Wednesday, June 17, 2009
One very small incremental step
There are three things I wanted President Obama to do regarding LGBT rights early in his adminstration:
LGBT & their allies are to the Democratic Party what Mormons are to the Repugs; a reliable independent demographic with fat wallets. They give generously to the Party at the national level, not limiting support specifically to outspoken pro-gay rights candidates.
President Obama is in big trouble with gay rights supporters. There were grumblings during the campaign, with good reason. But he did say this in his campaign:
We shall hear what the President says this afternoon, when he issues a presidential memorandum extending a handful of benefits temporarily to domestic partners employed by the federal guvmint - not including the two biggies, health & retirement. I can't imagine him signing the document without promising to do more, & soon.
The President has a lot on the table, & we know that health care reform is at the top of his domestic agenda, as it should be. But the time for playing both sides - the equal rights supporters on the good side who deliver votes & money, & the Rick Warren crowd who don't & never will - is over. Reading the liberal blogs, it's clear the number of Obama's LGBT apologists is rapidly falling. Pam Spaulding's House Blend is the go-to blog. Pam is a reasonable North Carolinian who doesn't expect miracles, & she is not pleased.
Later: I concluded today's little ceremonial signing wasn't for equal rights supporters; it was aimed at the Rick Warren evangelical types whose understanding (or silence) is for some reason so important to Obama; a reminder that although he's moving like a turtle, he's moving, & if it happens later rather than sooner, it's gonna happen, so get used to the idea if you can. Hillary Clinton was prominently mentioned, the full center of the Democratic Party, the triangulators & the gradualists. The Prez, for now, will risk the ire of progressives - who must keep the pressure on Obama & congress, even if it means not opening a wallet when the DNC collection plate is passed.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
1. Demonstrate full committment to extending federal benefits to domestic partnerships in all ways that are available to him, & making clear he will fight for whatever he cannot do.These are all incrementalist tactics not requiring Obama to support "gay marriage." To date, he has done none of them. Worse, Justice Dept. issued a report defending DOMA with the zeal one would expect from the previous adminstration.
2. Urge Congress to repeal DOMA (plus, we recently realized, instruct the Justice Dept. to do no more than what is minimally required to defend the constitutionality of the law).
3. Inform the Pentagon that he intended to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell & order a plan for the transition to be on his desk by a certain date. The Harry Truman approach to civil rights.
LGBT & their allies are to the Democratic Party what Mormons are to the Repugs; a reliable independent demographic with fat wallets. They give generously to the Party at the national level, not limiting support specifically to outspoken pro-gay rights candidates.
President Obama is in big trouble with gay rights supporters. There were grumblings during the campaign, with good reason. But he did say this in his campaign:
I'm running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all - a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.So there it is. Now the Democratic National Committee faces a big donor boycott of a high profile fund-raising event starring VP Biden, which happens only a few days before the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, the beginning of the Gay Pride movement.
...As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws.
...I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system
We shall hear what the President says this afternoon, when he issues a presidential memorandum extending a handful of benefits temporarily to domestic partners employed by the federal guvmint - not including the two biggies, health & retirement. I can't imagine him signing the document without promising to do more, & soon.
The President has a lot on the table, & we know that health care reform is at the top of his domestic agenda, as it should be. But the time for playing both sides - the equal rights supporters on the good side who deliver votes & money, & the Rick Warren crowd who don't & never will - is over. Reading the liberal blogs, it's clear the number of Obama's LGBT apologists is rapidly falling. Pam Spaulding's House Blend is the go-to blog. Pam is a reasonable North Carolinian who doesn't expect miracles, & she is not pleased.
Later: I concluded today's little ceremonial signing wasn't for equal rights supporters; it was aimed at the Rick Warren evangelical types whose understanding (or silence) is for some reason so important to Obama; a reminder that although he's moving like a turtle, he's moving, & if it happens later rather than sooner, it's gonna happen, so get used to the idea if you can. Hillary Clinton was prominently mentioned, the full center of the Democratic Party, the triangulators & the gradualists. The Prez, for now, will risk the ire of progressives - who must keep the pressure on Obama & congress, even if it means not opening a wallet when the DNC collection plate is passed.
