1. Political blogging panel with 3 women and 2 men was a nice twist.  Plus, the audience was predominantly male.  It says quite a bit that so many men care what female political bloggers have to say in person.  Maybe new social media is changing things a little bit.

2. Members of the Mainstream Media (MSM) came to the panel. Interesting discussion on the "symbiotic relationship" (thanks to Jon Delano) between blogs and MSM. 

3. How do I make good decisions about whom to cite on my blog?  I'm at a disadvantage because there are so few primary sources covering LGBTQ issues, at least not until they are sensational.  So I do rely on other blogs and count on my ongoing "off the record" dialogue with many, many folks to help me discern the credibility.  I do go to the big LGBTQ advocacy groups, but the need to raise funds requires me to use a skeptical eye.  Plus, the more I learn about the organizational stability of lack thereof, the more skeptical I become.  Tossing me off your email distribution list for whatever reason is not going to encourage me to promote your point of view.

4.  I spoke about outing/exposing hypocrisy. Several folks commented that they had no knowledge of this whatsoever.  Another blogger commented that he would never touch this.  I can see his point of view, but i also think exposing political hypocrisy is the job of all political bloggers.  If you'd cover a politician caught in a sex scandal that wasn't gay related, you should cover those that are.  It also reminded me that being a niche blogger has its ups and downs. 

5. Anonymous blogs. Love 'em.  Wish I knew who they were.  Wish we had more openly outspoken persons to air the dirty laundry and bring about some change.  Sigh.

6. We had a great turnout for our panel and it was lots of fun. 

Thanks to procedural maneuvers, DADT has not been repealed.  Sigh.  Do I even need to describe how frustrating it is that this one small step, which is clearly in the best interest of our national defense, can't get traction.

There's hope. You can still help by going through the HRC Action Page.

For the full story, see what Pam has up.  She minces no words on the role of the Democrats in this debacle. 

Believe me, I'm livid about the Republican Party's demonization of the LGBT community.  It is unconscienable and I'm grateful that the Party is separate from reasonable, thoughtful Republicans who do not capitulate to this crap.

Still, I'm REALLY angry at Democrats and the Party.  They have failed the LGBTQ community over and over.  The small steps forward we've made are miniscule compared to the ground gained in the 1990's here in Pittsburgh.  It is laughable when well intentioned leaders in the community defend them and hold up these gains as proof that the homo revolution has taken root in Western PA Democratic politics.  Translate that to the national stage and its even more laughable. 

A party unable to prevent the abuse of a military policy to discharge linguistic specialists in the midst of a horrific war is not a party we should laud.  We need to focus on the candidates who deserve our support, not those who are the lesser of the evils. 

And for those who roundly condem people willing to speak up against ineffective leadership, well ... get thee to a phone bank and stop reading the blogs.