I've mentioned in the past that I am part of a panel discussion on blogging ethics at this weekend's Podcamp Pittsburgh.  My sister blogger, Ms. Mongahela, has come up with the idea of giving away a "Liberal" basket filled with all sorts of liberal agenda goodies.

Great idea, right?

Well, until the liberal elite decided that a little dash of homophobia would spice things up.  Nothing says "gay ally" like gay panic.

"An evening with Pittsburgh's newly single Liberal Laureate, Vincent Scotti Eirene"*

... and much, much more!

We expect a hella good time.

Glad you can make it.

*In the event that there is a male winner, Vince has requested a separate drawing from female entrants.

I can't freaking believe that someone so dedicated to progressive causes would engage in this sort of shenanigan.  It is like the Seinfield line "he's gay, not that there's anything wrong with it" or however it goes.  What if a lesbian wins the basket?  A married woman?  Would that be better than spending the evening with a straight man with liberal proclivities?  Hmmmm.

I was going to protest the panel by going to learn about kindness and giving away flowers and stuff at another panel, but then I decided that I am not going to be oppressed by any white straight man, no matter how good his liberal cred can be. 

So I will be at that panel and I will talk about the need for more LGBTQ voices in the social media frontiers precisely because our "allies" aren't so dependable.

Straight white men.  Not that there's anything wrong with that. 

** To avoid any confusion, this post is intended to be ironic. No attempt to denigrate the motivations of straight white men is intended.  Any similarity to straight white men in Pittsburgh is purely coincidental.  And I would be happy to spend an evening with anyone, male or female, who would like to talk politics and eat Thai food.