The psychology of human beings can be so much fun to watch as the drama plays out in full view of the world.

For eight years, we had a President who would bend to the demands from his base, the Religious Right. They view gay people as evil and vile people who do not deserve consideration. They spent a great deal of political capital to force their President to act against gay people and he listened to them. Them making demands on their President was considered wrong by gay people.

Now the gay community, who probably feels they are part of Obama's base, are starting to make demands on the up-coming President when it comes to Rick Warren. Gay people view Rick Warren as an evil and vile peson who do not deserve consideration. They are spending a great deal of political capital to force this new President to act against Rick Warren and he may listen to them. Them making demands on the new President is considered good by gay people.

I'm sure that there are a few people on this list who will see the irony in that. But, then majority will let their part in this passion play continue without see any irony at all, and even make excuses for it. Me, I just popped some popcorn (really, here at work) so I'll just watch this gay mini series as it comes to its conclusion, when Rick Warren says, "Amen" after his prayer on Jan 20. There will be limited commercial interruption.

One thing that maybe a few people in the community aren't ready for is the fact that Obama is not going to be perfect.

Being a president of all the people, he cannot be our puppet on even the smallest of decisions --- and in the large scheme of things, the invocation at the inauguration is a small, passing thing: On the morning of January 21, it will all be over, without repercussions except for those that we insist on giving it.

Perhaps we could start calling each trivial little instance when he pisses us off a "Yo mama, Obama!" moment.

Let me explain something very carefully, for those who don't know: none of what's going on in the fight for LGBT rights is part of a strategy, as should be apparent by our lack of a cohesive movement and any viable leaders. It's a true grassroots uprising among people who got a taste of freedom and decided we wanted more.
...
You say we're too angry and it's not an effective strategy, completely missing that we're not strategizing; we're really this angry -- even me, a 49 year old lesbian who lives in San Francisco and has a good job. I'm so furious I often can't sleep, can't eat, and sometimes I shake with rage.

Bully for her. That lack of a strategy over her right to marry in San Francisco is costing thousands of LGBT folks in Indiana dearly - since her rage gets transferred to our motives here.

I'm not saying she doesn't have a right to be angry - we all do. But we have different things to be angry about here and that lack of a strategy on her part ends up biting us in the ass when we have to keep changing our strategy to deflect the crap she stirs up. ("She" as in "they," really, I suppose.)

But, I'd hope that maybe she'll realize the damage her anarchy is causing her brother and sisters in the middle of America. Maybe that will cause her to lose some sleep. After all, we're losing ours now thanks to her.

I think its less important that gays are getting mad and more important that gays get politically smart. It doesn't do a whole hell of a lot of good to jump up and down screaming "no, no, no." That makes it far to easy to be dismissed as immature and childish.

It was good that gays responded swiftly and forcefully to Warren. Now, it is time to turn that energy into effective strategy that will accomplish legislative goals such as passage of an inclusive ENDA, hate crimes legislation and a national AIDS strategy.

I agree that there should be some sort of peaceful and respectful protest during the inauguration. At this critical time, we cannot be silent and allow our lives and rights to be exploited yet again. Silence did not get women, African-Americans, Jews and Catholics anywhere in their historic struggles for equality in this country. Wearing a visible symbol such as rainbow flag or pink triangle (to symbolize the history of our LGBT struggle for equlaity) ALONG WITH turning our backs to the stage during Warren's invocation would be one way to convey our displeasure without being disruptive and disrespectful. Those watching on TV or online, should not tune in to (or tune away from) coverage AFTER Warren complete's his invocation.

Having fought and lived through the LGBT struggle for equality over the last 30 years, I can't say that I'm surprised by this turn of events with Obama. During the Presidential primaries and general election, I often tried to convey to rabid Obamanians that he would ultimately move to the center and result to political pandering, as in the case of Rick Warren. Even though I voted for Obama in the general election, it was because he was the lesser of two evils (I was a Clinton supporter in the primary). Hillary (not Bill) Clinton has been a more proven advocate for GLBT issues over the years, even though she is not perfect when it comes to our issues either. But unfortunately, either due to emotion or inexperience or both, many Obamanians refused to see how Obama could hypocritically sacrifice them and all their hard work for his own political purposes. And now, it appears that it's starting to happen. While I believe we must give him a chance as President to prove his commitment to LGBT equality, we must also remain ever-vigilant to ensure that happens. He should not get a free pass on this, given his campaign rhetoric in support of our community and the historic nature of his Presidency.

For what it's worth, I believe the stronger LGBT provisions on the change.gov transition website (compared to the barackobama.com campaign website) were there prior to the Rick Warren selection. It may be that post Prop 8 activism has influenced this, but the language was there prior to Warren.

While we are waiting in the Wings for the Loaves and Fishes Act to sooth the economic woes, the Warren dog and pony show seems to have not gone off the radar screen. This morning I heard on MSNBC a commentary addressing the bumps in the Yellow Brick Road to Salvation. The Drama of No Drama Obama challenges were listed and those being addressed as gaffs were the Blogo Matter, Panetta and the Warren Affair. So the indifference the Obama Camp gave to the Tribes response to his choice of Warren has staying Power and credibility as a topic that has left a foot print in assessing his ability to see the bigger picture.