A very inconvenient question.

First, a short video with an important message. After that, a very inconvenient question.



Nothing disturbs me more than the attacks on the young people of this country. I have found the "sex offender" laws being applied to young people absurd, creating life-long victims of the sex hysteria by branding kids as sex offenders for what used to be rightfully seen as fairly normal activity. And the recent spate of suicides of gay youth, as a result of constant bullying, has been particularly disturbing. I certainly have been a vocal opponent of the loathsome Right-wing anti-gay agenda being pushed by the Republicans and the knuckle-dragging Christian fundamentalists.

But here is a thought that will disturb many of my friends on the Left, who agree with my sentiments.

Let us imagine the same scenario that is taking place today but let us pretend it is taking place during the administration of a Republican president.

There is a push to repeal DADT, but the Republican President refuses to give it any support. He drags the process out in ways meant to delay the repeal in the hopes it will shore us his crumbling approval ratings. Similarly this Republican President is a public opponent of marriage equality for gay people. If pressed, this Republican will say that gay people are welcomed citizens of the country and should be respected, but in practice, on the two main issues effecting gay people, his actions put him clearly in the camp of those who denigrate and insult gay people.

During this period, under this fantasy Republican, a spat of suicides of gay teens takes place. Many people start recognizing how politics is helping send a message to gay youth that they simply aren't as good as their fellow citizens. Hell, even the Republican president is telling them they are not yet worth to serve in the military, if that is their desire, and that they certainly should not have their relationship recognized on equal terms with that of their heterosexual siblings.

Let us literally imagine a scenario where instead of Obama in the White House, we have someone like Hillbilly Huckabee instead. But Hillbilly Huck otherwise takes the same stances as the current president.

Many on the Left, have made the same point that I have: that the message of inequality that is preached from fundamentalist pulpits, and from the political podiums of this country, enable the bullies and encourages them, while simultaneously sending the message to gay youth that they simply aren't as worthy as other kids.

So, here is the question: if a Republican president were acting this way, during a similar disturbing crisis of suicides among gay youth, would the Left be more vocal in condemning the presidents role as enabler-in-chief than they are now, with Obama as president?