Cindy McCain Pulls A Fast One On The Gay Community

You know we're onto something when Republicans from Arizona with staunchly right-aligned husbands start speaking out on behalf of LGBTQ rights. We can smell the victory, and yet there always seems to a catch. What's that line G.W. fumbled? "You fool me once, shame on who?"

It feels like Cindy McCain was pulling a fast one on the gay community this week, when the wife of former Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, appeared in a  public service announcement calling for an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and then essentially retracted her stance the very next day by way of tweet.

The video, which was organized by the LGBT group NOH8, was part of a string of public service announcements aimed at ending the outmoded U.S. military regulation.

"Our political and religious leaders tell LGBT youth that they have no future," Cindy says in the video. "They can't serve our country openly."

The ad features Cindy with a hodge-podge of celebrities, all donning white. Included are Denise Richards and Gene Simmons, among others. The angle for the PSA ties the government-imposed discriminatory policies to the string of anti-gay incidences, an apt analogy. The U.S. government, after all, is arguably almost as large an influence on moral cadence as media, parents, teachers, or friends.

The very next day after the PSA hit the streets of the world wide web, McCain tweeted, of all things, something that sounded a whole lot like a retraction. "I fully support the NOH8 campaign and all that it stands for and proud to be a part of it she wrote, "but I stand by my husband's stance on DADT."

Cue record scratch. How can you be simultaneously for and against something?

It's unclear how hubby dearest feels about his wife's LGBT activism (she also appeared in pro same-sex marriage ads with her daughter last year.

Though, if i had to take a guess, I'd say the whole thing smells of John McCain (I'll refrain from making further jokes here, as it would just be too easy). It just feels like Cindy took a stance, albeit a grand gesture for someone in her position, and the backlash was so fierce she felt forced to reel herself back in to right-centrist land. Cindy's flip flopping is like the equivalent of getting dumped by your long-term partner via a text message (and sadly, I know exactly how that feels).

I suppose we'll have made real progress when the men behind the women step up and declare their delusional decision-making downright despicable. Each moment that we continue to marginalize and condemn, bully and ignore, is another moment that the veneer of our false progressiveness is revealed (not to mention the new throngs of people that are victimized as a result). In the meantime, we'll have to settle for what we can get and hope that cliché about the real force to be reckoned with is the woman behind the man. If only the women could step up for real.

gayrights.change.org