doktor2be.blogspot.com.via GayAgenda
I’ll admit I was offended/saddened by the segment on gay marriage in the VP debate. But I think this is a good time to share a message that I received from the Obama campaign when I asked them to share Obama’s views on GLBT issues.
“Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting Senator Barack Obama and Obama for America with your thoughts on LGBT rights. We appreciate hearing from you.
Senator Obama supports economic, social, and legal rights for gays and lesbians. He supports full civil unions, expanding hate crimes statutes, fighting discrimination at work and in housing and other places of public accommodation, and wants to increase adoption rights. He opposes any Constitutional ban on gay marriage, opposes the Defense of Marriage Act, and opposes the current “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military, which weakens us in a time of global challenges.
Barack is a global leader in the fight against AIDS. He traveled to Kenya and took a public HIV test to encourage testing and reduce the stigma of the disease. In late 2006, Barack Obama worked to reauthorize the Ryan White CARE Act, one of the largest sources of federal funds for primary health care and support services for patients with HIV/AIDS.
Senator Obama has consistently supported LGBT rights, and will continue to work for an open, tolerant society where people of all sexual orientations are protected and their contributions are valued. Thank you again for writing.
Sincerely,
Obama for America
5 Comments
I would like to comment to those who feel the need to criticize the Obama campaign for not openly endorsing gay marriage. I realize there will be criticism from a select few in the GLBT community who are upset that Biden said he is not “for” gay marriage. What do you really expect? If you look back, this “issue” is not near as prominent at is was in the last election, and that my friends, is called progress.
For any candidate to openly endorse gay marriage would be political suicide at this point. We do not need a martyr, we need change. The fact is, McCain and Palin want to take away any rights we may have. Obama and Biden will strengthen our community. If you believe for one second the republicans will stand up for our community, you are sadly mistaken. We need to keep in mind that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and unfortunately, as race and sexism is playing a large roll in this election, we need to support the candidate who will move us forward, and not backwards. That candidate is Barack Obama. Don’t let your idealistic views of an American gay utopia cloud your vision. Bottom line, for the GLBT community, McCain bad, Obama good!
I would also like to say our rights are OUR responsibility. We can’t just sit back and expect they will be handed to us on a silver platter. For those of you who want to complain, what have you done to help our cause? How many letters have you written to your state legislators? How many pride events have you attended? How many elections have you voted in? How much time and effort have you spent trying to help our community gain equal rights? Do you get what I’m saying? Again, our rights, our responsibility. If we can’t gain acceptance through our own efforts at the state and local levels, then why should we place unfair expectations upon one or two people? The time is now! Get off your butts and work for what you want.
I would rather Obama be truthful and not promise something he can’t deliver on. I remember seeing Bill Clinton on MTV, promising the world, then after he was elected the reality of don’t ask don’t tell.
I cannot forget the McClukin incident and the not so veiled distortions perpetrated by the Obama campaign for the sake of winning the primary in South Carolina. Anyone who thinks that they can trust a politician, any politician, ever, is naive. They will move towards what is in their best interests always and the Obama campaign has shown that Gays are dispensible. When its convenient, they will offer mild platitudes wrapped in half truths to gets votes. When its not, be prepared to get tossed overboard with the luggage. Trust no politician. They will disappoint you or worse. So be fully prepared for disappointments and lip service because Obama doesn’t really give a rat’s ass about gay people.
I agree with James, also what I’ve noticed is since I’ve been paying attention to politics and debates Obama has been the ONLY candidate that I have ever seen that talks about gay issues in non-gay saturated places.
What I mean is, it’s easy to talk about gay issues in front of a gay audience, but he seems to talk about them in front of any audience, even mostly straight audiences. Remember the church he spoke at, where he told them they need to support their gay brothers and sisters?
And he even mentioned gays in his Presidential acceptance speech…..
I think he’ll do good things for us and I definitely think he’s better then McCain and Palin (they’d probably want to hang us???)
Carey
I was a teenager in the sixties and early seventies, and I’ve lived to see, with respect to civil rights, the most extraordinary advances.
Obama himself, as a man of mixed race, has benefited from those changes. America will be the better too, if it chooses him as the next President. I don’t expect miracles, but I know that America faces a pretty stark choice at this election.
An outsider in his own party, Obama’s Republican opponent Senator McCain has had to choose a most unsuitable running mate in order to galvanize his own supporters, who are determined to turn America into a homophobic theocracy, a caricature of the America of the fifties. That’s what we’ll get if we don’t support Obama.
And yet I don’t think we should simply urge people to vote against McCain. Like Clinton, Obama is no radical, but he has a consistent record of supporting homosexual emancipation. He is permissive rather than supportive of gay marriage, but supports strong civil unions, says homosexuality is no more immoral than heterosexuality, supports inclusion of sexuality in non-discrimination laws, and is rated 89% by HRC (like Senator Clinton he demurred on the UAFA, citing unspecified concerns about immigration fraud).
So there’s a lot to recommend Obama as a candidate. There may well never be a 100% queer-friendly candidate, but Obama is good enough.
And he also looks like being a pretty good President too! If he is lucky to have a strong Democrat congress in the first term, all the better!