Glenn Greenwald, one of today’s great American defenders of freedom.
(Vern here) I was glad that Orange County’s CAIR – the Council on Islamic-American Relations – rebuffed Jordan Brandman‘s request for an endorsement, but the reason sure sucked – as I heard through the grapevine, it was the rumors of his Gaiety that turned them off, not his sleazy corporatism and fealty to the Pringle project. (And if Jordan wants to come off as a straight but gay-friendly liberal, he should NOT have been begging foaming-at-the-mouth gay basher Lou Sheldon for an endorsement either.)
And so, when I played piano a couple months ago at the Sasscer Park anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, I went up to CAIR’s table to give them a little bit of grief for their homophobia. The young guys there just laughed and said, “Ah, that’s the older Muslims, it’s not us. It’ll pass away over the years.” Then they handed me a flyer – “Hey, you like this guy, don’t you? Glenn Greenwald is coming November 16 to speak at our ‘Faith in Freedom’ banquet.”
“Hey, cool, I’ll be there for sure!” I responded. “Can Glenn bring his husband?” “Of course!” the young Muslims laughed.
But it was not to be. Since that blistering-hot September afternoon, things have gotten even hotter with the Edward Snowden leaks, for which Glenn has been the chief journalistic purveyor. Glenn’s husband Miranda was detained, searched, and had his computers destroyed at Heathrow Airport in London, and there’s a very good chance Glenn would be arrested himself if he tried to come home to the states.
So he instead sent his address to CAIR by video, which you can see below – an address well worth hearing and discussing in the comments below. Thanks to CAIR for inviting Glenn, and hat-tip to Gabriel at the Weekly for first posting this:
We have a response in (via Facebook) from Hussam Ayloush of CAIR:
I’ve conveyed this to Vern, along with Hussam’s e-mail address. He should see it soon enough.
More: some of this may hinge on the difference between CAIR, the non-profit, and the independently run Political Action Committee CAIR-PAC. Hussam explains further:
Okay, well I was misinformed by someone who seems like they really should know both Anaheim politics and the Muslim community. I will give that person grief, delete my first paragraph which is now pointless, and apologize to CAIR which is indeed an important and valuable (and NOT anti-gay?) organization.
Thank you Vern and Greg for your prompt attention to our concern. We value the important role of this blog and appreciate your professionalism. Keep up the good work.
And thanks for at least attempting to bring Glenn Greenwald to the OC!
When you consider that the Garden Grove and Anaheim police departments, the Orange County Sheriffs Department, the California Highway patrol and others have been behaving like terrorizing bullies since well before 9/11 (with the help of surveillance state tools), it is appropriate that this CAIR conference occured here in Anaheim.