NEWSBYADAM AMEL ROGERS

Despite recent success, the Republican Party is still having a major identity crisis. Tea Party activists want the Party to focus on limiting government and reducing debt, while socially conservative groups are grasping for the power they enjoyed in the Bush Administration. With the Republicans taking over the House and a slew of GOP leaders about to start the two-year boxing match for the Republican presidential nomination, this is a crucial time in defining the future of the Republican Party.

It should now be a priority of the LGBT equality movement to encourage a Republican exodus from social issues. We need to create an environment where Republicans feel more comfortable voting for equality and representing their LGBT constituents.  We need to celebrate and thank the Republicans who cross the aisle for equality and we need to continue fervent opposition to Republicans who have built their careers on anti-gay bigotry.

A more socially moderate GOP will also force the Democrats to stop taking the LGBT voting bloc for granted. It will make full marriage equality a requisite position for any serious Democratic candidate.

So, instead of moping around for the next few years, while we face a hostile House of Representatives, it is imperative that the LGBT movement starts pushing this GOP evolution.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a legendary organization in the fight against organized bigotry, recently designated a handful of anti-gay organizations, including the Family Research Council (FRC), as hate groups. The designation is based on “dissemination of false and demonizing propaganda about gays and lesbians.”

The hate group designation prompted a full-force response from FRC that has included a newspaper advertisement signed by several anti-gay members of Congress, including House Speaker-designate John Boehner. The ad is part of a new campaign called “Start Debating, Stop Hating,” which accuses LGBT groups of resorting to calling them haters without debate.

We are tired of debating. We are tired of justifying why we deserve equality and dignity.  It is impossible to debate with people who are not coming from a place of respect or demonstrating a willingness to listen.

At the front entrance of the Southern California elementary school that my husband teaches in is a prominent quote that reads, “What you would have in the life of a nation you must first put into its schools.” If LGBT people are going to achieve equal standing in society, the bells of equality must begin to ring in our schools. A new bill in California has a chance to start a national trend of LGBT educational equality.

Equality California and the GSA Network are sponsoring the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which was introduced in the California Legislature earlier this week by openly gay state senator Mark Leno. This important bill would go a long way to make sure the important contributions of LGBT people are taught in schools. Gay historical figures have been largely plagued by invisibility in curricula, but the FAIR Act would ensure that these figures are no longer de-gayed in California textbooks.

Exodus International, the preeminent organization involved in the dangerous practices of so-called “ex-gay reparative therapy,” took a very important step this week in response to the tragic barrage of gay suicides across the nation. Exodus announced that they are parting ways with the controversial Day of Truth event that they have managed for the last five years. This event was created to counter the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network’s (GLSEN) Day of Silence, which aims to bring attention to the bullying epidemic.

The Day of Truth was started by the anti-gay Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) after a California high school student wore a t-shirt to school on the Day of Silence that said “I Will Not Accept What God Has Condemned” on the front and “Homosexuality Is Shameful, Romans 1:27” on the back. He was asked to remove the shirt and the next day he wore another shirt saying "Be Ashamed. Our School Embraced What God Has Condemned."

The Day of Truth toned down its rhetoric, but the goal of the event is to target students who are perceived to be gay with the message that they can change their sexual orientation through Christ.

Two major affinities in my life are LGBT equality and football. Oftentimes, when these two entities collide, it involves a publicist having to write an apology for an anti-gay epithet.  Most of the time though, I am left wondering how the players I root for feel about gay rights.

Yesterday, I happened on the Twitter account of former Super Bowl MVP and current Dancing with the Stars contestant Kurt Warner. Warner has never made his devout Christianity a secret. His faith is extremely important to him, as evidenced in his most popular tweet yesterday:

@kurt13warner: Like 2 think I engage ALL my fans - but gotta say JESUS is my favorite topic - that a problem?

I think it is pretty universally accepted that Kurt Warner is a nice upstanding guy, but his zeal for organized religion has always made me wonder how he feels about gay people.

Kurt’s tweet stream has helped begin to answer that question.

Last night’s episode of Glee is being hailed by critics and fans as one of the best episodes yet and there is already chatter about a second Emmy nomination for Chris Colfer, who portrays the openly gay character, Kurt Hummel. For me, the episode struck a nerve, brought back bad memories and was extremely uncomfortable to watch.

In the episode, Kurt’s father (who previously warmed our hearts with a beautiful coming out scene) suffers a heart attack and while most of Kurt’s classmates turn to God for comfort and guidance, Kurt rebuffs all prayers and religious talk as he professes his atheism.

In my (sometimes unpopular) quest to see complex LGBT characters, I was hoping that the show would go the opposite direction and have Kurt embrace God to showcase the religious diversity in the LGBT community. I was yelling at the TV for him to not be so angry toward the religious advances – I could see the anti-gay articles forming about how the gay character is anti-God.

I get it though. I understand why Kurt was so quick to dismiss any talk of God. I understand all too well – unfortunately, Kurt’s anti-religious feelings hit close to home for me and for many other gay people.

An outrageously important election is rapidly approaching and many voters are completely disenchanted. The discourse is uncivil, distracted, hyperbolic and impossibly divisive. Reasonable people are rendered speechless in a media atmosphere that rewards the loudest and the most outlandish.  The current political climate is disheartening and energy-sucking and it will only get worse after November 2.

