If you track gay rights issues at all, you know that LGBT voters are plenty steamed by what they perceive as being cast aside by the Obama administration. The DOJ wrote an inflammatory memo supporting the Defense Of Marriage Act, which allows states to not recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. And despite widespread support, there has been almost no progress repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the disingenuous Clinton-era policy that allows gays to risk their lives for our country as long as they shut up about it.
And yeah… I’m not too happy about either of these things. There’s a whole class of Americans being treated like second-class citizens because they’re, well, kinda queer. It isn’t right. Here’s Obama last fall:
…I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together…
And tonight? He came out (no pun intended) against DOMA as discriminatory (and an interference with states’ rights), and pledged to work for its repeal. Didn’t mention DADT, but said that the Federal government would offer equal benefits for gay partners of its employees.
It isn’t enough; the LGBT community is even madder than ever. They wanted to be first, I think. Which, if you’re being treated like a second-class citizen is understandable. I’d be getting pretty damned impatient myself. It’s easy for me to talk about patience (cue MLK speech on the subject here) from the comfort of my 29-year heterosexual marriage.
But don’t forget that Obama is a politician. He has just so much political capital to spend, and a hell of a lot of things on his shopping list. He might be playing the long game. Regardless of anything he does, DADT is going away, gay marriage is coming, and our society will finally get over its fear of Teh Gay. Possibly he has decided that in light of other political challenges he faces, it doesn’t matter if he gets credit for something that is going to happen anyway.
What he did tonight is a positive step, and it’s in line with his apparent philosophy of doing “the work we must do to move forward together”. It’s the exact opposite of what a dictator does. But even positive changes in the law can be overturned; a change of heart may be the only hope of permanent change. When people finally say; “Hey, you know what? Two guys could get married and it wouldn’t be the end of the world after all.”
Imagine if the abortion issue had been handled this way. Really, I’m trying to imagine it because there are a number of counterintuitive elements. It may have been legalized ten years later than it was, but we might have a very different society today if it had been. We might not be living on the scorched Earth of a culture war battlefield.
At least, I hope that is what happening.
NOTES:
- Mike The Mad Biologist: Is DOMA brief the result of “burrowing”?
- DOMA = “Defense Of Marriage Act”
- LGBT = “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gender”
- DADT = “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- DOJ = “Department Of Justice”
I guess I hope for the same thing—that this is Obama seeking the wisdom of political consensus. And not just another betrayal of the Gays.
First, I don’t know what it’s like to be LGB or T, but I never needed to be any of the above to understand they were just the next and current group on this absurd and strange list entitled “Who to Hate and Abuse This Era” or something.
So I could be wrong or missing the point but I think if Obama gets this pass, then there’s room for Clinton, too. DADT wasn’t just “Don’t tell,” or as long as the gays shut up about it, it was also “Don’t ask:” everybody shut up about it! (Disclosure: 2 of my kids are 18 months apart. I have on occasion given the order, “Do not speak to each other. At all. For the rest of the day.”) Clinton was also a politician with, arguably, less capital. What expectations could Clinton have failed to meet that wouldn’t also cast disapproval on Obama?
Maybe there are plenty, but even if so, I understand the impatience. I am also frustrated. I need to see some change, something drastic, proportionate to the shockingly and infuriatingly insane grip conservatives have on willful *GAWD* damn ignorance (same ol’ same ol’). If Obama stands up and says No more of this absurd discrimination against the LGBT community, then maybe we actually won’t burn down our only home (earth). If people actually get the kind of healthcare that stops them from dying from preventable diseases, then maybe the LGBT community will have equal rights. You see, I really don’t care where he does it, but I need something more than Obama getting through the White House door to keep alive the hope that all these things which are the worst of us can change.