Obama's Hot and Cold Moments on LGBT Rights

To paraphrase Katy Perry, President-Elect Obama’s got a bit of a “he’s hot and he’s cold” history with LGBT rights. Given that we’re now less than two weeks away from an Obama administration, let’s take a look back at the LGBT rights highs and lows when it comes to everything Barack Obama.

He's Hot...

5. The Advocate Interview. In April 2008, PE Obama sat down with The Advocate for what may have been the most expansive interview ever between the landmark LGBT publication and a Presidential candidate. Obama talked with Kerry Eleveld about his first encounter with someone who was gay (a Professor at Occidental College), why he felt that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) needed to be repealed, and how he thought that within his first term as President, he could envision overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and signing a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that included sexual orientation in its protections.

4. The Gay Prince Fairy Tale. It was a blip during the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, but the top three contenders for the nomination (Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards) all came out during a New Hampshire debate and said that they would be completely comfortable with their children being read “King & King” in elementary school. The book has been a lightning rod of controversy for anti-gay parents who don’t like its storyline depicting a prince who falls in love and marries another prince. During the debate, Obama mentioned that he and his wife had both already talked to the now First Daughters about same-sex marriage, and the rights of LGBT people.

3. Ebenezer Baptist Church, MLK Day 2008. It was in the midst of a bruising race for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton when Obama took to the pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. With several quick but forceful sentences, he challenged churches – especially African-American churches – to follow through with the commandment to love their LGBT sisters and brothers. To quote Obama himself, “If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community. We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.”

2. One reason why Oprah may have cried on Election night. Again, one sentence managed to catapult Obama into the hearts of LGBT people and straight allies around the world, especially given eight years of ballot initiatives championed by our outgoing Prez. On that night in Chicago, Obama simply included gays and lesbians in his victory speech, mentioning them as part of the fabric that makes up the greatness of the U.S. One supporters said that “the fact [Obama] mentioned gay people in his speech slightly took the edge off the vote in California.”

1. Nancy Sutley and Bradley J. Kiley. Though they are not Cabinet-level positions, Obama has already appointed two openly lesbian and gay officials to serve in high-ranking positions within his White House. The first was Nancy Sutley, a Deputy Mayor in Los Angeles, and an openly lesbian woman who will serve as the director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. This position advises the President and Vice President on national and international environmental policy matters and works to ensure that federal agencies operate efficiently and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The second came just this week, with the announcement that Bradley J. Kiley, an openly gay man will serve as the White House’s Director of the Office of Management and Administration. Essentially, it means that Kiley will run much of the day-to-day administrative operations of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – a high profile administrative post, indeed.

And He's Cold....

5. Wither the gay press. I know, we’re praising him for speaking to The Advocate above, but calling him out on his inattention to the gay press during the campaign – especially in contrast to Hillary Clinton, who spoke with numerous LGBT press outfits. Up until the April 2008 Advocate interview, in fact, Obama had only done one interview with the LGBT press – and it was to address the controversy surrounding our number four entry below. The Philadelphia Gay News called Obama out on his avoidance of the LGBT press, publishing a full interview with Hillary Clinton and a giant blank space under a photo of Obama where an interview with him would have gone had he agreed to speak with the influential paper.

4. Singing in South Carolina. In the build up to the South Carolina primary, Obama’s campaign launched a Gospel music tour to reach out to predominantly African-American churches. One of their headliners? Donnie McClurkin, a controversial singer who sang at the 2004 Republican National Convention and who once said that homosexuality could be cured through prayer. An “ex-gay” himself, McClurkin even told concert attendees that “God delivered him from homosexuality.” Yikes. Seems like Obama has a natural tendency to get a little too close to controversial religious figures.

3. Silence is (not) golden. With less than a week to go until Prop 8 was put in front of voters, Obama remained pointedly silent on the issue of marriage equality in California. That silence hurt, because LGBT leaders and supporters could have used his moral voice on this issue. The thought was also that Obama’s voice could have helped reach out to African-American voters, who ended up supporting Proposition 8 when the time came to vote. Was the issue of marriage equality in California above Obama’s pay grade during the campaign?

2. That sticky word ‘marriage’. Days before the Election, Obama appeared at an MTV forum where he felt the need to reassert yet again that he did not support gay marriage, though he’s against amending state constitutions to ban it. Many saw it as a moment of appeasement to conservative-leaning voters that were still undecided, but LGBT rights supporters saw it as a “throw them under the bus” moment, especially with voters in four states gearing up to vote on LGBT rights initiatives.

1. Pastor Rick. The fact that Rick Warren will be delivering the invocation at Obama’s Inauguration in two weeks is still one of the sorest spots of tension between the President-Elect and LGBT rights supporters. Warren campaigned actively for Prop 8, and has compared homosexuality to pedophilia and polygamy. There has been some effort to engage Pastor Rick in dialogue on LGBT issues – especially by Melissa Etheridge, of whom Warren is a fan (at least of her music, if not her sexual orientation). Still, his leadership role at the Inauguration sent a tone-deaf message to LGBT persons disappointed by the passage of Prop 8, and has been called insensitive by a host of organizations and allies. It would be one thing to have Warren stand alongside a minister or religious leader that supports marriage equality; but instead he’s got his own slot, in effect drawing national attention and prominence to a man that sought to tear down LGBT rights in 2008.