Ok, so I don't know about this blogging stuff, really. At least not anymore. If you're still around to read this, thanks. Anyway, we will see what we will see, since I can't help but comment on something I found at Eschaton a while ago.

Part of the reason that we have had a faith outreach in our campaigns is precisely because I don't think the LGBT community or the Democratic Party is served by being hermetically sealed from the faith community and not in dialogue with a substantial portion of the electorate, even though we may disagree with them.

This is Obama speaking about his ridiculous decision to include "ex-gay" Donnie McClurken at his campaign appearances (for a rundown of the whole story, go here).

The reason this is still a problem for Obama is that someone is telling him how he can never, ever apologize for anything that makes liberals mad. Of course, if you upset conservatives - or more accurately, if you give conservatives a chance to manufacture some fake outrage in order to distract everyone from how evil and stupid they are - then of course you need to apologize. That's why Pete Stark apologized, why the Senate wasted its time condemning Moveon.org for Constitututionally protected free speech, why Democrats are always apologizing for something or other that Michelle Malkin or Rush Limbaugh can twist into a problem.

Sorry, that's a real pet peeve.

Even if Obama wasn't making a huge mistake by taking on Social Security, the whole mess with "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin should be proof enough that he's listening to the same clowns Democratic Presidential candidates have been listening to for far too long now. "Triangulate triangulate triangulate." "Show your independence by taking on 'sacred cows.'" "Try to appeal to 'swing voters'" - interesting how to Democratic consultants and the DC pundits "swing voter" always means "extreme right-wing lunatics who hate gays, who belong to militias and have argued in federal court that they don't owe taxes."

Anyway, the big issue here is that Obama is making the mistake of conflating bigoted, hate-filled homophobes with Christianity. While I will allow for the existence of many sincere and authentic Christians who think that homosexuality is a sin, this does not mean that every Christian believes this. In fact, evidence for the presence of millions of Christians who do not believe such things is in plentiful supply. There are several Christian denominations that do not believe it to be a sin, and several more with large portions of their membership who believe that way.

There is already a political party for people, Christian or not, who think that homosexuality is wrong, is a sin, is an abomination, is gross and icky and worthy of death or something. It's called the GOP, and if Obama wants to appeal to people who believe that way, he can switch parties. But if he's going to run as a Democrat, at the very least he needs to acknowledge that the rights and protections guaranteed under the Constitution extend to every single person within the borders of the United States of America regardless of creed, color, gender or what they may or may not do in a bedroom with another consenting adult.

Why is this so hard?

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