Obama '08?

January 02, 2008
Obama is best for gay rights

[...]

Except on gay marriage, Obama has hit all the right notes on the gay rights issues of the day, and he has refused to pander. He has chastised conservative black pastors and white evangelicals alike for opposing gay rights and aggressive HIV prevention. He even refused the demand from gay activists that he reject the support of Grammy-winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin because he claims to be "ex-gay."

Obama is the only candidate who talks regularly about gay rights, including civil unions, in front of national audiences, and he is the candidate best suited to reach out to independents and Republicans in the general election and in fulfilling the promises he has made as a candidate.

If you can vote in the Democratic primary where you live, there is no better candidate on gay rights than Barack Obama.

Read it as you will, nimh. As you may recall I also apologized for my tone and at this point I'm interested in what the real story is. But never mind, I give up with you. I'm tired of answering questions when they are simply the same ones over and over, not matter what I say. As I said, forget it. You're about the rudest person on this thread and that's saying something. No matter what I say, you come back with a snotty little jab. It's very hard to think and study with your yammering all the time. So just ignore me and I'll ignore you and we'll be fine.

You're about the rudest person on this thread and that's saying something. No matter what I say, you come back with a snotty little jab. It's very hard to think and study with your yammering all the time.

sozobe, "I have a bunch of other stuff on how Obama has garnered a great deal of support in the gay community and why, if anyone's interested." Yes I'm interested. Love to hear what people are saying.

While gay voters in places like New York and San Francisco may feel the luxury of looking past gay issues in the Democratic primary, those issues hit much closer to home in those states that lack any state or local anti-discrimination laws and where anti-gay bias is a more common occurrence.

I certainly don't feel that luxury. I know what life is like for gays who live in my native South, and I've seen firsthand how the issue can rip apart families and friendships. And laws like the Defense of Marriage Act have a direct impact on my life, since my partner and I cannot live together in the U.S. because of it. It makes a real difference to me that Barack Obama favors full repeal of DOMA and Hillary only half, and because she has consistently tried to defend the nefarious law signed by her husband in 1996.

Rosendahl said he was impressed with Obama's track record on issues of importance to the LGBT community. He specifically noted the following:

·Obama supports the repeal of the entire federal Defense of Marriage Act, and has done so ever since he was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 2004.

·Obama has taken stronger positions on dismantling "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and on fully inclusive workplace protections, than any candidate in the presidential race.

·Obama is a strong supporter of every major piece of LGBT legislation in Congress today.

·Obama supports fair tax treatment for gay and lesbian couples.

·Obama supports equal immigration rights for gay and lesbian couples.

·Obama supports domestic partner benefits for federal workers.

·Obama, while in the Illinois Senate, sponsored a fully inclusive anti-discrimination law that included both sexual orientation and gender identity.

·Obama sponsored the Microbicide Development Act to fund research critical to combating HIV/AIDS in the United States and around the world.

·Obama spoke out on World AIDS Day to an audience of evangelical leaders at Saddleback Church, publicly disagreeing with the leaders in attendance who opposed condom distribution.

·Obama, in Illinois, worked to enact a law that authorizes licensed pharmacists to provide clean needles in small, controlled numbers, a reform that is credited with achieving dramatic declines in the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users.

·Obama, in the U.S. Senate, supported efforts to lift the ban on federal funding for regulated needle exchange programs that are proven to work in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

·Obama has continued to raise the issue of LGBT civil rights in forums and town halls nationwide. During a high-profile speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at King's Ebenezer Baptist Church, he challenged his audience to support gay and lesbian rights with the same fervor they brought to their own struggle for civil rights.

"The more I have listened to Barack Obama," Rosendahl said, "the more convinced I have become that his commitment to our civil rights is deep and heartfelt. I am impressed that he continually raises the issue of gay civil rights, even in front of audiences hostile to our issues. I look forward to a Democratic administration that takes up our cause, instead of taking us for granted.

"I strongly urge my fellow LGBT voters in California and across the country to vote for Barack Obama for President."

Obama and The Gays

If you're a Democrat, it isn't really a contest. We all know the record of the Clintons on gay equality. In the words of Melissa Etheridge, they "threw us under the bus" when it was politically expedient for them (after they'd bled the gay community financially dry). Here are a few YouTubes of Obama's public, proud and often risky defenses of gay and lesbian equality - in front of non-gay audiences and not prompted by questions. The Ebenezer sermon, when he called on black congregants in MLK's church not to condemn or ostracize their "gay brothers and sisters" (after the 9 minute mark). The AU speech (around the 9 minute mark again). His stump speech, "Countdown To Change." Obama was the only Democratic candidate to mention gay and lesbian equality in his announcement address. In South Carolina, he spoke of the importance of gay outreach to religious voters.

I've had two core principles in my own work in defense of gay equality: supporting the simple equality of gays and straights under the law; opposing the toxins of identity politics and a balkanized gay identity. The way Obama transcends his own multiple identities, the way he both embraces his difference and yet seeks a common political discourse: this is the model that makes the most sense to me. Neither denying difference nor being defined by it is a path all minorities would be better off pursuing. And Obama's call for self-empowerment rather than self-defeating victimology is particularly apposite for gays and lesbians.

Lola wrote:

You're about the rudest person on this thread and that's saying something. No matter what I say, you come back with a snotty little jab. It's very hard to think and study with your yammering all the time.

Well, here we are again.

Once again it's me being, yes, anal in persistently asking questions that you find annoying -- because I am anal, it's my biggest flaw, and I know it can be bloody annoying. But it's all just arguments, arguments and facts and quotes. I never even thought of calling you any names.

And then there's you resorting to outright personal insults and colourful ridicule in response.

Again.

And that somehow proves that I am the rudest in the thread. F*ck that. You should take a look in the mirror sometime. Manipulative is what it is.

I don't want a president McCain.

Yeah, I'd love it if Obama would be in favor of gay marriage. It's one of the few things I outright disagree with. Not sure if it's politically viable, though, and at least he is for full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (Hillary only goes halfway). For this and other reasons, he's been getting a lot of endorsements from the gay community -- as in, maybe not the perfect candidate, but the best one available.

But I know what you mean.

Lola wrote:

I don't want a president McCain.

It won't be so bad Lola.

A moderate republican and a democratic congress.
A fiscal conservative and a social moderate.

McCain in 2008!

Yes, and this is exactly what I was talking about. It's not that Obama didn't have a right to run, it's that I think he made more trouble for all of us, himself included by running in this election. One minority candidate at a time would have been a challenge. There are many situations in life in which we have a right to do something we want to do, but sometimes if we assert that right and act on it, it creates more trouble than it's worth. I'm afraid we've already lost this general election and it's too bad because we were so set up to win it. I'm so disappointed.

I think Obama does have a right. I just think it wasn't wise to exercise it now.

As I have indicated before, I have strong suspicions that Obama's wisdom, leadership in adversity, and political abilities don't or won't match his considerable rhetorical skills.