05/07/2009
Obama Inaction on Promises to Gay Voters Under Focus
NYT:
"The White House, aware of the discontent, invited leaders of some prominent gay rights organizations to meet Monday with top officials, including Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s deputy chief of staff, to plot legislative strategy on the hate crimes bill as well as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Among those attending was Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, who said afterward that while the gay rights agenda might not be 'unfolding exactly as we thought,' he was pleased. 'They have a vision,' Mr. Solmonese said. 'They have a plan.'
While Mr. Obama has said he is 'open to the possibility' that his views on same-sex marriage are misguided, he has offered no signal that he intends to change his position. And as he confronts that and other issues important to gay rights advocates, he faces an array of pressures and risks."
Also, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked yesterday about Obama's response to the legalization of same-sex marriage in Maine. Said Gibbs: " I think the President's position on same-sex marriages has been talked about and discussed. He supports civil unions."
Lane Hudson in Huffington Post: President Speechless on Marriage Progress. "We're in the midst of mind-blowing progress towards being treated equally by the law and the White House can't muster one bit of emotion or congratulatory tone. To say it's disappointing wouldn't come close."
Posted 7:45 AM EST by Andy Towle in Barack Obama, Gay Rights, News | Permalink
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Obama needs to embrace the change.
Posted by: JeffNYC | May 7, 2009 8:25:56 AM
Not good enough! Sorry.
Posted by: Rafael | May 7, 2009 8:29:40 AM
Face it, boys, we live in a political world & we are woefully outnumbered. This Administration is clearly on our side, but in my opinion, we must be measured in our approach to progress.
The disastrous last eight years were in part due to the GOP's exploitation of homophobia which resulted in victories for them in close races. Demanding our rights is something for which we should not fault ourselves. However, we need to be smart about our timing and strategy.
Personally, I have faith that the policy and political experts in the Obama Administration will come through for us when success is attainable. The last thing I want is to hand a drowning political party a lifeline....even if it means being patient for a while longer.
Posted by: JONNY NYNY2FLFL | May 7, 2009 8:41:12 AM
Where is that "Fierce Advocate" we were promised?
Posted by: Wayne | May 7, 2009 8:59:52 AM
Wait a minute! You mean that someone running for the office of President of the United States Of America made promises he had no intention of keeping?
How shocking. Shocking.
Posted by: Roscoe | May 7, 2009 9:08:26 AM
"Power cedes nothing without a demand." - Frederick Douglass
Posted by: Dale Fecker | May 7, 2009 9:13:45 AM
It is amazing that such a huge change has obviously started, especially in the Northeast, and the president and co. have remained silent.
also, what happened to repealing don't ask don't tell? what could possibly be holding the administration back? more pressing issues than making sure people are treated with equality and more pressing than making sure the armed forces are chock full of people to send to afghanistan?
we are a controversial minority, our issues and concerns take a back seat with the president, like it or not.
I was born and raised in Maine...go Maine!
Posted by: narishkeit | May 7, 2009 9:23:37 AM
Like just about everything else, we'll have to get it done ourselves.
Talk is cheap.
Posted by: Yeek | May 7, 2009 9:34:25 AM
You gays don't get it, I've got a campaign to run in 2012. Thats Obama, a life spent campaigning for the next election. Keep attacking the beauty queen that was being honest. Keep giving Marion Barry, Obama, Biden and the religious African American community responsible for the defeat of prop 8 and Amendment 2 a pass. They must've mis-spoke. In my book, actions speak louder than words. Yea, it is just words when you don't back up your rhetoric.- Patrick Duval and Barack Obama (the "just words" world famous speech distributed by David Axlerod. "All men are created equal. Just words?"
Posted by: glennmcgahee | May 7, 2009 9:46:36 AM
Yes, Joe Solmonese they do have a plan and vision. There plan is to pay lip service to LGBT rights, to not comment when states give us equality, to do nothing pro active towards LGBT rights, and hope that others do the work. Seems to go right along with HRCs plan.
Posted by: kujhawker | May 7, 2009 9:47:38 AM
Some people are missing the larger picture here. It is better for US he he stays silent for now. One of the things the last 8 years should have taught people is that the GOP will use us a political football to score points. As it stands, the GOP cannot attack the President or Congress on this because they have not done anything. Compare this to the Bush years where this would have faced public condemnation and threats of a Constitutional amendment. Right now the opposition is disorganized and looking for something, ANYTHING to give them unity. Right now change is happening and we're facing only the most anemic of opposition. For now, let the President use his political capital where it is desperately needed and not worry about the places where, for now, we are winning just fine without it.
