A New Day Has Dawned
There is some question as to how much our new president will do for the gay community. While his spokesman has now definitively said that President Obama will end Don't Ask Don't Tell, for example, who knows how low a priority this is during a time of war and economic turmoil? He has said that he wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, but how much will that matter if he does not believe in marriage equality for LGBT Americans?
And yet, we no longer have a president who demonizes us for political gain. We no longer have a president who would rather exploit us to divide the country than treat us as equals and work towards bringing our nation together.
Twenty minutes into Obama's presidency, I went to the White House website. Change had already come to the online home of our chief executive - and, if we are to believe the headline on that page, "Change has come to America," as well. Clicking on the civil rights agenda, I saw paragraph after paragraph devoted to Obama's plan to honor the rights of gay Americans. The list is not complete, and he may not accomplish all that is on it, but it is there. It is there, and that itself is an accomplishment we can be proud of.
It has been eight years since our last progressive administration - an eternity in the gay rights movement. Though our lives carry on as they always have, and though there is much left to be done, a new day has dawned in the struggle for equality.
Let's get to work.
4 comments:
Now don’t take this the wrong way, but… yesterday George W. Bush was president, and there wasn’t trash everywhere.
Whether Obama believes in marriage eqaulity or not is beside the point. His dodge on the issue is that states define marriage, not the federal government. DOMA, if it were ever to go before the Supreme Court, would almost certainly be overturned for violating the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution. (At least I *hope* it would be, given the creeps currently on the bench.)
So without DOMA, a marriage performed in Massachusetts would have to be recognized in every other state. It's only DOMA that prevents that now.
It doesn't matter what Obama believes on equality -- it matters what he believes on states' rights and DOMA. He supports the former and opposes the latter. That's all we need for full and equal marriage rights nationwide.
Mike, I disagree with some of your points. You're right that DOMA makes it very easy for states to refuse to recognize one another's same sex marriages, but DOMA isn't the only barrier. It just makes it a whole lot easier, since nonrecognition is backed by a federal statute, and not just a state's own laws.
Also, supporting states' rights and opposing DOMA doesn't guarantee full and equal marriage rights nationwide. It guarantees a patchwork of states that perform and do no perform same sex marriage, and of states that recognize and do not recognize same sex marriages that were legally established elsewhere.
but it is there. It is there, and that itself is an accomplishment we can be proud of.
What is it exactly that"we" accomplished?
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