Lieutenant Dan Choi who has just been dismissed from the US Army for 'being openly gay', declares that he will try to protest his case during President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to Los Angeles, at a gay protest rally in Hollywood on May 26, 2009

My mother gave me Dreams From My Father after I started volunteering for the Obama campaign. I didn’t read it, I now regretfully admit, until a month ago. By then I had bought into the “hope,” had my heart broken by the Rick Warren choice and had decided the new President was going to need as much, if not more lobbying on gay rights issues than any Republican.

Well, yesterday, a number of people who have spent most of their lives working for full equality in this country heard the President give a pretty perfect speech in commemoration of the Stonewall riots. He might have sidestepped the actual issues, refused to back down from defending DOMA and refused to stop discharging out military personnel, but he stated, unequivocally, that he is committed to the repeal of all federal discrimination against LGBT Americans.

Anyone who has read Dreams From My Father knows that this is not a man who believes in discrimination and this is not a man who approves of second-class treatment for any class of U.S. citizens.

So, now that that is out of the way, can we stop worrying about Obama and his administration for a while?

If we look at the track record of this administration - the movement away from public health care, the passing of a flawed energy bill, the back and forth on Guantanamo – we have to wonder just how much influence it has over conservative democrats and republicans. If it can’t pass a comprehensive overhaul of health care, something people expressly voted for when electing Obama, then how is it going to repeal laws that a large proportion of Americans don’t care about or to which many don’t object?

The political cost of discrimination eventually becomes too great for the system to operate successfully. This happens when those within a community and their supporters become angry, begin boycotts and push legislators to move rights issues to the top of the agenda.

LGBT rights are not at the top of the agenda today. They are not going to get there if we just wait for a lull in the crisis facing this country. They are not going to get there if we place all our hope in the beliefs or opinions of the President.

Today, Lt. Dan Choi faces his review in military court. His livelihood and the livelihood of all those fired for being gay, beaten up for being gay, separated from their partners for being gay, depends on a shift in the conversation from Obama to the much broader lobbying efforts that target congress and the senate; a lobby that makes it just too damn expensive to keep endorsing bigotry in U.S. laws.

His words hit all the right notes. Repeated themes he stumped on. The repeal of DOMA, signing “an inclusive hate crimes bill into law”, and the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (although he did add that for him to sign anything on DADT, it would take an act of Congress). He rightfully placed the Stonewall riots as part of a larger struggle for justice, and noted the progress that has been achieved since that night 40 years ago. Took the duck ring tone in stride and even acknowledged the impatience with his work thus far. Read More: Withers: Obama talks, but…

I’ve been all fire and brimstone on the Obama administration lately– and, I think, my anger has been justifiable.

But my overarching disappoitnment with how the administration is handling most issues important to the LGBT community doesn’t mean I’m incapable of recognizing the small, positive steps they’re taking in the right direction. Last week’s ceremony offering official apology to Dr. Frank Kameny for his 1957 firing from the civil service was a nice symbolic step, for example. The administration’s decision to insist of counting same-sex marriages in the 2010 census was also a sign of progress.

And then at the end of last week, we got an action that was more than just symbolic.

The Obama administration has taken the first step toward lifting the ban on HIV positive foreign citizens from entering the United States. The administration’s Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on Friday indicating that the department of Health and Human Services should begin the work to reverse its regulation which disallows HIV positive foreigners from entering the US.

Congress passed the policy change last year, and though the bill was signed by President Bush, it has not been implemented at this point.

The implementation likely has wide-ranging effects on both travel and immigration policy. Under the current law, foreign citizens who are HIV positive canont travel to the United States and immigrants can be subject to HIV testing, and deportation if they’re found to be HIV positive. The exact changes to be made in curent regulation will be determined by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the bill passed by Congress grants broad authority to overturn the ban completely.

1. I understand the death of Michael Jackson is big news, but worthy enough to push Iran under the fold?

2. My neighbor is mad because the Mets were swept by  the Yankees. Hopefully marching in Pride as part of the Gotham Knights Rugby Club will diminish his pique.

3. This story shows why we need to keep groups like AVP well funded. A hate crime beating during Pride? Imagine if this guy didn’t have friends in the media?

4. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is 20 years old? Roll call baby!

