It's a good month

Esp. in light of the assassination of Dr. Tiller this pleases me no end.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

The explanation for the proclamation is really good, but this is the meat of it.

I've got a good month for a birthday, and it's better now.

Details on context, re the assassination of Dr. Tiller

First, yes, I mean assassination. I didn't mention in my last post just how much of a blow this is to reproductive freedom. Dr. Tiller was one of three providers of late term abortions. Contrary to the claims of the anti-choice propaganda mills, this isn't a common decision, nor one entered into lightly. It's almost always based on medical necessity, and only done when unavoidable.

That said, I was waiting for the Sara, or Dave, at Orcinus to speak on this. Sara has.

Jesus Jihadi's is that post. A couple of highlights, because she makes the point better than I would.

This happened on the 6th anniversary of the apprehension of Eric Rudolph.

From Sara's post:

3. Churches. First Knoxville, then this. Sherilyn Ifill once made the point that lynchings typically occurred on courthouse lawns as a symbol that the mob had overridden the authority of the state and taken justice into its own hands. So what does it mean when right-wing terrorists start gunning down progressives in the pews of their own churches? Two events do not a pattern make -- but if this keeps happening, it'll be clear that there's a message being sent....

But they used to leave Christian churches pretty much alone. The fact that this shooting occurred in a church (again) suggests that this tactic is now being tried out on more closely related faith groups whose views don't comport with the fundamentalist party line. As Dave has often pointed out, bringing violence to houses of worship is usually an overtly eliminationist act. They are trying to terrify liberals by making us feel at risk and unsafe inside our own spiritual sanctuaries -- the very places we go to feel the most security and peace. This is terrorism, plain and simple -- Christian fundamentalist terrorism, committed by people Sam Smith has started referring to as "Jesus's Jihadis."

If Roeder did this (the evidence points that way) it's not much of a surprise.

“I know that he believed in justifiable homicide,” said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City abortion opponent who made headlines in 1995 when a federal judge ordered her to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. “I know he very strongly believed that abortion was murder and that you ought to defend the little ones, both born and unborn.”

Morris Wilson, a commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia in the mid-1990s, said he knew Roeder fairly well.

“I’d say he’s a good ol’ boy, except he was just so fanatic about abortion,” said Wilson, who now lives in western Nebraska. “He was always talking about how awful abortion was. But there’s a lot of people who think abortion is awful.”

Roeder was the beneficiary of the rule of law. He was arrested in 1996 when police pulled him over for a defaced license plate (as a means of protest. Others have said he pulled the metallic strip from bills to keep the government from tracking the money). They found bomb making supplies in the car.

His conviction was overturned when the courts declared the search unlawful.

Looking at that history there is parole violation. It looks to have been relatively minor, but he didn't serve his sentence perfectly.

I am afraid Sara is right (and I've been afraid for the same things for at least as long as she has): we have moved to the "then they fight you" stage of this.

I can only hope Ghandi is right, and that after that, "Then we win."