Arise, Mr. President! Stand up for America and its promise of equality and justice for all! Champion the downtrodden, among whose ranks your persecuted race languished just 40 years ago. Set our people — all the people — free, and live forever revered in the hearts of your countrymen!

Bill Clinton was very disappointing in that sense, but the circumstances were different. For whatever reason, the American people were damn near eager to see as much antigay legislation as could be put on the ballot or on a bill, and a great deal of it was passed during Clinton’s presidency. That also had to do with the peaking of the GOP’s right wing, and the vast amounts of money dumped on them by people like Richard Mellon Scaife. Also, the rise of Fox News, and the self-imposed gutting of legitimate journalistic standards by every major mainstream media outlet, furthered the goals of the right. Although the media outlets haven’t done much to redeem themselves, the American people are tired, and we’re specifically too wary and too ill-used to take any more big lies.

Obama is not white, at least not in the way that every other US president has been. He is racially mixed, and in American politics, the first nonwhite president will have to be smarter and get more done to achieve historical recognition for more than melanin. That is where Obama is failing in a miserable way. He can’t afford to be just a black president–he HAS to lead for ALL Americans. Right now, it’s very clear that gays are not in his focus. We aren’t worth the political capital. Then again, truly pitched battles have yet been seen in Congress? How about NONE, which wipes out the argument about Obama’s precious political capital. When Sen. Franken is finally seated as the second Senator from Minnesota, the Dems will be veto-proof, or one vote away. The GOP had more balls with a smaller majority. As the President is unwilling to stand up for us, so the Congressional Dems are following the example.

I took Jeff to task for suggesting that Obama is antigay in the mold of the GOP. Now I’ll put some meat on the bones of Jeff’s secondary argument. Obama’s path of not supporting us but not opposing us still amounts to what was once called salutary neglect. You didn’t tear down the historic house, but neither did you put on a new roof. The outcome is the same, except there’s something more honorable about being direct and forthright. The no-new-roof path just isn’t supportive, right? It’s also the same path as “well, I saw those guys beat that man, but I kept going because it wasn’t my fight,” or maybe “I heard those kids screaming, and I saw them through the window just lying there and not moving after their mother left, but I didn’t call the police because my phone’s battery was low.” Salutary neglect is close to passive-aggressive action. Salutary neglect is the path of knowing that even speaking up can help somebody else, but you choose not to speak up because you see that it could be inconvenient for you. It’s the path of the coward and the narcissist. It’s what you do when you know the right thing to do, but you actively choose not to do it. Barack Obama inaction shows a side of him which is kindly called morally questionable. I may vote Democrat, but–unlike some–I’m not about to stay quiet and enable questionable behavior just to maintain a Congressional majority.

Jeff, maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t this part of what you were saying? That Obama has made himself a man of questionable morals and integrity?

Nancy Pelosi has been very clear that she sees no rush to do anything about DADT and DOMA. Harry Reid is a Mormon and we would have to be insane to believe he’s going to push things for us unless pressured heavily.

Obama is not an idiot. Clinton made a bunch of big gestures early in his presidency and ran straight into a Congressional brick wall that ended up getting us things like DADT. Obama is not going to play the same game. Unless he has Congress pushing the bills to his desk he’s not going to take action. So we REALLY need to focus on getting Heckle & Jeckel…er…I mean Pelosi and Reid, to stop snowballing us.

We need to push our legislators.

Other Presidents embraced Civil Rights movements and pushed for equality for all Americans. The argument that Marriage is a matter better left up to the States is sooo weak. Mrs. Loving would disagree.

By Obama and Mr. Gibbs logic the laws banning Marriages between the races should have been left up to the States. WEAK!

Obama was for Gay Marriage before he was against it….eventually he will blow with the wind….that said….not much leadership in that behavior. WEAK!

I’m one of many on this site who refuse to vote GOP because–at least in my state (Ohio), the GOP has proven itself to be very actively antigay. I’ve also been vocal in my disappointment with Obama, and the fact that he can either be a leader or he can be a historical footnote. And yes, I have no problem saying that Obama’s refusal to work to repeal discriminatory Federal legislation only makes him look like an opportunist, and that he looks like yet another nonwhite public figure who thinks it’s OK to use his/her faith to justify institutional discrimination.

We’re not so far apart on Obama’s poor performance. As for the attempt to imply superiority of the GOP or the “conservative” movement, would you care to explain why it’s your faction which has fought to deny gay Americans our Constitutionally-guaranteed equality under the law? Where were Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bill Kristol to decry the groundless intrusion of the state into Americans’ lives? Oh–they were the ones pushing for DOMA, for DADT, for state bans on gays adopting children. You can deny and obfuscate and dance like Merce Cunningham on crack all you want, but it’s been your conservative pseudo-defenders of the Constitution who’ve done everything they can to deny us our equality. Obama and a Dem-controlled Congress aren’t coming up with any new antigay stuff, which in itself is better than what we’ve had for the last eight years.

Yeah, all you democrat apologists who feel like waiting until you are 90 to be treated as regular Americans can shut the uck up.

This is not the 80’s where you were dying so you spoke up. This is not the 90’s where you decided to make deals aka compromises.

This is not the early double otts where you learned that power comes with money and lavish lifestyles.

This is a new paradigm where the new generation does not put party before Constitution.

Gay marriage is spreading despite Michael Rogers and Michael Signorile’s outting campaign.

Seriously? Who in Maine was outted to get gay marriage?

This is now the time for Gen X’ers and the Millienials to restore the concept of liberty. Not fairness. Life is not fair. We all die.

Liberty is the new black. That’s a fashion adage Withers, so don’t get your panties in a bunch.

All the rights gay people have are already enshrined in the Constitution and its Amendments.

This is why liberals have sucked at getting the gay communities rights respected.

They are already there. All that needs to be done is restore respect for the Constitution and stop this libtard shredding of it for money. Yes, money.

Ah, you have just heard the first truly conservative comment regarding gay rights. Stop defining conservatism through the prism of your political party.

That is all.

It’s sad but true, except in the unlikely chance that a viable Democratic challenger somehow wins the nomination in 2012. If any of Obama’s big-ticket items fail, opening up a chance for a challenge, LGBTs should be looking closely at that opportunity to send a message that LGBT voters actually do expect results, not just talk.