Entire Massachusetts congressional delegation participates in the "It Gets Better" project. With one notable exception.

Wow that was very uplifting!

I am really impressed that ALL of the Massachusetts delegation were able to come together, and do something so positive for the LGBT community in their state. That was really quite touching.

But you know, it felt to me that there was something missing.  Did you notice it too?

Yeah that's it!  Scott Brown, where in the hell was Scott Brown?

Did he not get the memo?

A Democratic Hill staffer with knowledge of the project told The Huffington Post that Brown was invited to participate, but he declined.

"Scott Brown has a strong record at the state and federal level against bullying and believes that all people regardless of sexual orientation should be treated with dignity and respect," said Brown spokesman Colin Reed when asked whether the senator had been asked to appear in the video. "His main focus right now is on creating jobs and getting our economy back on track."

Yeah you know I don't think that anybody's segment on that video was more than a few seconds long.  Surely THAT would not seriously take away from the time that Senator Brown needed to "create jobs" or get the "economy back on track."

I mean someone might start to think that Scott Brown hated the gays or something!

What's that?

Arline Isaacson, Co-​Chair of Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus stated, “Scott Brown has voted consistently against the LGBT community throughout his entire career in the Massachusetts legislature. His has not been an incidental opposition. He has voted against us loudly, proudly and unequivocally.

Unfortunately, most people don’t realize just how bad his record is:

–He voted over 25 times against marriage equality, even when 3/​4 of our legislature and many MA Republican legislators stood with us.
– He doesn’t support the Transgender Civil Rights & Hate Crimes bill
– He opposes repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”
– He opposes repealing the “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA)
– He has ridiculed LGBT parents as inadequate
– He supported anti-​gay policies of George W Bush & Mitt Romney

Ohhh!  I get it now.  Brown is one of THOSE guys.

You know the ones that are so insecure about their sexuality that they are constantly making sure that they don't do anything which might accidentally appear gay, like stripping down for a national publication.

Oh, yeah that's right.

Well to be fair, Brown WAS quite a bit younger during his "drop trou for Cosmo" days, and besides there is NOTHING gay about that pose. (Okay well it might be a little gay.)

Still there is some hope that Brown is not one of those idiots that goes over the top to prove they are a strapping heterosexual by posing in a vaguely inappropriate manner with their scantily clad daughters. Because that would be just....oh.

 

Oops, I spoke too soon.

You know maybe the Massachusetts LGBT community is better off WITHOUT Senator Brown's participation in their "It Gets Better" campaign.

Because I don't know about you, but he kind of gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Besides, I am still not sure whether homophobia is something you are born with, or something that you get from your environment, so perhaps it is best to keep Senator Brown away from impressionable young teenagers. At least until science is certain about the issue.

(H/T to the Huffington Post.)

Call Scott Brown today

Today, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted to end the military's discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. This vote was the first step toward overturning the 1993 law, which has resulted in the discharge of more than 13,500 service members. The repeal has been attached to the Military Reauthorization Bill, which must be approved by the full Senate.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown voted against the repeal in Committee and has said he will vote against it again in the Senate - even though 77% of his constituents disagree with him. You can tell Senator Brown that bigotry has no place in the US military by calling his Boston office at (617) 565-3170 or his DC office at (202) 224-4543. Ask that he reverse his vote when the Military Reauthorization Bill reaches the floor of the Senate. America's gay servicemen, who deserve your support and respect, will thank you. As will I.

For the record . . .

. . . Scott Brown has backed off endorsing the birther, according to the Globe. The birther, however, hasn't really backed off his claims of support. Has the mask merely slipped, and been re-adjusted?

It just got worse . . .

Our Cosmo-centerfold-Senator-elect has endorsed a "birther" for the U.S. House of Representatives. The sign at left - depicting "Obama" as "Osama" - drew ire from neighbors when it was on the lawn of Republican William Hudak of Boxford, who is running against U.S. Rep. John Tierney, a Salem Democrat, this fall. Hudak has said he believes Obama was born in Kenya. For his part, Senator Sleazy once insinuated that Obama was born out of wedlock.

I got some nasty notes when I posted elsewhere that the election of Scott Brown meant the beginning of the "white backlash" against Obama. But it really didn't take long, did it?

And I do have to wonder why Brown's marriage to well-known TV reporter Gail Huff has elicited so little coverage or contemplation. I was surprised that the local channels pimped for Brown so hard - now I have an idea why.

Brown also endeared himself to the public yesterday when he announced to media outlets that his two daughters were both "available." Thanks, Dad. Does the offer extend to Kenyans?

The election, explained

Bloggers have noticed that counties that voted for Scott Brown also rated Paul Blart: Mall Cop among their favorite Netflix movies.

Makes sense to me!

The man who would kill healthcare

It's incredible, but Massachusetts seems to have just delivered the first really crippling blow to the President's agenda. Scott Brown (above), the lightweight state rep who openly tells people he's opposed to universal healthcare and more government stimulus for the economy, has been elected to the Senate, delivering to the Republicans the vote they need to prevent any progress on the nation's problems.

It used to be that people wondered "What's the matter with Kansas?"

Now I suppose we have to amend that to "What's the matter with Massachusetts?"

There are, of course, the usual excuses to be trotted out for the electorate - with the cold calculation of Martha Coakley, who makes John Kerry look like a party animal, no doubt serving as the favored scapegoat of many.

But I really don't think that goes far enough in explaining why so many people in my home state seem to have decided to vote against their own best interests. How could they imagine that another Republican voice in the Senate would improve their lives, particularly when he openly tells them he is completely opposed to doing so? It's at moments like this, I think, that we have to begin to consider whether America is really governable anymore - whether our version of democracy can even work. I confess I'm not sure that it is, or that it can. Whenever I spoke to Scott Brown's supporters, I heard the same refrain: "I just don't like her," (meaning Coakley), as if this were a high school prom contest, as if their own rights and wages and freedoms were not at stake.

Of course the underside of that statement is that they did like what Brown represents - certainly not intelligence, and certainly not experience, but instead a blank, happy assertion of white, male privilege. That privilege, of course, used to let its perks trickle down to the white working class, too. But not anymore. That disconnect - with the awareness that the wealthy (and Wall Street) now look to global, not American, opportunities - has yet to sink into Main Street, which can only see that the Democrats are led by blacks and women, and project an aura of identity politics rather than identification with the working man. By the time they realize their mistake, it may be too late. Indeed, it may already be too late; certainly Scott Brown's election means the next year will be a little harder economically, and that the aftermath of the recession will last a little longer. But will the new senator's victims realize who they have to thank for their predicament? I'm not optimistic.