Posted by: Lee Adama | May 7, 2009 9:51:18 AM
Clearly the momentum is behind us now with regard to gay civil rights. We have to use this moment the best way we can - we have to impress upon this administration that now is the moment to show that they are aligned with the democratic party and indeed with the majority of Americans in supporting marriage equality, or to show that they are dinosaurs who are aligning themselves with the most extreme factions of the right wing.
Write a letter to the White House. Just let them know that you believe in marriage equality and gay rights - let them know how your families are affected by our second-class citizenship. The momentum will only build if we take advantage of the media focus on marriage equality and the lack of support for it from the White House.
Portions of my letter:
You have enormous support and a huge amount of political capital now. And I am trying to be patient. But as a gay man, I cannot help but feel that you are falling woefully short of the promise to be our fierce advocate.
I was terribly disappointed with your choice of Rick Warren to lead the invocation at the inaugural. It was a terrible decision, and I wonder to this day whether it was a political decision to let gay people know that your support for us would be limited.
You are an educated, extremely intelligent man who has intimate knowledge of the history and the brutality of bigotry. You cannot possibly believe that separate but equal is in any way equal or constitutional. I cannot see how you can cling to the position that you do not support gay marriage. In light of the quickly advancing issue and in light of the fact that many polls (ABC/CBS/Washington Post, Pew) increasingly show that more Americans support gay marriage than oppose it, you have an opportunity to be bigger than the bigotry that has kept gay people from living our best lives for so long.
In so many ways, you have made bold policy changes and have seen that it has not diminished your support. There are obviously naysayers who will tell you that this issue is too controversial to touch. Are you going to listen to them, or are you going to stand on the side of doing what is right?
You may believe as a Christian that gay people should not marry, although again, I can’t believe that you would actually feel that somehow your marriage to Michele is morally superior to my relationship to my partner of 13 years. But that personal belief should not inform your commitment to equal civil rights! I still can’t believe I have to write those words to an enlightened leader. You should be out in front on this of all issues – the idea that civil unions is somehow adequate is an archaic and conservative ideology that doesn’t jive with everything else you seem to stand for.
You can see how quickly the tide is turning and how the momentum is building behind gay marriage in the states. And the patchwork of rights across the country for gay couples is becoming increasingly difficult to maneuver, especially given the total lack of recognition of gay couples under the hideous DOMA.
South Africa went from Apartheid to gay marriage in a terrifically short time, under superior and courageous leadership. How can we, the supposed beacon of freedom in the world, under an African-American leader who has seen the devastating effects of bigotry and discrimination first-hand, lag so far behind in this arena of civil rights?
What will your legacy be if you stand by and let gay people continue for years to try to negotiate this strange patchwork of rights, all denied by federal government? How can you, of all people, not be on our side? Do you want your legacy to be like that of President Clinton, who sold us down the road in so many ways? These are different times. The polls and the momentum should show you that you are woefully behind the eight ball on this very important and fundamental issue of gay rights.
Please get behind us on this profound issue, on this issue that keeps so many of us in a cycle of second-class citizenship, denied so many of the basic rights that you take for granted every day. Please support and use your influence to actively push repeal of DOMA. At least take an active stand with us for the civil rights that we are denied.
Posted by: Carmen | May 7, 2009 9:53:50 AM
GlennMcGahee, who's giving Marion Barry a pass? Have you been paying attention to this website in the past 2 weeks? Please. Do your research.
Posted by: DonnyB | May 7, 2009 10:33:58 AM
I'm not part of the private conversations (and neither are any of you) but I think there's more being done behind the scenes than we are giving credit for. If you count vermont, four states have legalized gay marriage in the short time that Obama has been president. three of them by acts of Democratically controlled state legislatures. If you think the DNC isn't involved in that at the highest levels, then I think you may need to think again.
This is not a coincidence. Someone high up is promising party unity, enough votes to buffer individuals who may have reservations and party support come election time so that dems in those positions can do the right thing. Is Obama the puppet-master behind those meetings, I don't know. But there's something to be said for the four states that have legalized gay marriage by legislative vote since Obama took office.
