http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/15/actual-first-gay-president-james-buchanan Comments On: Actual First Gay President: James Buchanan by Christopher Frizzelle en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Lord Basil]]> Wed, 16 May 2012 01:04:29 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 19:47:26 -0700 The Stranger Posted by McGee]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 16:59:13 -0700 The Stranger Posted by RobCrowe9]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 15:49:01 -0700 The Stranger
Obama is not gay. The assumption is that he is, that the nation is celebrating him as the first gay president, and that Buchanan should get the credit. WTF??? Equating working for gay (read: human) rights and actually BEING gay is a tactic for the inquisition-minded fanatic. Also, trying to find justification for being gay by pointing to famous historical personalities assumes that it is a requirement for granting basic human rights. I don't recall any tribal bushman from the Kalahari every recording a #1 single, or being leader of a major nation, or writing a classic novel. That's no reason to deny them their human rights.

So who the fuck cares about Buchanan's sexuality. It's not going to change the minds of bigots, and the info is only worth a question in Trivial Pursuit. Can we move on to the next manufactured shocker/outrage, please?
Posted by Some Old Nobodaddy Logged In]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 14:38:09 -0700 The Stranger
As for Buchanan being gay, I'm not so sure. The late C.J. Tripp, author of "The Intimate Lincoln" also contends Lincoln was gay as well. I simply do not believe that. How that can be determined conclusively? On the other hand, a contemporary of theirs poet, Walt Whitman was gay. I have no issue with that.
Posted by lark]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 14:30:59 -0700 The Stranger http://www.badassoftheweek.com/lamaupin.…

Has anyone compiled a LGBT historybook of awesome gay people throughout the centuries?
Posted by Drew2u]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 14:09:04 -0700 The Stranger Posted by cgd]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 13:32:57 -0700 The Stranger Posted by TechBear]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 13:20:19 -0700 The Stranger
Unlike today, when no one is mocked for presumed homosexuality and no one's relatives conspire to keep them posthumously closeted.
Posted by Backyard Bombardier]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 13:09:23 -0700 The Stranger
Meh.

@9,
I'd actually argue that Andrew Johnson was worse than Buchanan (although Buchanan did totally suck in all the ways you mentioned). Johnson bungled the reconstruction so badly though he's probably largely to blame for even TODAY'S silly, backwards, lost-cause resentment that still lingers in the south.
Posted by Urgutha Forka]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:59:02 -0700 The Stranger Posted by cgd]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:57:20 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Original Andrew]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:39:47 -0700 The Stranger Martin van Buren on the other hand was a Knickerbockin' ladies man.
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:36:21 -0700 The Stranger
Posted by leek]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:33:04 -0700 The Stranger "The sobering reality is our society progresses, but at a snail's pace."

I think it is worse than that.
We blunder along for decades, talking about whether there is a "problem" or whether the "problem" is "those people" who aren't righteous enough or informed enough or whatever.

Then a critical juncture will be hit and we'll make the jump.
Then we'll all congratulate ourselves on the "progress" we made.

I'd say that 8 years ago the idea of a black President was pure fantasy.
It was only with Obama's personal charisma and the continued disaster that was his opposition that we made the jump.

"Anyway, I think we spend a lot of time grumbling about how little Obama has done for progressives, when in fact those little changes he has managed are epochal."

That's the problem. He's made minor changes instead of any more major jumps.
Some of the minor changes have been positive. Some have been negative.

We get health care insurance reform.
But we don't get universal health care.
We don't even get universal health care for children (21 and younger).

Minor improvements can be rolled back by other administrations.
People were expecting more jumps from him.
He's still a better choice than Romney.
Posted by fairly.unbalanced]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:25:45 -0700 The Stranger
Social progress is an illusion. Since the dawn of history, or even the dawn of homo sapiens, or perhaps even before, different societies have gone up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards in any manner of different and seemingly bizarre combinations.

Certainly we're seeing now some semblance of social justice for the matter of marriage equality, but simultaneously, the past few decades leading up to the present have seen a shocking cultural shift in a large minority of American Christians to hard-line, evangelical, fundamentalist Calvinism. They're not just going to suddenly go away either. I imagine they're going to be hard to get rid of, and they're going to influence elections more powerfully than their actual numbers would suggest. Those same decades incidentally saw the liberalization of Catholics. In all that time, Atheists are really no better off than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century--arguably worse.
Posted by Central Scrutinizer]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:16:03 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Andy Niable]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 12:15:17 -0700 The Stranger
Anyway, I think we spend a lot of time grumbling about how little Obama has done for progressives, when in fact those little changes he has managed are epochal. We just wont see the real effects for generations. He's had to pick his battles. I'd like him to roll back the Patriot Act too, but he chose health care instead. And even then not nearly as far as he should, but contained within are little details that could have massive effects.


Posted by modrachlan srarmons]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 11:45:42 -0700 The Stranger Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 11:33:53 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Cork]]> Tue, 15 May 2012 11:27:09 -0700 The Stranger