almost everyday I get an e-mail from someone who has read the book and told me how transformative it was."

He told me of an 80 year old woman who wrote to say that she had always been judgmental of lesbians and gays and, after reading the book, she realized the harm that her thinking and her standing by and doing nothing have caused.

When Gold was on PBS' The Charlie Rose Show last November, he said that religion-based bigotry was "one of the great moral failings of America."

As a Jew, Gold isn't interested in ridding America of religion-nor for the record, am I. He is interested is religion having its rightful place in people's personal lives not in the public arena.

"It is OK for people to have whatever religious beliefs they want," he said on Rose's show. "It is not OK to use your religious beliefs to legislate civil rights for others. American is better than that."

I say, Amen to that.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender blogs and listservs have lit up brighter than the Rockefeller Christmas Tree and all the Chanukah Menorahs in Brooklyn. It's all because President-Elect Barack Obama invited evangelical preacher Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

Some say Obama has sold out the LGBT community. Warren, the pastor at the Saddleback Church, a mega-house of worship in Southern California, played a role in passing Prop 8, the ballot initiative that overturned the California Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Warren's rhetoric on LGBT people has been typical of the Radical Christian Right. Like Sarah Palin, Warren purports to having gay friends but wouldn't for a second think those friends should have the same rights and responsibilities as sacred heterosexuals do.

I could go on and on about what he has to say about us but, honestly, it's just not that important. I've gotten to the point where I don't care what the Rick Warrens of the world say about the LGBT community. I think it's time that we stop letting others define us. That's not to say we shouldn't let the Obama administration know we're disappointed with this choice but frame it so that our voices are more an affirmation of who we are rather than an attack on who Warren is. By attacking Warren, we just give him more credibility, more media play.

Let's face it. Rick Warren and his crew aren't going away-but, then again, neither are we. Obama picked him as a symbolic gesture to show that the big tent actually belongs to the Democratic Party. But, really, what will be the memorable words spoken on Inauguration Day-those of Rick Warren or those of Barack Obama? I venture to say the long-lasting quotes will be from the man who has just been sworn into office. Warren will have his 15 minutes in the national spotlight and move aside for a man who will have at least four years in international Klieg lights.

Let me be clear-I'm not an Obamapologist. There are things he's already done-really important things that disappoint me. Despite our best efforts of affirming who we are, there isn't one out person on the President's Cabinet and there were a few good choices. Mary Beth Maxwell, an out lesbian labor leader who is the Executive Director of American Rights at Work was passed over for California Congresswoman Hilda Solis. Maxwell would have been great but her confirmation would have been difficult-she is the power behind the "Employee Free Choice Act" which would make it easier for workers to form unions. Perhaps Obama didn't want the drama that would have come with her confirmation hearings.

Fred Hochberg, a gay man with great business credentials who was the Acting Administrator of the Small Business Administration under Bill Clinton was on the shortlist to take the helm of the SBA again-only this time he wouldn't be acting. Instead, Obama picked Karen Gordon Mills in New York City-based venture capitalist.

I guess the feminist in me should be happy-there are far more women in this cabinet than any others but where are the lesbians and gays? Right now, there's only one that I know of-Nancy Sutley who will head up the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Like I've said before and will say again, I'll take competence over queerness any day of the week but there are and will continue to be very competent folks in the LGBT community who want to serve in the Administration.

Obama has one more chance to show that his tent is big enough for LGBT appointments. The LGBT community, as well as retired military officers, has been pushing William White, the open gay chief operating officer at the U.S.S. Intrepid Museum Foundation to be the next Secretary of the Navy.

Everyone seems to love him and what a coup it would be and what a clear message it would send to name an openly gay man to be Secretary of the Navy. It's a civilian position-so Obama wouldn't be breaking the law-you know, Don't Ask, Don't Tell?-but it would set the stage for its repeal-which Obama has said he backs.

There are battles and then there are battles. I'd rather pick the ones that can have a real impact on our lives-like having openly LGBT people in the White House shaping policy and giving us a voice.