Politics is a game, and the outcome is the only thing that is important. Obama has proven himself to be quite politically astute, and I don't know, but I suspect that he has played a larger role in same-sex marriage than we give him credit for, and that he can publically claim at this point.
Posted by: Dan B | May 7, 2009 10:39:53 AM
Lee Adama, if they could tax stupidity you alone would balance the budget!
Have you been in a COMA? The Repugs are already attacking. You think they're holding off on a renewed attempt to amend the Constitution just because Obama hasn't had the balls to endorse marriage equality; has had laryngitis on the recent trend? They're holding off because they know they don't have the votes. While Obama's moral cowardice and needless statement re Iowa that he STILL opposes marriage equality is AIDING AND ABETTING our enemies.
Joe Solmonese ....from the same people who brought you 45 states with laws banning ANY kind of gay relationship....from the same people who pay him $300,000+ a year to rule over this gay progress disaster....from the same people who piss away some $6 MILLION a year just to open the doors of their castle with its own flag.....is the one having visions, smoking something, if he genuinely believes the administration has a plan. More likely his visions are identical to those of Gay Repugs, of continuing to get invited to the party, literally, if he doesn't criticize the Party's leader.
Obama Inc. HAD a plan, at least to overturn DADT, as outlined by Hisself in November of 2007 [emphasis mine]:
“America is ready to get rid of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. ALL THAT IS REQUIRED IS LEADERSHIP. As President, I will WORK WITH CONGRESS and PLACE THE WEIGHT OF MY ADMINISTRATION BEHIND enactment of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which will make nondiscrimination THE OFFICIAL POLICY of the U.S. military. I WILL TASK THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AND THE SENIOR COMMAND STRUCTURE IN EVERY BRANCH OF THE ARMED FORCES with developing an ACTION PLAN for the implementation of a full repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. And I WILL DIRECT MY SECRETARIES OF DEFENSE AND HOMELAND SECURITY TO DEVELOP procedures for taking re-accession requests from those qualified service members who were separated from the armed forces under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and still want to serve their country. The eradication of this policy will require more than just eliminating one statute. It will require the IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICIES AND PROTOCOLS for dealing with abusive or discriminatory behavior as we transition our armed forces away from a policy of discrimination. The military must be our active partners in developing those policies and protocols. That work should have started long ago. IT WILL START WHEN I TAKE OFFICE."
Sounds exactly what's needed. Can we vote for that guy?
Wait. We already did.
Posted by: Leland Frances | May 7, 2009 10:52:46 AM
LeeAdama, best post on this thread, thanks for showing common sense.
Posted by: mark | May 7, 2009 11:02:52 AM
Just.....be patient, people. Kick my virtual ass for saying it, but just be a little more patient.
Our total and flawless legal equality from sea to shining sea is our goal, it is our right, it is deserved, and it is late, but none of that means that we should expect all these damn heteros to be immediately enlightened on our case. Lest we forget, wrong as it may be, marriage HAS been between one man and one woman, at least in the United States, since our founding.
So if we need to give our otherwise stalwart allies some time to take a deep breath and get their heads straight, we shouldn't mind.
Before 2009 is over, Obama will give a prime-time speech in which he declares that he has been "swayed by his moral obligation to seek justice", or some shit, and he's changed his mind and now supports total marriage equality. And like 40 states will legalize it, and 5 will have civil unions, and 5 will stay in the stone age, and that's the way it'll be.
We're winning. And Obama's on our side. Fear not.
Posted by: JeffRob | May 7, 2009 11:11:49 AM
This president has been in office for less than four months.
Posted by: Mike | May 7, 2009 11:24:31 AM
Write to the President on the White House website. Voice your concerns and disappointment. Speak of your outrage at the administration's silence. Describe what it is and has been like to be a gay person in America. Describe what your love for your partner feels like. Describe what it is like to have to make your own family, to want your love to be recognized - what it is like when you have to fight to be who you are and to fight for the right to feel love for another person. The straight community has no clue what it is like to have every hand-hold, every kiss, every walk down the street, every time you talk in public with your friends and loved ones, be a political act as well as a personal one.
The administration may be biding their time, playing it cool, waiting for "the right moment," but we have to demand that the right moment is now. It has been the right moment for a long time, arguably forever: this country needs to live up to the self-evidence of its foundational promise that all women and men are created equal. Do not lose hope, your fire, or your love.
