Reply #216: You're missing the point by trying to "win" here.

[UdoKier]

What I said was:

"How about gay activists who label any progessive that fails to put gay marriage at the top of the priority list over hungry kids or outsourced jobs, as a "homophobe"? I've found that to be just as common as "homophobic" progressives.

Please keep in mind that over the last 25 years, as gays have made HUGE progress in terms of social acceptance and equal rights, working people have fallen behind, unions have disappeared, the poor have gotten much poorer, as the super-rich have gotten richer. How long do you expect US to wait until OUR issues get some damn attention?"

And I stick by that statement. I don't think kids kicked out of fundie families "have it easy", but they MAY Have choices that poor kids don't have , and it has nothing to do with my central point that I feel a lot of us nationwide are being FORCED onto a bandwagon on the whim of a Gavin Newsom, and forced to ignore working-class issues yet again.

" Many states have developed job training programs. Disenfranchised adults can go to these to learn new skills. "

New skills for what jobs? There aren't any that don't pay $8~12/hr. (Again, good money if you're young and single, not if you have a family)


"But it's not just a blue collar/white collar issue. There are plenty of people working white collar jobs who make almost nothing. Not to mention the people who work service industry jobs. This is the real crux of the problem. It's not that people who work in factories have no job options, it's just that they have the same job options as the rest of America: Walmart, Starbucks, Waitressing, Mall Jobs, Data Entry."

I agree with that statement, and it's exactly what I'm complaining about. Those of us desperately struggling to just feed our kids and pay the rent are expected to jump on every wedge issue bandwagon, and we never get ANY attention from the party on OUR issues. Why the hell do you think the so many in the working class are fleeing the party? I don't think it's because they want the party to be the hate party like the GOP, but they don't want a party whose top priority is gay marriage or protecting the right to partial birth abortion. I know that that is not the party platform, but the right-wing media, as well as some of our most vocal activists give that impression.

I'm just sick of the notion that anyone who doesn't put GLBT rights issues at the top of the priority list must be a homophobe. It's unfair and dishonest.