We've lost the Rick Warren battle. But that doesn't mean we've lost the war.

Oh, and one more thing-to all the listeners, Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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The last week or so has been just great for political junkies like me. There's so much going on it's hard to pinpoint exactly what to write about.

There's the ongoing "Senate Seat for Sale" melodrama in Illinois. I know that some in the gay community think Rod Blagoyevich is totally guilty just based on his haircut alone. But, bad hair isn't enough to convict a man on the multiple counts that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has filed against the Illinois governor. Wanting to maintain a proper-actually it's more like a few football fields worth of distance--between the new administration and the President-Elect's own governor, the Obama team has released its own internal investigation which reiterated Fitzgerald's contention. There's been no Obama camp involvement with the pay to play scandal.

Whether talking about a crime is actually committing a crime is the ultimate conundrum of the Blagoyevich affair. It seems no money had changed hands yet-at least as far as selling Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat goes. But Blagoyevich is politically dead in the water and should resign. He can no longer do his job effectively and Illinois, just like our other 49 states, deserves a governor who can actually function and get something done.

While Blagoyevich was trying to get someone to pay him big bucks for the Senate appointment, a bunch of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders were meeting with officials of the Obama Transition Team to make our case for openly gay appointments in the administration. A stark difference to Blagoyevich's tactics, there was no pay to play in this meeting. Instead, it was about competent queers having a place at the White House's big table-we weren't just talking about mid-level appointments but an openly gay member of the Cabinet.

I'm the first one to say that competency trumps being queer any day of the week-in other words, just because you're lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender that doesn't mean you get a job with the administration. But, the days of us standing around as window dressing are over. After all, 2009 isn't just the year that Obama will take his first oath of office as President. It's also the year we'll be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Stonewall-the seminal event that began the modern gay rights movement.

Who would have thought that the gays and drag queens who rioted the night Judy Garland died would have planted the seeds for new generations of LGBT academics, politicians, economists, public administrators, policy makers and the like who can be defined by their expertise rather than just by with whom they love.

This past Sunday evening, Barney Frank was profiled on Sixty Minutes. That fact that he is gay was a footnote to the role he's played in trying to straighten out the country's financial fiasco. There are plenty of Barney Franks-LGBT people with expertise that can make our government work better. The meeting with Obama's Transition Team and the work of the Lesbian and Gay Victory Fund's Appointments Project has brought over 1,400 talented LGBT people with expertise who could openly and proudly serve our country to the table-all the Obama team needs to do is ask.

So far, one of us has been and she said yes. Nancy Sutley, Los Angeles' deputy mayor for energy and the environment who is also an out lesbian, has been tapped to chair the President-Elect's White House Council on Environmental Quality. While not a Cabinet seat, Sutley is sure to have a seat at the table when the new administration deals with the biggest environmental challenge the world has yet to face-global warming.

So there's pay to play in Illinois, not paying to play in DC and now Caroline Kennedy saying she thinks she might like to play in New York.

I, for one, welcome Kennedy entrance on to New York's political stage. I think it will be very difficult for our governor, David Paterson, to say no to her. Above and beyond the obvious political pedigree that she'll bring to the job, Kennedy's quiet intelligence and commitment to public service will give New York a new type of Senator-just like Barack Obama is giving the nation a new type of President. Just like Obama, Kennedy can give us change we can believe in. And for those hard nosed politicos out there, she can also tap the national fund raising base New York will need in 2010 when all statewide elected posts are up.

If that's not a good enough reason to let Caroline Kennedy into the sandbox, I don't know what is.

Libby Post is President of Communication Services, a full-service marketing firm specializing in libraries, health care, advocacy organizations and not for profits. Post is the founding chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda and is presently on the board of Faith in America. She has received numerous honors including being named one of the 100 Women of Excellence by the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce. Post lives in Menands with her partner, Lynn Dunning-Vaughn, and their son, Alex. She can be reached at libby@proudlyout.com.

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