Obama claims he’s still evolving on his gay marriageposition. However yesterday he made it clear in his
press conference & the White House LGBT reception
that marriage equality is not on his agenda. As a
resident of Massachusetts where gay marriage has
been legal for over 7 years I have to say that my
patience is wearing thin. With New York passing
gay marriage last week at least it'll be safer traveling
to NYC but the reality is that I’m still a second class
citizen in this country & denied 1,138 federal rights
of marriage.
During his 8 minute speech Obama did say he expects
to certify “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal “in a matter of
weeks, not months.” Once DADT is certified it will take
60 days before it goes into effect before it’ll be safe for
our gay lesbian military to come out as themselves.
Hopefully this will happen as he stated. The real slap
in the face came when Obama said, “So bottom line is,
I’ve met my commitments to the LGBT community.
I have delivered on what I promised. Now, that doesn’t
mean our work is done. There are going to be times
where you’re still frustrated with me. I know there are
going to be times where you’re still frustrated at the
pace of change. I understand that. I know I can count
on you to let me know. This is not a shy group.”
When our LGBT community has the same rights &
protections as heterosexual families Obama can say he
has delivered what he promised, not a moment before.
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We've seen some progress on our LGBT issues under the Obama administration but the pace of progress didn't pick up until activists from GetEQUAL started chaining themselves to fences, getting arrested at hearings, and interrupting business-as-usual speeches from our allies. Once GetEQUAL started inspiring us to act like a civil rights movement again—to take action like a civil rights movement—we started making real gains.
ReplyDeleteI'm asking you to donate to GetEQUAL right now, so that they can keep up the pressure on people who can really make a difference in the lives of LGBT folks -- including the youth Terry and I created the "It Gets Better Project" to reach. Achieving our full civil equality is one of the ways we can make it better for them and supporting GetEQUAL brings that day closer.