The [expletive deleted] bottom line

You know what? I've kind of had it. All day long, I've been pondering the President's memorandum about limited benefits for federal employees in same-sex relationships, and I've just kind of had it.

Here's the deal. Either you believe that gay and lesbian people are fully deserving of the same rights as anyone else, or you do not. If you believe that our issues should be put on hold while you decide to work on more important things, then you do not. If you believe that we should be happy with what tokens you hand out, because it's better than what we had before, then you do not. If you promise to advocate "fiercely" for us on the campaign trail, and then as President pull out all the legal stops to defend a law that codifies our second-class status, then you do not.

The only justification for making no progress on Don't Ask Don't Tell, no progress (in fact, retrogressing) on DOMA, and no progress on the HIV travel ban is that you just don't think our issues are all that important, and we should be expected to accept it, because our rights aren't equal to others'. Because our President has famously declared that governments should be able to "walk and chew gum" at the same time, as it were, I don't really buy that he couldn't be attending to these issues now. He most certainly could have put a stop-loss order on the discharge of gay men and women in uniform.

So, no cash. No kissy-face for the cameras. And no slack. It is ludicrous that my employer gives people like me better benefits than the federal government.

Do. Better.