Sitting down for a 45-minute chat with progressive and gay bloggers, President Barack Obama insisted the gay community should not be disappointed with him, which is like telling a toddler who hates Brussels sprouts to simply stop hating them. It was the first time he interacted with members of the gay media since he was elected, so that’s news! But in taking questions, he refused to answer that one about whether he believed DADT is unconstitutional, which has quickly become Queerty‘s favorite game, SO DRINK. He did, however, hint that maybe he’ll come out for gay marriage.
“I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage,” Obama told his small audience. “But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine. And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about because I have a whole host of friends who are in gay partnerships. I have staff members who are in committed, monogamous relationships, who are raising children, who are wonderful parents. And I care about them deeply. And so while I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about. That’s probably the best you’ll do out of me today.”
Check in with him Thanksgiving 2012, when he’s secure in his second term.
Tofer David
Such an f’fn idiot he is. Amateur hour continues
Rob
A keyboardist is a musician, a keyboarder is a typist.
James SD
Did the Bloggers heckle him? That always effective.
fuzz
Wow, is he really going that gray, or is that just the light in that picture?
AdonisOfFire
He has all lies and promises, like all other politicians. Still waiting for that change…
Herbert Wassinger
Obama really sucks. Did he pleasure them?
badluckshadow13
@Rob: not necessarily, from what I’ve seen “keyboarder” can be a musician in a couple other countries.
So I suppose keyboardist can work here. ‘sides, given Queerty’s usually horiffic mishaps in editing… or lack there of, it’s a minor mistake.
ArtMan
Yo….? Did he say “Yo”? Come on Queerty.
TruAgape
He’s sofull of it. He seems to have no issues “traditionally speaking” when it comes to supporting women in KILLING THEIR BABIES, but yet he some how must wrestle with the idea of marriage equality for two COMMITTED LOVING individuals? You Obama are a joke!
ewe
He is a damn liar playing politics with our lives for his fucking vote. I would like to tell him now that we have had him as our first biracial president so rest assured Mr. President because one day i will support and evolve into accepting a full black president. I just don’t know when that day will ever be just like you. Vote confidently for my evolution dispite that though. Fuck off. I would rather know who hates me up front than your vicious games that effect real life issues you enjoy and take for granted. We fought AIDS death issues in the 80s and 90s which were far far far far far more difficult and severe than this legal technicality. He is a spineless piece of garbage who prefers to talk endlessly on about this for the next week until he shits on us again after November 2, 2010 only to bring it up again for his second term. He is not a strong person. This is a non issue and that is all he has to say. It is so simple.
klarth@twitter
*sigh* He put his own foot in it that time.
I can’t even try to defend him.
In fact, I should be spreading this interview around.
Bareback Hussein Osama
Come on! I am still your fiercest advocate, bitches!
TruAgape
Because Obama sees abortion as a more tangible reality for his own daughters than he does with marriage equality, he’s more apt to deal with what more readily affects him. Like he said during the campaign, he wouldn’t want his “daughter being PUISHED with a baby.” Nevermind the moral highgroound that clearly prohibits KILLING BABIES, he’ll support it nonetheless for the sake of his own pain. But when it comes to gay marriage, for which morality is in favor of, he gives a false sense of concern with “traditionality”. Now if one of his daughter’s was gay, would he be just as apt to not “PUNISH” them with the injustice of inequality? Like I said he’s a joke.
ewe
Lets remember this is out of the mouth of a hawaiian who moved to malibu and floated on top of hill called Pepperdine University while we were witnessing thousands and thousands of deaths before he became a community organizer speaker in chicago. Gay people owe this man nothing. NOTHING!!!
Sarah
“That’s probably the best you’ll do out of me today.”
My god, what an asshole.
ewe
What he really just said was that AFTER he is no longer president he will publicly support equal rights. A lotta good that is gonna do HIS CONSTITUENTS.
Fitz
It’s just so 100% predictable that he would start reaching out to LGBT people again, a few days before the election. But it’s just verbage to me. What is REEEALLLLY sad are all the abused spouses in the LGBT community who will come running to his defense after these words.
ewe
@Fitz: Clinton did the same thing. He even had people thinking and SAYING that he was the first black president. I do not support Obama because Obama does not support gay people TODAY. Hey, why don’t all of us try telling your employers or customers that you will talk about how you feel regarding what they need and/or request after you retire. See how long we have work. Oh wait. Obama can’t seem to address that issue either.
DR
how convenient. these comment and elections next week. *sigh*
how dumb does he think we are?!?
Kieran
Just continue to follow the carrot of equality that we democrats love to dangle in your loyal, trusting, gullible gay faces…..follow it faithfully into the voting booth…..open your wallets and give to the party of “hope and change”…..and then hope real hard that you can persuade us to do the right thing…..eventually…..maybe……depending on political expediency.
Jack
Suck it Obama. Would not vote for this loser and liar ever again.