Posted by: Andalusian Dog | May 7, 2009 11:39:46 AM
Let as many states pass gay marriage as we can while Obama handles the larger issues like the economy etc. He doesn't need to take this one right now, especially since the tide is turning on it's own.
Once the world sees the sky won't fall, he can use that momentum at the precise time to step in. This has nothing to do with the Repubs. For once, they are not the threat.
I'm surprise some of the people on this site cannot see that.
Clearly, for most, politics is something to be discussed only in the abstract.
Posted by: Marlon | May 7, 2009 12:01:08 PM
Obama's only plan for us consists of buying new tires for the bus. The old ones have seen lots and lots of use.
This isn’t so odd given the history of Obama and the Democrats on LGBT equality. But it is odd in a period when there’s a sea change in terms of public support for GLBT rights.
Obama turned his back on same sex marriage and LGBT equality and became our enemy in 2000 and hasn’t looked back. Most Democrats and all Republicans have done the same, depending on the state of our movement and public opinion. Obama did it because he's a gutless wonder, an unprincipled panderer who, like all presidents before him since Lincoln, is a hustler in it for the money.
And partly because he's fighting yesterdays battles. His whole approach to LGBT rights is subordinate to his determination to out-Rove Rove, of getting elected by bigots no matter who gets run over by the bus.
On the economy he's adopted Bush’s basic approach: welfare for the rich and austerity for working people with the occasional fig leaf to fool the gullible. The same is true of the war.
Whether the Democrats like it or not the piper will be paid. Obama is ignoring historic changes in the situation and fighting the battles of 2000 and 2004. It's all he can do because the Democrats have no understanding of history. They don't understand what happened in 1776 or 1860. They don't look forward to change, they oppose it.
That explains why they and the Republicans are essentially right centrist reactionaries, but not why people who claim to want what's best for the GLBT communities support them.
GLBT apologists for the Democrats are Republicans in drag.
Posted by: Bill Perdue | May 7, 2009 12:10:23 PM
Obama's plan is to do nothing. He'll wait on each of the states to take action. He doesn't want to jeopardize his chances in 2012. It's not OK to piss off religious leaders or the African American community, but it's OK to say, "Fuck You" to the gay community.
Posted by: AS13 | May 7, 2009 12:13:37 PM
God save us from the retarded children with an Internet connection!
Five states out of fifty...FIVE states out of FIFTY ....five down FORTY-FIVE TO GO is NOT a tide turning. It's a splash in a bathtub surrounded by the ocean.
We mustn't stop pushing the others, but a state-by-state strategy could take 25-50 years AND even if ALL of them passed marriage equality TOMORROW that would still not give couples access to the ONE THOUSAND FORTY NINE FEDERAL benefits of marriage.
Obama promised to work to repeal federal DOMA...not wait until the country changed. For THAT we need a President not a notary-public.
The First Dog gets more attention than we do.
Posted by: Leland Frances | May 7, 2009 12:16:30 PM
FOUR MONTHS...
The Man has been in office FOUR MONTHS. Were you expecting him to walk into the Oval Office in January and simply declare all of these laws changed? Get some priorities people. The WH is focused on other things, let them do that.
It is striking though that in the short time that he's been in office, these laws have changed rather quickly without much strong opposition. Either the GOP is even worse off locally than they are nationally or someone in DC is giving the go ahead to local democratic legislatures. I know that in Illinois, marrieg and civil union died in committee twice. No suddenly its comming up for a vote? Someone is promising these people cover.
As someone said earlier, you can be sure that someone in those state houses has been in contact with both the DNC and the WH. They would not have moved this quickly without talking to the Democratic Party. Politicians are just not that bold or fast.
Posted by: Lee Adama | May 7, 2009 12:57:17 PM
Given that these states all passed such legislation all within several months of one another is a strong indication that it will not take YEARS AND YEARS for many other states to come around....and yes, given that it occurred in such a short time frame does constitute a "turning tide" even by the most bitter and lonely queens definition.
Momentum is just that....a push in one direction that is picking up steam. If only, say, 5 more states pick up gay marriage in the next FIVE YEARS, that's already a fifth of the nation. Even more important will be WHICH STATES do it.
This all happened in five months. I know for the rapidly aging on this thread five months is a lifetime. But for the rest of us, it is fantastic progress in an extraordinary short time.
Posted by: Marlon | May 7, 2009 1:09:35 PM