dear hrc, ngltf, et al.

2008 is approaching. and i'm going to ask you to do the unthinkable. unless he pulls a "mitt mitt full of shit" and backtracks on support for gays and lesbian, throw your hat in for rudy, and this is why:

your job is to lobby for gays and lesbians, not labor unions, not the rights of other groups. you need to stay focused. in recent years, republicans have unilaterally been assholes to gays and lesbians, and it made sense to tell them to "shove it." but this is changing.

take a look at rudy v. edwards v. clinton v. obama:

RUDY:
Supports civil unions, but not marriage equality. Opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Wants to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." Note: Lived with a gay couple after his divorce.

EDWARDS:
Has mixed views on civil unions, and opposes same-sex marriage. Skipped a vote to constitutionally ban same-sex marriage. Wants to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." Supports ENDA and hate-crimes legislation.

CLINTON:
Supports civil unions, but not marriage equality. Voted against constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Wants to repeal "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." Supports ENDA and hate-crimes legislation.

OBAMA:
Supports civil unions, but not marriage equality. Voted against constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Has not voted on "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," ENDA or hate-crimes legislation.

no one supports marriage equality, all right? not even your poster child clinton. and did you know that hillary, when voting on the anti-gay marriage amendment didn't say one damn thing? she didn't speak up. granted, she voted against it, but she didn't lobby on our behalf. rudy is more pro-gay than edwards. EDWARDS SKIPPED THE VOTE on the marriage amendment! and he's not even sure civil unions are a good idea. rudy does.

if you throw your hat in for a pro-gay republican, the democrats will understand that they cannot take us for granted. you may think that everything else on the republican platform SUCKS, but your job is to keep gay and lesbian interests in mind. and not anyone else's. this is why we give you money. we give you money so that you will keep our interests in mind and not squander our support.

the problem is that democrats have been enjoying our votes and our money, but without any reciprocity. the democrats are too afraid to stand up for us. well make them afraid NOT to. tell them that if they take our money, and treat us like their burden, we will burden them by withholding our vote and our money. light a fire under their asses and endorse rudy.

and if it comes down to edwards and rudy, and both maintain the views as reported in that article above, and you still support edwards over rudy, you will have no credibility. the democrats will still take us for granted. and the republicans will never bother vying for our vote.

do you have the balls to do this? do you?

(BIG CAVEAT! if giuliani decides to go the mitt romney route and turn right, of course, throw him under a bus, but as it stands now, i would encourage GLBT groups to support giuliani for strategic reasons only. although i don't if i'd personally vote for him.)