#1 in Russ's Book Club

Update: The White House sent John Berry, head of the Office of Personnel Management and the highest-ranking gay person in Washington, to run interference by giving an interview to the Advocate today.

John Aravosis at Americablog sums up Berry's totally lame defense of the indefensible this way (emphasis mine):

The president does not have the option to oppose existing law, at all, no exceptions, zero, nothing -- Berry claims. That's a flat out lie, as we showed earlier with the essay by former Clinton White House special assistant Richard Socarides.

BERRY: This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job.

The president can ask DOJ to oppose laws in cases where there are important political and social issues at stake. Period. We've proven that they're lying about this, it's no longer debatable.

Oh, and where in the Constitution does it say that the president is required to compare our marriages to incest and pedophilia? We still haven't heard an explanation for that one. Nor have we heard an apology.

Did you catch how Berry said, above, that if we asked the president to file a brief opposing DOMA, we'd be asking him to "lie"? (First off, Berry admits that Obama owns the brief - so no more of this, "it was the lawyers" - it's Obama.) Anyway, so asking Obama to oppose DOMA in the brief would be asking him to "lie." What the hell is that supposed to mean? You mean the president was telling the truth when his brief claimed that gay marriage is like incest? He actually believes that? When the president claimed that Loving v. Virginia has nothing to do with our battle for marriage equality, he was saying he really believes that somehow the civil rights battle of African-Americans is different, better, than ours? Obama really believes that it's unfair to ask straight taxpayers to pay for our spousal benefits when we already pay for theirs? Obama thinks DOMA doesn't discriminate against gays? That it doesn't deny us benefits? That it's good for America in these tight budget times?

We're now to believe that Obama actually agrees with the bigoted crap that the White House let the DOJ put in that hateful brief? WTF?

Pam Spaulding says:

Who's holding this administration hostage to PTSD fears of Clinton and DADT in 1993? It's 2009, toadies. This administration, sitting atop high approval ratings with a minority party choking on its own bile and an American public that is more supportive of LGBT issues in the polls that at any time in history is crapping on the community in broad daylight and wondering what all the fuss is about. Someone in the White House needs a reality check. Fast.

Mike Signorile did an interview with Joe Solmonese of HRC last week about the Administration's alleged plan for LGBT rights. Listen carefully to why the hate crimes bill is being pushed, and read between the lines, now that you know what this Administration is really all about.

I am so fucking mad, people. Mr. Obama is about to discover there's no fury like an old queen scorned - or 15 million old queens, more like it. He lied to us. He used us. And now he's kicked us out the door like a Saturday night trick on Sunday morning. Tell him how you feel.

The mendacity of hope, indeed. Mine just went down the toilet, as far as this President is concerned.

P.S. - Note the heavy irony of the impassioned speech Berry gave just last week at the Justice Department to mark Pride month, a speech that was intended to demonstrate the Administration's deep concern for gay rights and equality.

P.P.S. - Notice, in the message Berry conveyed from the White House, there is 1) No apology, 2) No retraction, and 3) No reach-out to the community. Boiled down, the message is, Sit down and STFU about it.

But that's not what I voted for, Mr. President.