For a good amount of time now, one of the only public voices that has made any sense is that of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, so it isn't surprising that his upcoming "Rally To Restore Sanity" is the first aspect of this election season to inspire me. Stewart is calling for reasonable people to stand up and be counted in an effort to reclaim common sense and civil discourse.

Perhaps it's time to resoundingly echo this call to restore sanity -- especially on the gay rights front.

Ours is a movement plagued by a vocal and penetrating fringe opposition. It is imperative that we appeal to the hearts and minds of the reasonable people who have been poisoned by said opposition. We need to encourage people to step back from the situation and to look at LGBT equality from a common sense level.

The goals of our journey are not unreasonable and they are not dissimilar from the basic human desires of our opposition.

I am the first to admit that I, and many others, put too much pressure on Glee. It is not the show’s responsibility to solve all the world’s problems, but it certainly has the power and position to change some hearts and minds. Glee’s unique formula has created a viewership that transcends demographics, which creates the opportunity to entertain and educate at the same time. This is why so many in the LGBT community put so much stock into the gay and gay-adjacent plot lines of the show – this content will be seen by millions of people who may have limited exposure to our community.

Therefore, we have complained about Kurt’s sad and irrational infatuation with Finn, the straight awkward guy; we have basically demanded the show to reveal Rachel’s gay fathers, who she talks about so much; and we have speculated as to when Kurt will finally get a boyfriend. The latter appears to be happening early in the upcoming second season.

I am thrilled that Kurt is getting a boyfriend and I am even more thrilled that said boyfriend is the star quarterback, because gay athletes remain largely invisible both in media and in reality. I am sure the storyline will be handled beautifully and it will be captivating to watch and good for providing LGBT visibility, but unfortunately in my desire for the show to reach further and do better, there is one part of "operation boyfriend for Kurt" that I find extremely disappointing: The casting of Chord Overstreet to play the boyfriend.

I am sure that Chord is a very talented actor and a very nice person. He is a good looking young man and he will almost certainly become a big star, BUT he looks like a big pile of stereotype.

Last month, the Pentagon commissioned an expensive survey of servicemembers to get their views on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Now, they are sending out a similar survey to spouses of servicemembers … seriously.

Who knew that the military was so democratic about personnel decisions? They are asking so many people what they think about the anti-gay policy that I am honestly a little hurt that I haven’t been asked how I feel yet – I am sure my survey will be in the next round though.

If the administration is looking to waste even more time before doing what is right, perhaps they will keep on expanding the breadth of the surveys and we will see something like this:

Dear Afghan Insurgent: The American military is thinking of joining most other developed nations in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly and honestly in the armed forces. Even though eight out of 10 Americans fully support the repeal of the anti-gay policy and even though there is no real logical, reasonable or even legal reason to continue discriminating against LGBT people, we still find it necessary to let everyone weigh in before making a decision. We have asked our servicemembers and their spouses what they think, but we want to make sure it is cool with you too.

Here are a few sample questions:

Proposition 8 has been an emotional and an expensive journey. After the appeal process, we will hopefully be right back where we were before the proposition, with gay and lesbian couples enjoying the freedom to marry in California (and beyond). So it makes you think what it would have been like if the proposition never happened.

It almost didn’t.

In 2008, the California Supreme Court had an opportunity to stop Proposition 8 from even making it onto the ballot in the first place. Unfortunately, they unanimously allowed it to continue. Imagine how much heartbreak and money they could have saved by ruling it unconstitutional before it was on the ballot.

Any money spent on anti-gay causes is infuriating. We are in an economy that needs to value each and every dollar. It is astonishing to me that people can still look at their hard-earned personal finances and decide that even one cent is best used by fighting LGBT equality. Think about if Focus on the Family or the Family Research Council actually spent the donated dollar on worthwhile causes. With their monstrous operating budgets they could do some real good in this world.

Lots of money has been spent on the many anti-gay ballot initiatives throughout the years, but they all dwarf in comparison to Proposition 8. Over $73 million was spent between the two sides on the proposition and I can’t help but look at how that money could have been better spent. In my utopian world, the Mormon Church and all of the anti-gay organizations would have teamed up with LGBT equality advocates to try and eradicate a problem in the world. My problem of choice is the California education system.

Education in California (and in many other states) has become a bad reality competition show. Just like having to make an evening look out of grocery store materials on Project Runway or having to compose a gourmet dish from vending machine contents on Top Chef, the California education system is filled with evil twists. Picture Heidi or Padma standing in front of California teachers and telling them they have to teach students how to read, but their salaries will be lowered, their class sizes will be doubled, and they will have no money for supplies or support. Your time starts… Now!

Now $73 million won’t completely solve the funding woes – over $17 billion has been cut from the public education system in California in the past two years, but this money could still save some teacher jobs and help reduce class size back to a somewhat manageable level.

If the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Judge Vaughn Walker’s brilliant ruling that calls Proposition 8 unconstitutional, super lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies are reportedly going to try and recover legal fees from the anti-gay ProtectMarriage.com folks who defended Prop 8.  Perhaps they should take it a step further and demand that those who funded the proposition donate an equal amount to an actual worthwhile cause.

If you were in charge of the $73 million spent on Proposition 8, how would you use the money?

Photo credit: John Stavely