Remember eons ago when Barack Obama said his “feelings are constantly evolving” on same-sex marriage? Well while he didn’t personally issue an update on the status of his quibbling with your right to the M-word, his new Press Secretary Jay Carney updated his Facebook status to “grappling.” Maybe one day soon he’ll be “struggling,” then “finalizing,” and then, “celebrating.”
word choice
Obama’s Gay Marriage Saga Update: President Now ‘Grappling’ With Your Radical Agenda
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PaulY
Political posturing at its finest. As far as I’m concerned, he still has a long way to go before he earns my vote again in 2012. This is based on his inability to prioritize the rights of millions of LGBT Americans ahead of his efforts to seek reelection.
Jeffree
@Pauly. Idealism is a great thing when you’re 17, but once you’re older, you’ll learn more about how the world and overnment actually works.
Until then, perhaps you should start a checklist so you can evaluate potential Presidential candidates and keep score. When you find a viable candidate who’s better than Obama, then let us know! Because I’m sure that you want your first vote to *really* count!
ewe
@Jeffree: Spare me. Since when is settling for second class citizenship defined as idealism? You are forever stuck in the best of the worst scenario. Once you are older, (i mean more mature) maybe you will learn not to give up. In the meantime welcome to the same insulting remarks you so passively gave PaulY.
reason
@Jeffree: Couldn’t have said that any better, it seems like some of these voters knew very little about Government and thought that they were electing a Mubarak type strong man. Obama has already been transformational, but for the people that know very little about political history it may not be clear to them.
ewe
@reason: Obviously you couldn’t have said it any better but i can. When we have a president that gets up and says being gay is a non issue is the day you get to judge others on their knowledge of political history. Is that clear enough for you?
kernelt
@Jeffree: I agree. Politic is more than just ideology, it is a game that one must play and bend to self advantage in order to achieve any goals. It require manipulation and smart strategies to be successful. And I got to said no matter how bad the Obama administration might be, It’s one of the most affective in bring equality to the GLBT Community. Just within his reign we had seen a lot of achievements even with more to accomplish one must admit it is a promising era.
Jeffree
@Ewe: Wait a sec; what did I say about second class citizenship? You know me better than that. My point was that Obama is moving in the right direction, when frankly I didnt think he ever would. It’s not enough, it’s not fast enough, but I don’t yet see any viable Repub or anothe Demo. candidate who will do a better job for LGBT issues. When/if that person emerges, I’ll vote for her/him.
Sceth
@ewe:
@Jeffree:
You’re making normative judgments.
The other commenters are making tactical observations.
Sceth
[Replace @Jeffree: in last post with @PaulY: ]
Jeffree
@Reason:, & @Kernelt:, I think we can agree that politics is the art of the possible, and that politicians often juggle multiple priorities. I didn’t forsee the DADT repeal being passed, and I didn’t hold high hopes that the current administration would make any movement on marriage equality. In both cases I was happilly surprised. It is all about strategy, as you said, and Obama is playing chess, not checkers, so to speak.
@Sceth. Valid point. Please say more.
celebrator
? Hate crimes bill
? Repeal of DADT
DOMA’s next
ENDA after that.
Progress is a process, not a one-time event. It takes time, and a leader who outfoxes the foxes.
Sites like Queerty, its fellow-thinkers, and many white liberals will never celebrate any accomplishment made by Barack Obama, no matter how much it benefits the gay agenda, because it doesn’t fit their narrative about who he is. Despite their claims of racial tolerance, for them he will always be an uppity BLACK MAN who will never measure up their “superior” standards.
justiceontherocks
@PaulY: The first priority of any first term president is their own reelection. That’s life.
Personally, I’m a lot more troubled by the administration’s inability to articulate an economic and foreign policy than I am by their efforts on gay rights, which, though uneven, history will judge favorably.
Tony
I’m so sick of this shit! Go vote Republican and get shit on. Every time we get some progress out of this president someone cries that it’s not enough! Look at Wisconsin people. Republicans want to expunge you from history! THEY DON’T LIKE YOU! GET IT!
Cam
The issue here is that, I really hope the people in the gay community who have sold their souls to a politicial party, whether they be the members of GOProud, or the people in the “Obama can do no wrong” group, aren’t allowed to rewrite history.
Remember, Obama and the Justice department said that they were defending these laws because they HAD to, there was no option not to defend them as president (And remember, in their defense of DOMA they compared gays to people committing incest in their defense of the law). People pointed out all over the blogsphere that every recent president and picked and chosen laws to not defend….Well, then donations dropped and the dems got hit hard in the last election and suddenly a few things happened.
DADT gets repealed in the Lame duck…remember, before the White house has said there would be NO repeal of DADT that year, when it was up for a vote Obama didn’t make one call. Suddenly in the Lame Duck, when the community made it obvious during the election we were not blindly loyal, Obama is calling Senators to push the vote.
They said before that the Justice dept. HAD to defend all laws, well suddenly now…no they don’t.
So I am EXTREAMLY happy about this situation and will most likely start donating again. But the community needs to take some credit for doing what EVERY OTHER minority group or interest group figured out long ago. Nobody will give you something without a little pressure. Do not fall for the people that say “Oh, Obama is like a chess player thinking 10 moves ahead”. No, what happened was politics. We showed them for the first time, that treating us poorly hurt them in money and votes, and now they refocused on our issues. I have no problem accepting that politicians will act like politicians, I have a problem with people trying to tell me that this was the plan all along.
