Subscribe to Breaking NewsLowenstein: Time for Obama to speak up for the LGBT community
Anyone who reads my blog posts with any regularity will know that I’m not an Obama apologist. I believe in moral absolutes, and every day that our leaders allow to pass without taking action to help bring equal rights to LGBT Americans is another day that they’ve been complicit in continued injustice.
Politics are not an excuse for bad policy, and putting off action now for the sake of political realities down the road is inexcusable.
All that is to say that I was very happy to read Richard Socarides’ thoughtful op-ed “A Chance for Barack Obama to Take Bold Action on Behalf of Gay Americans” in the Washington Post this weekend.
Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton on LGBT issues during his second term, began by noting that “[i]n December, while trying to quiet the furor over his invitation of Rick Warren to take part in his inauguration, Barack Obama reminded us that he had been a “consistent” and “fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans.” But at the end of its first 100 days, his administration has been neither.”
Some may claim that Socarides and other LGBT activists just need to wait our turn. Sure, President Obama has done little for the LGBT community during his first 100 days in office, but that’s because he’s faced two wars and a financial crisis. He has a lot on his plate, and gay rights can’t be a priority.
Except, as Socarides and others have started to point out, President Obama has made time for lots of important social issues. He’s taken controversial action for the women’s movement by pushing the Lilly Ledbetter Act, emphasized his commitment to stem cell research, and even taken on the travel and trade embargo with Cuba.
President Obama is clearly willing to use some of his seemingly endless political capital in these early days on controversial issues– so why not LGBT rights?
It’s important to note that this is a pivotal moment in President Obama’s administration. A year from now, everything will be about the midterm elections. Two years from now, both parties will already be gearing up for 2012. This window is important– and shrinking everyday– and needs to be taken advantage of.
Socarides points out a few ways that Obama can demonstrate real commitment to the LGBT community as we move forward.
First, he can start talking about the community again. Since the campaign ended, Obama has done so only when defending his selection of Rick Warren as an inauguration speaker and then again (kind of) last week when he urged the House of Representatives to pass hate crimes legislation while managing not to mention the very group of people the legislation was designed to protect.
He can also take stronger and more proactive action to push hate crimes legislation and non-discrimination legislation. He could bring high-profile gay and lesbian leaders into his White House, and stop appointing faith leaders who believe in reparative therapy. He could do a million things.
But the most important thing President Obama can do is live up to his self-identification as a “fierce and loyal advocate” for the LGBT community and start advocating… well, anything. Momentum is building for the movement for equality, and we need all hands on deck. We need a President who explain to the country why hate crimes legislation is important– not one who ducks the issue with vague and nonspecific platitudes. We need a President who applauds the progress made in unlikely states like Iowa– not one who refusew to acknowlege that any changes have been made.
We need a President who understands that observing continued injustice is as hateful as participating in it, and who will stand up and be a moral leader, willing to educate his constituents, rather than fear their judgments.
Barack Obama has been neither a fierce nor a loyal advocate for the LGBT community during his first 100 days in office. Let’s hope in his second hundred, he’ll start living up to his promises.
Obama won’t do dick for gays until he sees a political price for inaction. We are not a moral concern for him; if anything, he’s more prepared to pray for us with Rick Warren, that we might be saved from our “problem.” Yeah–and if I said that I “prayed” for him to be “saved” from dark skin, it would be an innately offensive comment. That’s how I feel about his inaction. He’s acting like an Uncle Tom, like maybe his real mother is still alive and named Condoleeza Rice. If I wanted an Oreo, I’d open a pack of cookies and pour a glass of milk instead of voting. Barack, please prove me wrong. I’m an American, I have rights because of my citizenship, not my age, not my gender, not my skin’s melanin content, not my income, not my ethnic origins, and–most of all–NOT MY RELIGION.
Fierce advocacy for the status quo is the hallmark of craven cowardice. The Democratic Party’s Personal Jesus went on record in 1996 as supporting full marriage rights, among other things, before the term “civil unions” was even made up by Vermont. Where’s that fierce advocacy been the last few years? Check your toilet; it might be in the pipes somewhere.
Dump this barely-closeted christian bigot. Put up a REAL Dem in 2012.
Obama talked AT the gay community during the Rick Warren selection. How long will it take the majority of our community to acknowledge this is a not a civil rights leader in the white house. This is not a hero or a leader. If he ever believed in gay rights, he is a coward.
It’s all about pressure. The fact is Obama can’t do anything unless we press him on it. We should not feel guilty for doing it. It’s part of the process.
Liberals need to get over feeling guilty for pressing Democrats on issues. It’s part of the game. Conservatives know this and that’s why they’re stubborn and pushy.
I AGREE…..THE PRESIDENT CAN SIGN AN EXECUTIVE ORDER/DIRECTIVE. HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE???????THE GAY COMMUNITY HAS GIVEN HIM ENOUGH TIME TO REPEAL DON’T ASK DON’T TELL…..WE NEED TO MOVE FORWARD.
I agree completely. It is time for action on Obama’s part. He failed to make any high level GLBT appointments in his administration. Obama repeatedly states that he can juggle more than one pressing issue at a time. Let’s see it. Justice delayed is justice denied.
~ The Not So Liberal Democrats Who Eat Their Own Step-Children ~
Many in Bill Clinton’s own party (as personified in the poison-toad form of former Sen. Sam Nunn — once nefarious head of the Armed Services Committee) joined with the Repugs and opposed Clinton on lifting the ban on gays in the military.
