Raise money, get signatures, raise money, vote, usually lose, wring hands, raise money, repeat.

The bulbous and corrupt Representative Gaseous...uh...I mean Frank...says gays marching for equality is "A waste of time".

He doesn't stop there: "The only thing they're going to be putting pressure on is the grass," the Democrat said Friday. With friends like these does the gay community need enemies?

Make no mistake: I agree that those seeking equality have wasted a hell of a lot of time - and continue to. The asinine support of Barrack Obama, who has a record of cavorting with homophobes, was a big time waster. As is the ongoing obsession with ballot initiatives. The current debate in California centers around whether or not a ballot initiative repealing prop 8 should be fought in 2010 or 2012. Either year will absorb a huge amount of time and money and are 50/50 bets at best. Probably more like 40/60 in 2010 - an almost certain GOP year. Effective action for change does not seem to occur to the ninnies at the HRC.

What would be effective - and not merely affected - is non violent civil disobedience. The marchers in Selma did not waste time on ballot initiatives. They put themselves on the line. They had the moral high ground...then claimed even higher ground. They changed the stance of an entire nation because they sat in the front of buses, they sat at Woolworth's counters, they faced down bigots.

31 of 32 initiatives banning gay marriage have passed. With a record like that you'd think the gay elite would get a little more imaginative.

The gay rights movement is in danger of lapsing into a racket. Raise money, get signatures, raise money, vote, usually lose, wring hands, raise money, repeat. If it were up to the insiders among the gay elite this cycle would go on forever.

Regardless of Frank's perpetual obnoxiousness, it is ONLY the protesters on the ground who are worthy of our regard and admiration at this point.