We at Transracial were very happy to hear about efforts by Wisconsin Representative Tammy Baldwin to condemn a proposed law by the Ugandan government that would drastically penalize local GLBTs.
Openly-Lesbian Baldwin has drafted a letter calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to denounce the proposed anti-GLBT laws — which would not only criminalize homosexuality, but would also penalize those who support gay rights, or even refuse to turn in others for being gay.
Messed up!
Yet we can’t help but feel the bile rising in our throats over Rep. Baldwin’s latest move. Rep. Baldwin clearly has no problem denouncing a foreign government for its treatment of its own GLBT citizens.
Yet Baldwin herself is certainly not without blood on her hands — the blood of her own GLBT constituents and supporters right here in the USA.
As many of you may remember, Rep. Baldwin recorded THIS video plea to America’s GLBT community imploring them to support Pres. Obama’s health care overhaul.
While Rep. Baldwin apparently has enough time, energy and concern to craft a formal document against the Ugandan government, not once in the aforementioned video did Rep. Baldwin see fit to mention the battle against AIDS/HIV or the mounting costs of this still-rife epidemic in her own country.
Remember, 55,000 Americans contract HIV each year — the majority of them Gay-folk.
Isn’t HIV a health care issue, we ask?
And isn’t it a GLBT issue?
We repeatedly asked Rep. Baldwin’s office to explain her worrisome omission a few months back — and got no real answer. Yes, Rep. Baldwin has been a major proponent of HIV treatments within the new health care plans.
And that’s fucking awesome!
But this does not compensate for the churlishness and cowardice shown in her health care video.
We all know — Silence = Death. Both in Uganda and right here in the United States.
So brava to Rep. Baldwin for condemning hate all the way over in Africa.
But we say so what! Rep. Baldwin — real activism begins at home!
Get to it!