WTF, Obama?

by Michael Jones · 2009-05-08 12:56:00 UTC
Topics:

Obama

During his Presidential campaign, Barack Obama consistently referred to himself as a "fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans."

As it turns out, during his first 100 days in office, President Obama has been a fierce advocate for silence, at least when it comes to LGBT rights.  Since taking office in January, Obama has talked more about college basketball than he has about equal rights for all Americans.  Problem?

You bet.  And it's not just the blogosphere noticing it.  It's now the mainstream media.  Take a look at today's column from Eugene Robinson, taking Obama to task for keeping his distance on issues of LGBT rights.  And man, does Robinson lock and load.

It seems to me that equality means equality, and either you're for it or you're not. I believe gay marriage should be legal, and it's hard for me to imagine how any "fierce advocate of equality" could think otherwise.

Three more states have legalized same-sex marriage since Obama took office (Iowa, Vermont and Maine), yet Obama has not said one word about same-sex marriage.  Harkening back to the campaign, the last words from Obama on the issue were that he supported civil unions, but not same-sex marriage.  But as Robinson points out, there's not much substance behind Obama's argument for civil unions, and his silence on same-sex marriage.

Obama took the "civil unions" route during last year's campaign and has stuck with it. While I see the political calculation -- that was basically the position of all the major Democratic candidates -- I never understood the logic. If semantics are the only difference between a civil union and a marriage, why go to the trouble of drawing a distinction? If there are genuine differences that the law should recognize, what  are they?

That's a question that Obama should be required to answer.  Ten percent of the country now recognizes same-sex marriage.  How big does that percentage have to get before the White House issues a comment?  Because whether he likes it or not, Obama's silence on the marriage debate only bolsters anti-LGBT organizations like the National Organization for Marriage.

Speak up, Mr. President.  Because as Eugene Robinson says, silence is not leadership.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Michael Steele: Marking 100 Days of Anti-LGBT Wingnuttery
NEXT STORY:
On Aeroflot's Birthday, Russian Activists Condemn Company's Anti-Gay Record. And You Can Help.

COMMENTS (11)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.