NAIL HER DOWN, KATIE! (and a lesbian in Alaska? How can you...um...tell?)

and a lesbian in Alaska?

you never heard of klondikes?

(I'll see myself out)

"Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers, and yet when asked questions, you spout off facts, figures, and policies, and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, 'Does any of this really matter?' " Palin said.

But you are talking about, I think, a value here, what my position is on homosexuality and can you pray it away 'cause I think that was the title that was listed in that bulletin. And, you know, I don't know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. And I don't know what prayers are gonna be answered or not answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships.

I have, one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay. And I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend." She is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not gonna judge people. And I love America where we are more tolerant than other countries are. And are more accepting of some of these choices that sometimes people want to believe reflects solely on an individual's values or not. Homosexuality, I am not gonna judge people.

(Katie) How many newspapers or magazines have you read?
(palin) All of them.
(Katie) Name one
(Palin) Oh you know, anything that's in front of me

gag.

so is "one of my best friends is gay" the new "I'm not a racist, I have black friends!"?

she is not my "gay friend."

... except when you need to talk about having a Gay Friend for the Gay Cred.

I'd really like to hear what this friend thinks of Palin using their 30-year friendship as a demonstration of her wondrous tolerance for those who have "made a choice that" she has "not made." I guess she must be terribly grateful that Palin, y'know, apparently doesn't judge her.

I would think that denying someone basic human rights such as, oh, I don't know, MARRIAGE probably means THEY don't think of you as a friend. Trying to pray them away probably offends them a bit too. Just guessing...

Incidently, my best friend for the last 29 years IS gay. I was just his "best (wo)man" at his wedding in LA last month (yay!). Maybe we need some sort of fag hag certification program? Like those name tags at the grocery store: "Scarlett: Member since 1979"

I'm conflicted. I actually admire her for saying it.

If she'd stopped at

I have, one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay. And I love her dearly.

that would piss me off. But that she said

And she is not my "gay friend."

well, good for her. I think that's admirable. Politically motivated? Quite possibly. But still admirable.

Strangely, as I was composing this comment, I got a Facebook friend request from one of my closest high school friends. (Backstory: I was totally into church in high school.) Our last communication was 15 or 16 years ago, when he sent me a letter saying that god had "put a burden on his heart" to pray for me, because he heard I had "become a homosexual."

I don't really know how to draw the parallels between those two things right now, 'cause I haven't had enough time to think about it. Sometimes, though, in a world where you know that XX% of people in YY place think you're a deviant, it's enough to hear that someone doesn't think that 'gay' is your primary adjective.

Of course, Sarah Palin and her friend maybe haven't spoken for 15 years. Or they could have lunch every week. None of us knows what their friendship is like.

And this is not to say that I don't think she's creepy, because I do. But this thing? This one thing she said, which wasn't a comment on policy? In the scheme of things, not so bad.

I guess she must be terribly grateful that Palin, y'know, apparently doesn't judge her.

Well, hey! When she made her choice, you know, she had to, you know, Katie, accept what came with it.

you never heard of klondikes?

(I'll see myself out)

Hey, we don't call it the Bering Straits for nothin'.

I agree with mudpuppie -- my first instinct, after reading just the excerpt here, is that I don't hate her for this. Don't know this friend of hers, don't know if she even exists, but if she does, and Sarah Palin wants to talk about her, then Sarah Palin's doing a helluva lot better than those truly hateful people out there who just blind themselves to the gay people they're surrounded by. I'm torn though, about whether I can reconcile the "I know gay people" position with the "Let's pray the gay away" position. I know that if a friend of mine was inclined to "pray the gay out of me," I'd be inclined to knock her head right off.

I don't know -- she might be vigilant about the changing winds of tolerance in this country, and realize that outright bigotry will cost her some votes. Still, if she's being sincere, then I'm personally inclined to give her a pass on this one -- there are other positions she holds that are much more troublesome to me. And to the degree that she's inclined to let her "love the sinner, hate the sin" attitude dictate her influence over Supreme Court picks or civil rights legislation, then I have a real problem with her.

This position is based on a gut feeling, not a thorough reading of the transcript or other material about her position on homosexuality.

I'm much happier about the fact that this woman seems to be a brainless twit, now that I know that one of her nameless friends is gay.

Having said that, I'm a little disappointed in the friend.

(and a lesbian in Alaska? How can you...um...tell?)

:|

Slightly related anecdote, sitting in the Juneau airport lounge with my boss on Friday waiting for the security gate to open:

Boss: I know this girl? She's a lesbian. Oh, no offense to your brother.
Me: My brother's not a lesbian, he's gay.
Boss: Hee, well, you know.

