Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Repeal DOMA first
The most important thing Barack Obama can do for the LGBT community is to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.
Sure, there are some gays and lesbians who want to serve openly in the military, and yes there are others who wish to adopt children. There are also many who suffer serious discrimination in the workplace and even more discrimination through hate motivated assaults on the streets.
But what this marriage fight has shown us is that legal distinctions that a) apply to all LGBT people and b) deny basic rights to LGBT people only serve to galvanize the movement. Without marriage, most adoption rights are impossible (states prefer to give babies to married people). Without marriage, property rights aren’t fully protected.
Why do I think that repealing DOMA is more important than hate crime legislation?
Because legislation like that requires enforcement. That means that police officers in the places where these hate crimes are more prevalent have to arrest the perpetrator, prosecutors have to choose to charge them with a hate crime rather than a simple assault and judges have to impose the stricter sentence.
In the kind of national climate where half the population of a liberal state like California doesn’t believe LGBT people should be able to file taxes together, it is difficult to trust all of those law enforcement officials to invest in protecting LGBT rights.
Hopefully we will not have to pick and choose. Obama will make good on all of his promises. Hopefully.
But, though the man inspires so many, he is still President-elect of a country with a failing economy and chances are that LGBT rights won’t be first and foremost on his agenda.
Seems that people still fail to see where the original window of opportunity for marriage was boarded up. Had gays come to rally around repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell much earlier, had it been repealed years ago, there would have been a FEDERAL LEVEL recognition of gay rights. The attitude has been that gays who serve in the military deserve what they get for being in a place where they’re not wanted. FEDERAL recognition is nothing to sneeze at. DOMA was a dirty sequel to DADT, but it only capped what essentially became a permission slip for the states to begin taking away gay rights. Repeal DADT FIRST and the rest will begin to fall into place.
I totally agree with Jeremy. If we are to get anywhere near the other things that we want, DADT, removed will teach America to honor the GLBT community’s soldiers that fight for their Human Rights, and die for their country and not the GLBT’s human rights. Maybe then we will be free.