“One way to get the Obama administration’s attention on civil rights is for gay people to stop funding the Democrats. That’s all these people care about anyway when it comes to gays: our money. If the Democrats refuse to support us, refuse to support them. ... But we need to get more creative. We need actions to highlight the administration’s betrayals, postponements and boilerplate. We need to start confronting the president at his events. We need civil disobedience. We need to tell him we do not want another fricking speech where he tells us he is a fierce advocate for our rights, when that is quite plainly at this point not true. We will not tolerate another Clinton. ... I am a proud, self-respecting gay man with HIV. And I am not going to take this crap for much longer on civil rights. Fight back. Act Up.”

“Who could have imagined that the GLBT community would even notice a Justice Department brief on an obscure case, let alone arise as one in full-throated condemnation? The simple fact of that reaction, quite aside from our specific objections to the brief, led the administration to understand one important thing that they didn’t understand before. To wit, they don’t understand us. I know this sounds Rumsfeldian, but if you don’t know what you don’t know, you’re not going to make any progress, and, in fact, you’re not even going to worry about the not-known thing. The administration may have now learned a little something about how much we care, how closely we watch, and how frustrated we have become. And in the process they may begin to see us, not as a self-absorbed little interest group, but as the truly battered, long suffering and incredibly patient segment of society that we are. Taxpayers with no benefits. Couples with no recognition. Soldiers with no identity. Employees with no protection. The list goes on. ... Maybe Obama has learned that we really do need his help.”

“Obama’s inaction on gay civil rights is striking. So is his utterly uncharacteristic inarticulateness. The Justice Department brief defending DOMA has spoken louder for this president than any of his own words on the subject.”