And the seals they sing now
ORK, ORK, AAWWRRK, ARK. OK, ARK, ORK.

I don't know -- she might be vigilant about the changing winds of tolerance in this country, and realize that outright bigotry will cost her some votes.

Dick Cheney having a lesbian daughter didn't make the Bush White House any more inclined to be supportive of gay rights, or any less inclined to play the "OMG Gay Marriage = Death of Family Values" card during elections. Something tells me Sarah Palin's cut from very similar cloth.

And there's the rub.

Being gay, and having grown up in Texas, sometimes all I need is for someone to demonstrate that they don't have an immediate prejudice towards me. Being on road trips through the South, this is what you hope for. It means you're going to live another day.

Big picture, of course, is different. You want everyone to be on your side, politically, so that you ultimately end up with the rights you think you deserve.

But big picture life and day-to-day life are different, even if they're equally important.

Sarah Palin owning up to having a gay friend (or, perhaps, using a lesbian acquaintance as a political tool) makes me much more likely to feel comfortable being at a dinner party with her. And being who I am, coming from where I do, dinner party comfort isn't anything to sneeze at. It matters.

It doesn't make me any more likely to vote for her. And I hope it doesn't make staunch homophobes any LESS likely to vote for her. But it does make me less knee-jerkingly wary of her.

Teh gay has, unfortunately, become a political issue. That really sucks because it is, ultimately, a totally prosaic personal issue. And that's where my conflict comes in. As much as I hate the man, I want to believe that Dick Cheney treats his gay kid just like he treats his others. That doesn't excuse or explain how he'd vote on her right to marry or adopt. But it is, after many years of expecting the worst -- and sometimes experiencing it -- it is something.

Political beliefs and personal actions don't always mesh. That's true across the board. And it's something for which we should be both thankful and resentful.

(I say this knowing that these people are the ones who say that their gay children are off-limits during debates, but they then turn around and make gayness a political issue. I know this. It's complicated.)

As a "non-gay" nothing bothers me more than people calling it a "lifestyle choice" or "choice" of any kind. It literally makes me shake with anger. I keep wondering how gay people feel about politicians and parents using such terms, they strike me as so incredibly insulting that I just want to slap someone.

...like I "chose" to be a straight breeder. I didn't, I just am. I didn't wake up one morning and go "Oh gee, I like men now." I always liked boys.

I know a good many gays who do not bother with keeping up with the latest acceptable PC-speak concerning gays. Why expect it of anyone else?

I just think it's a fundementally wrong assumption that ones sexuality is a choice.

The woman is a fucking dingbat. Would you care about the opinion of someone who lectures tree stumps for hours at a time? Because she's that fucking crazy.

Although, someone should really nail her to the ground about this time before she "chose" to be straight.

"Governer Palin, did you have vadge fantasies at any time? Did they go away at some point?" I mean, if she threw out a rationale, e.g., "I realized the Indigo Girls sucked, so I made an active effort to get into dick", I could almost buy that.

But really, no. She couldn't find her asshole with a flashlight and a map to McCain's campaign HQ.

Because she's such a poor speaker (hmm--okay, actually, she might be a decent speaker--let's say that she uses nonstandard grammar and sentence structures), especially off the cuff, it's hard to divine the meaning sometimes. But it's hard to miss the orientation-as-a-choice part. And she doesn't hide it with that 'some people might believe' crap, so there's really no doubt about that part.

Although, someone should really nail her to the ground about this time before she "chose" to be straight.

This is exactly what I though. I know she didn't mean it that way, but I when I heard the speech I immediately thought, "I'd like to hear more about the lesbian inclinations that Gov. Palin is 'choosing' to ignore!"

I'm glad that Palin has a gay friend, but I really don't understand the "choice" thing. Do you think she believes that? Or do you think it is just another talking point that she's been prepped on and is repeating for the party? It seems to me like something she is saying to make sure the right wingers know that she's not really ok with homosexuality.
Does she really think that her friend of 30 years doesn't deserve to get married?
I wonder what her true personal views on it are, and what Obama's are.

I have, one of my absolute favorite presidential candidates for the last 30 years who happens to be black. And I respect him dearly. And he is not my "black presidential candidate." He is one of my favorite politicians who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made. But I am not gonna judge people.

I say this knowing that these people are the ones who say that their gay children are off-limits during debates, but they then turn around and make gayness a political issue.

They want the standards they supposedly uphold to apply to everyone but them and their loved ones.

Alaska: Come see our Boring Straights.

HRC has a video on YouTube where they speak to some of the gay/lesbian residents of Wasilla, and not a one of them considers her a "friend" to gay people.