"The First Gay President"

Grumble

Ask yourself: why was Clinton supposed to be the first black President? Not because he sympathized with black people, nor pursued policies that helped blacks. Rather, because he was taken to be like "them"...virtually or in some sense black in some way. I've never been sure why that was. Because he was Southern? Because he was cool? I still don't know. But I know it wasn't because he championed "their" causes. That's just not why.

So it doesn't make any sense to say that Obama is "the first gay President." The non-minor point that bugs me about this is the suggestion that the only way to sympathize with gay folk is to be gay yourself. This is not only mind-bogglingly stupid, it actually harkens back to the kind of crap I heard in my youth, when males who enthusiastically endorsed women's rights were thought of as being somehow unmasculine, and those who defended gay rights were accused of being gay. Not that I see that either charge is such a big deal...but it's the confusions that bug me.

Anyway, that's why this "first gay President" stuff is annoying me.

Grrr... Grrr...  Everybody GTF off my lawn...