Cam
Wow, are they screaning out posts with the Presidents name or something? I just had a post screened without one swear word, or even a word that could be remotely thought of an an insult.
Jeffree
Three years ago I’d have said ENDA was my personal number1 goal. With the employment situation the way it is for MANY people I know, plus me, my #1 priority is jobs. Several successful people I know have seen their salaries drop by half.
Of course ENDA is a top priority for LGBTs, but if I’m being selfish, there need to be *jobs* available before we can lose sleep over the whole discrimination issue.
Don’t worry, I’m still going to do whatever I can for marriage equality & ENDA, but I really need to hear more talk from both parties about boòsting the effing economy.
/rant over.
Cam
This is great news, The community finally figured out that politicians were not going to work for us until we let them know that we could apply pressure just like the other side could. Every other minority group figured this out long ago and I’m very glad that the gay community finally realized that getting things done demands that sometimes you don’t donate to your friends if they aren’t acting that way. Nice job all.
Todd
GET OVER IT GIRLS!
There has been so much progress but it just isn’t enough. The sad reality is many of you are Republicans (because you own real estate and you have some minority issues) and anything Obama says or does will NEVER be right or enough. I think Obama grapples with his concept of God, and I happy to hear a president actually grapple with a issue rather than have a cemented opinion. Yes, it is politics, but gay politics are not the only important issues in this country, as hard as that is to believe.
Cam
@Todd:
No, Todd, the issue is that we got ZERO movement until the community decided to finally pressure our “Friends”. It doesn’t hurt to admit that the dems need to be pressured to focus on our issues. They are politicians, it’s what they do. PEople need to stop pretending that donations dropping and people staying away from the polls had no effect. Now they have moved on our issues, I’m happy to start donating to them again.
Red Meat
@PaulY: Oh good for you, go vote for the Republican than, idiot.
PaulY
Wow. I didn’t expect so much vitriol and anger over expressing my personal opinion. Idealistic and naive as it may sound, I’m not as quick to accept the double-speak the Obama administration gives when it comes to issues regarding LGBT equality.
To imply that because I’ve thus far been unimpressed with the Obama administration’s slow progress when it comes to dealing with advancing Civil Liberties and protections to LGBT Americans somehow means I’m supportive of the Republican party is completely without basis.
What I would rather see come the 2012 Presidential election is a viable alternative to both the Democractic and Republican parties; perhaps, a Civil Liberties party. An ideal candidate would be someone who is more in touch with the struggles and inequities that still exist in today’s society for LGBT Americans, and seeks to advance the Constitution as it is clearly written and intended.
@RED MEAT Ahem. Way to engage in intelligent dialogue.
Aaron
Or for fucks sake. You people do know its not as easy as just saying “let’s have gay marriage!” and all of a sudden having full rights? Even if he tried, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t pass. The U.S. is a large country and we have many politicians with many different views, and believe it or not, just because they’re religious and republican DOES NOT mean they are evil and their views don’t matter (though often it does). We are a democracy, and for better or worse, all views matter unless it is an extremely volatile situation (as in something that is an immediate threat to the entire country; a nuke attack or some such awful thing. Even then…. did you know that the United States government built a gigantic bunker big enough for all the senators and washington officials and their families, as well as a room for the senate house, supreme court, etc, in case of a nuclear holocaust? Yeah. That’s how fucking devoted we are to democracy). You are all aware BRITAIN doesn’t have same-sex marriage, right? They’re much more socially progressive than us, for the most part, and even they don’t have it yet. And while I’m sure faith doesn’t matter to many of you, as it doesn’t really to me, it DOES matter to our president, and it’s obvious he was raised under such strict values that it is hard for him to do this. But he’ll come around (if republicans don’t come in office, that is). We should be proud that he’s the first president who’s actually fucking considering it.
Oh, and in case you didn’t notice, right now there is a revolution going on under a middle eastern dictatorship, and that’s KIND OF more important. And it will be for a while, so just shove your dick between your legs and shut the fuck up for a bit.
PaulY
And to those expressing concern that I have little understanding of how the political process works, keep in mind that this “evolution” in his views toward DOMA conveniently occured AFTER Democrats lost control of the House; meaning a tougher uphill battle if we’re ever to see meaningful progress in seeing it abolished.
Again, I will admit that he is without a doubt a much better alternative to any potential Republican/Tea Party Presidential candidate – there is simply no comparison. But at the same time, as it stands now, for me, personally, it’s simply a lesser of two evils scenario until he holds strong and true to the ideals that I believe he and I both share.
Spike
Well now who in the gay community, who abandoned this President because he didn’t accomplish every promise made within the first two years in office, is eating crow?!!?
Damn so called gay community, never in it for the long haul. If they don’t get it their way IMMEDIATELY, they turn on ya.
High fives to the gays who have stood by and supported Obama from the beginning! This is very very good news.
PaulY
@Aaron: “Oh, and in case you didn’t notice, right now there is a revolution going on under a middle eastern dictatorship, and that’s KIND OF more important. And it will be for a while, so just shove your dick between your legs and shut the fuck up for a bit.”
Wow. That type of argument sounds very familiar (ahem, Republican Party): “Lets table this discussion until a more “suitable” time. We have more important issues to deal with right now.” Try telling that to those families adversely affected by the continued existence of what is essentially government-sanctioned discrimination (too many examples to cite here, but I imagine you’re familiar).
While I will not argue that the current state of affairs in the Middle East are not critically important, I must also say that there will always be “more pressing issues” facing our nation until we, as LGBT Americans, band together and demand equal rights and protections to which we are entitled.