Yes, Bill Clinton could have shown some guts and vetoed both DADT and DOMA — even when Congress had the votes to override his veto — because at least he would have gone on record as standing up for what was the right thing to do.
And yet, no liberal Democrat who voted to lift the ban lost re-election. Oddly, most the Dems who lost re-election in the mid-term elections were those backstabbing Blue-dog Democrats (also known as conservative Dixie-crats…also known as Republicans in drag).
And what did the sore-loser Dixie-crats blame for their defeat? Well, of course, the issue of DADT. Boo-hoo!
The fact of the matter really was that they actually lost the very crucial support of their Liberal Base because they acted like Republicans and joined with the Republican goon squad. A fact that conservative Democrats still refuse to acknowledge, and who erroneously believe that Conservatives put them in office.
In a close election when you really needy our base, that kind of delusional thinking can lead to political suicide. Now, Obama seems to be heading down that path.
As Pres. Truman once said (paraphrasing here): If you are a Democrat running as a Republican don’t be surprised if you lose to a Republican. After all, why would any conservative vote for you when they can get the real thing.
Obama is a coward (even more so than Clinton) because he wont even give the appearance that he is fighting for our equality. He is nothing but a fraud with good speech-writers. Other than that he is an empty suit with no soul.
Obama is for Obama. He is more interested in his legacy as the first sort-of-Black president than by actually sticking his neck out to do the right thing. His lack of bravery will only guarantee him a place in history based on the irrelevant fact of his race — but certainly not for any great act of political courage on his part.
Just remember, for all their faults (and even in spite of their other positive accomplishments) Truman will be forever remembered for desegregating the military when the vast, vast majority of people in the US were against it; Johnson will be forever honored for his steadfast advocacy of the 1964 Civil Rights Act — even though it cost him and his party their previous political dominance of the South.
And Obama’s historical contribution for minority rights?
….well, after all he was the first mixed-race President. Other than that — not so much.
That, of course, is contingent upon him following his current trend of apathy regarding the institutionalized bigotry imposed upon the GLBT community or actually standing up for “Change You Can Believe In“. You remember, that now hollow-sounding mantra of his increasingly hypocritical presidential campaign promises.
If nothing changes, then Obama’s civil rights legacy — concerning the only American citizens (the GLBT community) who are still fighting against legal, government sanctioned, discrimination — will be a big unforgivable failure on his part. That is what future generations will remember regarding Obama’s callousness, his inaction, and his lack of leadership in the social justice arena. That will be far more relevant to history that the insignificant issue of Obama’s mixed race heritage.
Sadly, I’d be very surprised to see this political opportunist change his spots. His primary self-serving interests seem to be restricted to a “not rock the boat“ political philosophy, and also confined to just creating a high profile for African Americans who no longer suffer legal, government mandated, discrimination. He doesn’t represent all the people — he is just for those who are most useful to him or for those who are most like him.
What a disappointment. What a shame. What a tragedy for all fair-minded Americans.
© Bud Evans, 2009
My Blog: http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com
@ Will, is THAT your only meaningful contribution to this discussion forum? You are such a shallow, trivializing moron. Can’t you see the forest for the trees? Or are you too busy counting the pine needles to bother to look?
The sheer pettiness of some people is astonishing.
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“Will Said: May 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm: Proofread, my dear. Proofread. =] ”
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OK, Will, so go some place else and feel free to suck on a syntax until you puke alphabet soup! Just please leave the grown-ups alone.
Now…shoo, fly, shoo!
I left the Democratic Party the day after the November 2008 election, when a Democratic win equaled a win for Prop 8.
I continue to be saddened by the near-complete exclusion of LGBTs at Obama’s Table. While I’m glad McCain didn’t win, I’m still unimpressed with Obama’s lack of leadership.
I’m with many liberals willing to excuse Obama from hurrying on this. You know what? Barney Frank should be receiving the bulk of the heat. He keeps reiterating the prep work for repealing the ban still needs to be done. I wish I could just understand the inside reasons why a repeal on DADT isn’t moving faster.
Proofread, my dear. Proofread. =]
Very well put. Although unless someone actually tells me that he sees these stories, articles etc, my money is on the fact that he has put our issues so far on the backburner that we aren’t visible to him at all.
He IS the one that said he can handle more than one thing at a time is he not? Well then, it is not excuse for him to have not addressed our issues. For every day that he does not make a positive change for us, it is one less day in the life of someone in need of that change.
Well said Jenna !
In spite of Barack Obama’s claims that he has always been a “fierce and consistent advocate of GLBT issues,” that has never been the case. His wife, Michelle, is the real advocate between them. During the campaign and after its completion, I was rather taken aback by both the aforementioned claim of advocacy and the GLBT community’s support of it. I was less surprised at his lack of advocacy than I was at the hate-crimes legislation that made it through the House. Yes, I agree that we need a president who will acknowledge us and treat us as equals, but to claim that Barack Obama was our guy from the beginning is to demonstrate that one has buried their head in the sand. Sadly, I believe that a large portion of the GLBT community has always had their heads in the sand regarding President Obama. At this juncture, we need to hold him to his claim that he has “always” been a “fierce and consistent” advocate for our causes. Or at least call him out on his lie.
President Obama has a lot on his plate, for sure, but continuing to sweep GLBT issues under the carpet is not squaring well with me and I am beginning to be concerned. After all, I’m certainly not made of money, but I contributed to his campaign with the ideal that he had GLBT issues at the forefront of his agenda. Now, I’m not so sure.