5. This song is ridiculous.

6. This one sublime.

7. Poor Gov. David Paterson. He was hoping he could be the grand marshal of the  city’s Pride parade with a marriage bill signed and delivered. State senators had a   different agenda. Problem is no one knows what their agenda is.

8. When I was younger, I loved parades; especially the one held on July Fourth in Piermont, New York (lived there the first 10 years of my life). Despise them now.

9. Last thought about Piermont: the town’s public library back in the day was the type of place Alberto Manguel would go crazy over.

10. If there is no tape, sex scandals bore. But add VHS acting and they are worthy of water cooler talk.

Just came back from the NYC Pride parade. Went with a former colleague who likes to impart life lessons. Carlos thinks I need to be less cranky and more attuned to the vagaries of popular culture; he was appalled I had no idea  one of the stars from Ugly Betty drove by us (never caught the actor’s name). Read More: Withers: NYC Pride photos

This actually happened a few days ago but you know how Pride works in New York. June is all pride 24/7 . Some businesses and restaurants, hoping to get those pink dollars, have the rainbow flag waving from the start of June until July 4.  All of this  can be a little bit overbearing. A friend last night noted he was “prided out.” Read More: Withers: What is Pride weekend without a little protest?

It’s satisfying to lambast a staunch social conservative for an extramarital affair on another continent. Govenor Sanford voted to impeach Bill Clinton, has been a solid opponent of gay marriage and often invokes the “word of God” to support his conservative policies. I understand, those emails were hilarious and the press conference was pathetic and those of us without full rights in the United States certainly want Sanford’s career to stay in the dumps.

But, all this hubub over an affair? As my parents would say, it’s just inappropriate sex.

The real failure in this sad story is a political platform based on a personal moral code.

Laws are put in place, ideally, to protect the most vulnerable members of society from those stronger than them. It’s why we have criminal law, tax law, family law, securities law, etc. A good law maker identifies a weak party and works to protect them, thus representing their constituents.

When law makers choose, instead, to identify a moral agenda, one that ignores the actual reality of people living in their district, and attempts to impose certain value systems based on that moral agenda, they target minorities and establish legal restrictions that fail to relate to problems voters face.

So, instead of working to find homes for children without parents, politicians like Governor Sanford oppose gay adoptions. Instead of ensuring that each taxpayer is given a credit for their dependants, Governor Sanford opposes the tax rights associated with gay marriage.

And like anyone who loses touch with reality, Sanford fell victim to his own fictions. His moral code bears no relation to the diverse country in which he lives. It turns out, his moral code bears little relation to his own life.

Moral politics ignore reality, they serve to ostracize and isolate vulnerable members of society and they are inevitably impossible to follow. Their separation from the messy human condition means that even the people imposing the morally based laws are sinners and transgressors.

We have a lot in common with Governor Sanford. We too have had to grapple with what we are taught is right and what we feel is honest and true. He’s just learning the lesson a little later in life. Perhaps his tragedy will teach others the folly of moral political policies and encourage law making that addresses the diverse populations facing difficult and myriad problems in the U.S. today.

Colbert takes on Obama’s - er- policy on gays and lesbians. As he says, “He’s giving you things - just not your rights.”

And so he suggests a chant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Stonewall this weekend:

“We’re here, we’re queer, they’ll get to us eventually.”

Check out the segment below.

Anyone remember columnist Art Buchwald? He had a Thanksgiving column that has been published ever since November 1953. In it he tries to explain the American holiday to the French (trouble if you ask me). Today I’m going to pull a Buchwald and re-post a pride column that was written last year when we were Visiblevote. Drop by during the week-end because there will be a few more Pride articles. Lastly, RIP Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Read More: Withers: Gay Pride musings

I know how the game is supposed to play. Show some moral outrage. Be shocked and appalled that Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican who had no problem voting against gay adoption when he was a U.S. senator congressman and was unequivocal in his opposition to gay marriage, got caught in some marital scandal. If I were a teenager still in the afterglow of a “Catcher in the Rye” high (I loathe that book), then indignation at hypocrisy would be called for. However, I haven’t seen my teenage years since Brothers Johnson ruled the radio. Read More: Withers: Another sex scandal? So what?