The Department Of Redundancy Department Goes Gay!

The NY Times writes on Obama's pending flip-flops evolution on gay issues and leaves us pining for a series of stylistic and usage rulings from William Safire.

First, this, with my emphasis:

But now Mr. Obama — who has said he opposes same-sex marriage as a Christian but describes himself as a “fierce advocate of equality” for gay men and lesbians —...

"Gay men and lesbians"?  Shouldn't that (or at least, couldn't that) be "Gay men and women"?  When people talk about "gay marriage", "gay" means "homosexual", not "male homosexual".

As we press on, the Times tries again:

Two of Mr. Obama’s potential Supreme Court nominees are openly gay; some advocates, irked that there are no gay men or lesbians in his cabinet, are mounting a campaign to influence his choice...

As the Times will eventually explain (or see The Politico), the two "openly gay" candidates are women.  Shouldn't they be described as "lesbian", to be consistent with the citations which make a distinction between gay men and lesbians?  Why, in this sentence, has "gay" flipped back to meaning "homosexual" with no connotation of maleness?

A bit later:

And while the president has urged Congress to pass a hate crimes bill, a high priority for gay groups...

Hmm - the gay group cited by The Politico is the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which is part of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance.  Presumably, the gay/lesbian distinction means something to someone there.  Is the Times being insensitive by ignoring that?  Hard to believe. 

In the balance of the story the Times uses "gay" as a synonym for "homsexual", with no maleness.  We even get this:

Two gay women, Kathleen M. Sullivan and Pamela S. Karlan, both of Stanford Law School, have been suggested as potential nominees...

If the Times usage rule the rule is that "gay" means either homosexual or homosexual male depending on context but "lesbian" refers exclusively to homosexual women, fine.  If the day comes when the interests of the groups divide, I suppose the Times will be there to restore the distinction.  If I were a lesbian feminist (or capable of channeling one) I would be irked by the male takeover, but I leave it to the Times to deal with that.

Somewhat more substantively, this is a laugher:

While Mr. Obama has said he is “open to the possibility” that his views on same-sex marriage are misguided, he has offered no signal that he intends to change his position.

He is "open to the possibility" that when the poll numbers in support of gay marriage improve he will abandon his current position of political convenience in favor of a new position of political convenience.  Call it "fierce" advocacy!  

Oh, that is so unfair, and what am I saying - Obama will admit that his thinking has evolved and he willl be hailed for his open-mindedness and personal growth.

Comments

[bad]

Obama's only doing for Dick Cheney's daughter...who is a lesbian.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Good luck with this. Figuring out when "gay" applies to both male and female, and when it's male only, is as fraught with risk as knowing when you're allowed to talk about "queers".

[clarice]

As Elizabeth Edwards pointedly reminded us during the election, bad.

Pheh!
Who cares? Close your doors and do whatever you want-- just don't tell me about it. I don't even like hearing about the problems of strangers on airplanes-- what makes you think I care about who you sleep with?

[bad]

lol Clarice. I'm with you. If someone wants to tell me bedroom tales they better be about home repairs or decorating... or something cute the kids or pets did.

[sbw]

I cannot think of such escapades without recalling Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in "The Birdcage" aka "La Cage au Folles" with that delightful Hank Azaria as Spartacus the waiter who could not wear shoes without falling over. I laugh every time I see it.

All our politicians today are stuffed shirt politicians of the sort Gene Hackman played.

[bad]

I hope Elizabeth, very soon, is able to understand this stage of her life is not about her-- it's about the ones she leaves behind.

[Jane]

The resident lesbian told me at one point that the word "lesbian" creeps a lot of people out - which is why "gay" is an easy catch all.

"lesbian
lesbian
lesbian."

[glasater]

There are a couple of statistics on lesbians someone wrote about years ago that stuck in my mind.

One was that in an absolute closed lesbian society--AIDs was nonexistent.

And the other was that lesbians had sex on an average of once a month.

[narciso]

I think we've clearly drifted into the
"Bearded Spock" Universe. Two examples, the local Fox/Clear Channel station, called the
17 billion Defense cut, a chainsaw, nail clippers maybe. Also the Corner's Steven Hayward, normally a solid fellow, in the course of affirming Henninger's support of Reagan's principles, takes a cheap shot at
the only public figure, that really doesn't match the stereotype of politicians, sbw,
calls that amusing little speech I linked to a month ago, as "Castroesque" For the love of pete, there's someone out there who has a Castroesque vibe, and it's not her.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

I cannot think of such escapades without recalling Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in "The Birdcage" aka "La Cage au Folles" with that delightful Hank Azaria as Spartacus the waiter who could not wear shoes without falling over. I laugh every time I see it.

I love that movie. I especially enjoy the fact that all in all, Robin Williams and Nathan Lane were a good couple and good parents.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

narciso, I think his point was that her speech was overlong and a little unfocused, and compared to a Reagan spech as a good speech might compare to one of Castro's monologues.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

And the other was that lesbians had sex on an average of once a month.

Golly, maybe I should be a lesbian.

[bad]

lol Chaco

[narciso]

Maybe so Charlie, but as compared to whom, I heard some of the speeches at CPAC,
leaving out Romney, and some were
inspirational but some dragged. Were all of Reagan's speeches pitch perfect?

[Neo]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A swindler whose arrest in 2007 prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in Democratic Party campaign contributions from fundraising, pleaded guilty on Thursday to fraud charges in an investment scheme.

Businessman Norman Hsu, who was sentenced to three years in jail by a California state judge in January 2008, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a criminal indictment of mail fraud and wire fraud in running a Ponzi scheme of up to $60 million.

Now how did this one get lost ?

[glasater]

Golly, maybe I should be a lesbian

Gee Charlie--as I remember--that statistic was for the younger one;)

[PeterUK]

There is nothing more boringly self-obsessed than those who insist on defining themselves by their sexuality.In some cases,it is a form of bullying.

[DebinNC]

Based on watching her pundit appearances in years past, I'd be immensely relieved if BO replaced Souter with Kathleen Sullivan.

[bad]

La Cage au Folles

I love that movie. Part of the delight is seeing Robin Williams cast as the sane, restrained one.

[Soylent Red]

"Huh? You're from Lebanon? What does that have to do with buying you a drink?" Soylent asked her as the music pumped in the crowded nightclub.

Golly, maybe I should be a lesbian.

You know, I've always thought I had an inner lesbian trying to get out...

[Soylent Red]

Hey!

What happened to my formatting?

[clarice]

Soylent--I'll never get you in the tango club with talk like that. (BTW I just learned yesterday that Robert Duvall is a descendent of Robt E Lee.)

[Lesbian Movie Guide]

I am lesbian, gay woman, whatever. It's all semantics. Not sure that it matters so much

[Lesbian Movie Guide]

I am lesbian, gay woman, whatever. It's all semantics. Not sure that it matters so much