A Game Of Tug-Of-War, And I'm The Knot

I'm not sure if this is just me, or if any of the other gay people out and about in this world are starting to feel it, but I'm kind of feeling like I am now right in the middle of a political battle.  On one side you have the Democrats and Barack promising wonderful things to us GBLT's, and on the other you have McCain and the Republicans Haterades telling everyone that we are the worst piece of moral scum to ever exist (nothing new there).

It's interesting, because for the first time I don't feel like I'm in this fight.  I'm the weapon.  Barack has made no small matter of his support of the LGBT community, and McCain has made his lack of support for us equally well known.  This is unique, because in the previous two elections, us gays had to choose between an evil bastard and a candidate that either didn't give a shit about us or had actively worked to get DOMA and DADT into law. 

Now that it appears we have a hero, of sorts, it also appears clear that we are no longer being catered to.  The assumption is we'll vote Democratic (and lets be honest, it's a pretty solid assumption), but we also have to realize that same assumption is what the Repubs will use to try and paint the Dems as heathenistic, baby-eating hippies.

Does anyone else feel this?  We've moved forward in as much as we are at least acknowledged now, but we've got sooooo much further to go...

Question: Are Gay Men Damaged Goods?

I was listening to the Savage Love Cast this morning on my way to work (is there a better way to wake up than with talk of all sorts of crazy sex?), and heard Dan Savage try and defend his position that all gay men should be considered "damaged goods" until proven otherwise.  His contention is that we all go through some extremely tough situations in out lives as gay people, and because of these situations, many of us don't come out on the completely sane side.

At first blow, I was pissed.  How dare he say that we're all fucked up?!  We aren't any more fucked up than the average straight person!!  But, then I started to hear his actual point.  It's more a statement of the sad treatment we GLBTs of the world than of the GLBTs themselves.  To presume that we've all been srewed with our whole lives to the point that we will have some mental "issues," you are saying that the world at large is to blame, not us.  And I think that's a fairly safe assumption to make.

What do you think though?  When you start to date a guy/gurl, do you make the automatic assumption that (s)he's broken until proven otherwise?  Or, do you take the possibly more naive approach and say he's wonderful until he proves otherwise?