Comments on: Emma Ruby-Sachs: Why we should be critical of Obama

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:20:33 +0000

Of Course Nikki, McCain is protecting marriage from gay people. Obama has to get elected first before he will be free to do anything. We have to trust Obama’s voting history. We can certainly depend on McCain’s record as well.
Isn’t it great living in America where other peoples belief systems affect my civil rights . I’m 57 and feel abandoned by my country. It is frustrating that politicians and uneducated clergy can teach hate in the name of “Christianity” and other religions or morality. We must vote with the supreme court in mind and vote in favor of intelligence. We must at least vote for the pair that can pronounce nuclear. I refuse to vote another “nuke-u-lar” politician. We see how far that has gotten us! got us.

By: Laura & Crystal

Laura & Crystal — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:45:12 +0000

We have a conundrum for politicians. Crystal and I are legally married in Texas, but Crystal is transgendered (m2f) and as we beging the transition… I wonder at what point the state will seek to revoke our marrage license? She is looking more female and sometimes strangers call her ma’am. Will legal name change, or gender change on the birth certificate cause them to question our marriage status? What about hormone treatments? Will they wait till she can live full time as a woman?(like when two women show up at a tax office to file as “married filing jointly”) Or will they wait to see if we can ever afford the operation? How do they define “man” and “woman”? Is it defined by the body we live in?…The primary or secondary sexual organs?
Unfortunatlly our culture seems to think at least subconsciously that the marrage license makes having sex legal, which is a joke among consenting adults. More important to “marrage” is the comittment to care for each other “for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health etc” what ever changes may come. When people want to make that kind of commitment our laws should support and protect them.

By: nikki

nikki — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:59:39 +0000

I agree with Ruby-Sachs. I am an avid “Obama Mama” and I have devoted several hours canvassing neighborhoods for him, however, he needs to stand up and legalize gay marriage. He implied at the democratic nat’l convention that he would, but I want to hear him say it(or better yet, DO IT!). That being said he is by far the better candidate when it comes to GLBT rights. If you don’t believe me, check out McCain’s official web site. He calls himself “protecting marriage”. Riiiight. I’m sure my grandparents’ 60 year marriage is at stake if a man marries another man or a woman marries another women.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:54:09 +0000

Who are you and why should we care?

This site used to be a great source of gay and lesbian news. Now is it just a glorified blog with little objective reporting. My advice, go to Philadelphia Gay News (http://www.epgn.com).

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:44:57 +0000

Y’know they are for equal rights for the queer community. It’s called Civil Unions. The only difference between Marriage and Civil Unions under an Obama/Biden Admin. are simple symantics–and as far as I’m concerned that’s fine by me. Getting worked up over calling it Marriage is a bit time wasting consider the plethora of other issues that concerns this wonderful country of ours at the moment. I have no doubt that in time that same-sex Marriages will be a moot point especially among the younger generations coming up today. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong but Interracial Marriage was at one time against the law, and it’s only been legalized for the last 60 years.
As a man of color, Civil Injustice isn’t lost on me, I really just look at this as one more stepping stone ultimately towards the greater good.

By: John S

John S — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:20:11 +0000

Gerry Fisher,
Your point is right on, and has been my thunder for a long time.

There are so many LGBT persons out there that just don’t get the point.

One has to get their foot in the door before you can sell the pots and pans.

I thought most gay people were smarter than that.

Barny Frank some time ago was chairing a commity that was trying to get Federal Protections for gays some time ago in housing and jobs etc. but because the language did not trans gendered and cross dressers there was a group of gays that screemed from the mountain tops, saying it’s all or nothing.

Barney Frank tried to explain that if cross dressers were included at this time in history, he would have a very hard time convincing the more open minded other congresmen to vote for it. Can you amigine these congress men going back to their districs next election cycle and, hearing their right wing contenders for their jobs screaming from the hill tops saying there you go folks, now you have to hire and rent to every and any FLAIMING DRAG QUEEN IN YOUR PROPERTY AND IN YOUR BUSINESS.

Because the LGBT community could not understand that, and the effort went down in flames.

The LGBT community has to understand that a half of a loaf of bread at a time is still better than no loaf at all.

The rights and public acceptence we have fought for, and are just now realizing came to us a SLICE at a time. (Please pass the butter)

By: David

David — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:08:26 +0000

Barack and Michelle Obama belong to the United Church of Christ which has supported same-sex marriage for years. I am certain that, personally, so do they. Nonetheless, no one could be elected to the Presidency after announcing that point of view. Given that reality, I would certainly rather accept Barack’s compromise policy than find us dependent on McCain and the Embarracuda. That would be disastrous! It’s that simple.

By: Gerry Fisher

Gerry Fisher — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:49:08 +0000

Yeah, what Jenna said! I agree.

By: Jenna

Jenna — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:18:55 +0000

While I agree with a lot of the commenters that it’s not necessarily practical or strategic to trash Obama over marriage when he’s our best shot, I disagree with a lot of them on two points.

First, the Obama/Biden ticket is the most agressively pro-equality ticket in our nation’s history. There is no comparison to McCain/Palin, regardless of the fact that neither ticket supports marriage equality. Check out Stonewall Democrat’s comparison of the tickets on issues of equality here:
http://www.stonewalldemocrats.org/node/129

Second, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the progressive netroots to lean on the Obama ticket. Holding our leaders accountable is kind of the whole point of the progressive blogosphere. As long as we keep our primary goal in mind– electing the most pro-equality ticket possible– there’s no reason not to pressure that ticket to be more supportive of our community.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:18:10 +0000

Congrats, E.R.S.! You’ve got a winner of a new column. I love to see columnists who can garner such an array of responses.
I’m glad you’re here!