Since I posted the item below on Friday about openly gay Congressman Jared Polis, several people have attacked my credibility and suggested that I falsified the report to make Polis look bad. These people are dangerous because they care nothing about the truth and are simply out to protect Polis at all costs. Unfortunately for them, though, I have the whole thing on tape!!!
I’ve spent the last few hours trying to upload the audio to this blog, but I’ve been unsuccessful, so it will have to wait until Monday when I have some tech support. For now, I’ll just post the transcript of the exchange between Polis and Randy Brown of Livingston, who was talking about how he wants to start a chapter of Stonewall Democrats in Polk County, northeast of Houston. Here it is:
RANDY BROWN: Is Washington aware of the fact that people may get hurt? Because we might get hurt in the process of trying to just come out of the closet, just trying to help the process along. It’s a very, very frightening thing.
JARED POLIS: Have your local law enforcement agencies been helfpful in offering you protection when you feel threatened?
BROWN: No.
POLIS: They haven’t?
BROWN: No.
POLIS: This is one of the reasons we have a federal hate crimes law, for that very reason. Sometimes in some conservative areas they don’t prosecute hate crimes, so we have on the books a law that allows the federal government to prosecute those if your local DA refuses to. So you might want to report it to your federal attorney general for your area if you feel threatened and the local authorities are not investigating or don’t seem to care. You can turn to the federal government for investigation of potential hate crimes.
BROWN: They generally throw hate crimes right out the court window.
POLIS: Well, that’s what your local, that’s what the state does, but I’m saying there is a federal recourse for that. That’s the very reason we did it.
[AT THIS POINT, TEXAS STONEWALL PRESIDENT DAN GRANEY STANDS UP AND TELLS POLIS THAT THE MATTHEW SHEPARD ACT DIDN’T PASS.]
POLIS: Oh, it didn’t pass? OK. So we still need to pass it? OK. So we’ll try to pass that one for you, too. But that’s why we need it. And of course Obama supports that, our Congress supports that, our Senate supports that. I thought we did pass it, so we will try to get that. But that’s exactly why we need it though, because in some of the areas where gays and lesbians do feel terrorized every day, the local authorities are in league with the forces of hate. And this would, when we pass it — thanks for pointing that out — give you recourse to go to the federal government to investigate hate crimes in your area, and that’s why it’s so important.
It is shameful to learn that one of only a few openly LGBT congressmen isn’t aware that we aren’t included in federal hate crimes legislation. I think it’s indicative of the poor state our movement is in right now.
Sometimes LGBT publications take the kid-glove approach with our more liberal elected officials. This is done with the thinking that they’re all we’ve got so we better not expose their weaknesses and shortcomings. The very act of exposure can lead to politicians beefing up their stance on whatever the issue may be. Pressure from the public would only solidify such a position. Thanks for reporting on this John.
Well at least he didn’t think that Matthew Shepard was one of the Backkstreet Boys.
So what is the lesson that we are supposed to learn from this?
Throw the baby out with the bath water?
I think I’ll give the guy a little more time that just a few weeks in office to prove his worth to the snarky LGBT print media, faux militant intelligentsia wannabes, and everybody else who thinks that their opinion matters to anyone besides themselves.
i think that last part of the last line might actually apply to you as well tingle.
this story fascinates me and i’ve blogged about it at my site:
https://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2009/03/dallas-voice-gay-rep-polis-gaffe-over.html
I think it important to hold our elected officials accountable for public remarks they make. This is especially true if the elected official is an openly elected LGBT official, because they should be held to a higher standard when it comes to knowledge of what federal laws and protections are available for LGBT citizens. At the same time, Polis was gracious in acknowledging his error and so I think we should not beat him up over this. After all, we will need his leadership in Congress to ensure the Matthew Shepard Act FINALLY does become law.
The Washington Blade is claiming that John Wright’s reporting on this matter is wrong.
from Lou Chibbaro of the Blade:
“But the quote you included from a column written by John Wright of the Dallas Voice is misleading if not totally incorrect.
The House (and Senate) did not drop the Shepard hate crimes bill as an amendment to a military authorization measure because President Bush threatened to veto it, as John Wright claims in his column.”
John, it is your turn now…
https://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2009/03/blade-corrects-dallas-voice-on-hate.html#links
This is totally irrelevant to the issue regarding Polis, but my blog post is CORRECT. I stated that the Shepard Act was removed from the bill AFTER the president theatened to veto it, not BECAUSE the president threatened to veto it. I used the word AFTER intentionally here, because there was no point in going to detail about how and why the ACT was actually removed. The point was there are no federal protections against anti-gay hate crimes, and Polis stated that he thought there were. Lou Chibbaro is trying to nit-pick here, but he is INCORRECT, and frankly I would question his motives. Why is he trying to muddy the water?
I am so torn, I don’t know who to torment. I agree with John about the issue the Blade raises and I think that John is right about that, but I think the whole gotcha Polis story in the first place, was mostly just making a mountain out of a mole hill.
So I guess I’ll just call it a draw and go back to bashing the QL Supreme Leader for Life. But since no one showed up at the grassy knoll for the 43rd gay marriage protest of the year, I’ll spare him any insult today.
Jiminy Cricket on a crutch — the status of hate-crimes legislation, no matter where one is for or against it — is LGBT 101! No wonder we never get anywhere, if our own people are ignorant as our enemies. I cannot (but, sadly, do) believe Polis doesn’t know this stuff backwards, forwards, and inside out. I certainly do — and I’m just a nobody.
Jiminy Cricket on a crutch………….priceless.
I thought we had a RIGHT to question our elected officials. We do it with the President Obama every time he makes a speech.