Getting Obama to Say Yes to Marriage Equality in Maine

There was an explosion of news coverage yesterday with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) announcing that President Barack Obama will speak before the group this Saturday night, October 10, during the weekend of the National Equality March. Obama, the first President to speak before an LGBT rights organization since Bill Clinton did so in 1997, is I imagine both a catch and a concern for HRC. If Obama goes out and gives a speech that simply rehashes his June 2009 Stonewall anniversary rhetoric, most will likely see the comments as "more of the same." But if Obama gets up on stage and delivers a knockout speech, it could stand to improve the President's image in an LGBT population that has seen him as a little too patient on all of our issues.

So what will make a knockout speech? It could be promising a specific timeline for repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," or promising to fight homophobia around the globe, or even saying that the White House will extend full political capital to make sure hate crimes laws and an employment non-discrimination act are passed this session of Congress. But I'm just not sure that rhetoric like that is going to fly...especially when tens of thousands of people are in Washington, D.C. this weekend to protest inaction by the federal government on behalf of equal rights.

Instead, what would really be a knockout blow would be for Obama to say six simple words: "I support marriage equality in Maine."

Maine is facing a ballot initiative that if passed, will repeal the civil rights of gays and lesbians to get married in the state. The opposition is made up of the same cast of characters that brought us Prop 8 last year, and is well funded. Not to mention that anti-gay forces also have the Catholic Bishop of Maine, Richard Malone, arguing that all Catholics should discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The marriage equality side in Maine is well-organized and well-messaged. It needs more money. It also could use a surrogate like President Barack Obama who can deliver a line before a national audience that says, "Maine's legislature voted to enact marriage equality for gays and lesbians, arguing that if equal protection means anything in the state, it means that gays and lesbians ought to be entitled to the full benefits of marriage. I agree with that."

That would be a knockout speech. That would create the type of momentum that will spill over to the tens of thousands of activists who will march the streets of Washington on Sunday for equal rights. And that will be a sign of bold leadership from a President who has been criticized for moving at the pace of Cream of Wheat when it comes to LGBT rights.

(Photo courtesy of Rusty Darbonne's photostream on Flickr.)