David in Houston
His position is bullshit, and he knows it. We have civil marriage in our country, that have nothing to do with religion or churches. You know that, and he knows that… and until a majority of Americans acknowledge that fact, his position won’t change. — Suffice to say, this man is hardly a leader of anything.
Wild Gift
God, I hope someone is responsible for showing him these and such articles and comments!
More Anger
That’s why we need to beat the fuck out of this ass hole. Join GetEqual and get in the streets. Join today and we’ll send you a $200 megaphone and some face paint.
If you want to win you need to beat people into submission. you know that works in your relationships – we need to use it in politics.
Enrique
Sorry, but I have zero sympathy for any of you whiners that complain a politician is a politician when every two and four years you keep voting for the same two party representatives, and the people who tell you you wont get any change of substance by puting faith in the two party oligarchy get ostracized and shunned into political obscurity. You’ve gotten what you voted for.
Michael
@DR: If you’re dumb enough to not vote/vote for a Republican, then pretty dumb.
wannabegay2
i still believe in obama… he is, after all, a visionary… he lacks the sufficient power to generate change and, people, remember, its only been 2 years! i really think that once he gets a second term, he’s gonna come around and he will be the first gay president, the same way b. clinton was the first black president.
Kev C
Many of my best friends are gay. I also employ many gays inside the whitehouse, and out in the field, picking cotton.
Danny
It’s really unfortunate that everyone thinks President Obama can deal with all these issues in the snap of a finger. He hasn’t been in office for a full 2 years yet, and we have people constantly opposing him with every little thing that he does. It will take time. The reason DADT hasn’t been overturned is probably because his adminstration wants to make sure there are no negative consequences for those soldiers who openly enlist as gay. The same goes for marriage equality. It wasn’t that long ago that it became legal for mixed race couples to get married, and many were against it then, and still are. America (and the rest of the world) is full of bigots, and though we should not accept it, we need to get the blame of the president. I’m sure Mr. Obama hasn’t forgotten about us, but he’s the best chance we’ve had in a long time to get equal rights, because I’m sure the Republicans/conservatives are not going to do anything to help us advance.
Michael
@Kev C: That was inappropriate and divisive.
Bareback Hussein Osama
@Kev C: That’s my boi!
Kev C
@Michael: Any group of employees that have less rights than the whole (aka second class citizens) are deemed as coerced or forced laborers. Gays, children, undocumented or illegal immigrants are exploited labor. Just pointing out the facts.
Meher Zaman
Ugh. When are we going to have a president that truly supports gay rights? I can’t wait for that day!
Obama doesn’t deserve all the criticism that he is getting. He did more than any other president, as few as his accomplishments with the LGBT community he has made. He did sign the Matthew-Shepard Act but I don’t think he’s doing enough for our community.
Rainfish
Obama: Commander-in-Chief-Hypocrite:
“The President has spoken out in opposition to Proposition 8 because it is divisive and discriminatory. He will continue to promote equality for LGBT Americans,” the White House said Wednesday night after the ruling and tried to clarify its position the following day. “The president does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples…” Aug. 2010
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/tag/same-sex-marriage/
“I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,” Illinois State Sen. Obama said in an answer to a 1996 “Outlines” newspaper question on marriage — before he became a lying, backstabbing, spineless weasel as President.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obama-once-supported-same_n_157656.html
[img]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jCT9n9hItmA/TLbTP1sMC_I/AAAAAAAAAdE/HD4ieFLvFMU/s1600/obamagetit.jpg[/img]
Mike
Hey come on guys and gals!
There is a brightside! That just narrowed down who to vote for in 2012. Because y’all know even if he’s snug into a 2nd term, like hell will he be concretely behind us. He’ll just bamboozle us with some vomit-inducing put together speech on this change, and things getting better, and my little pony….yea. good times.
Casey
FUCK OFF Obama you disgusting homophobic bigot.
Do not vote Democrat or Republican – they are as shit as each other.
It’s time for direct action, civil unrest and civil disobedience.
If the plantation owner Obama won’t give us our rights then we need to start taking them.
Dan
Someone should explain to democrats, republicans, etc. that if you violate the human rights of millions of people – those people are not your friends no matter how much you need to delude yourself into thinking they are.
Leo Sigh
Oh please. It’s all talk with Obama and no action. He’ll keep talking about helping gays until the cow’s come home. Just won’t actually do it.
I can’t believe anyone who is gay would vote for this idiot. I’m not even gay and I won’t vote for him because of DADT, healthcare, gay marriage and a whole bunch of other things he promised and didn’t deliver on. At least with the Rethuglicans, you know what you’re getting. Not this Uncle Tom.
Ian
@Dan: Most concise and BEST comment I’ve seen on this thread so far period.
Cam
So,
I’m a bigot, but I might not be a bigot later, but I’m not going to tell you.
jason
Obama thinks about things a lot, doesn’t he? Pity he doesn’t actually do anything.
The man is such a patent fraud, it’s not funny. I’d rather spend 6 hours in a blind dentist’s chair than listen to anything he has to say.
gregger
A comment was made and needs to be repeated.
The LGBT community needs to stop act towards the Democratic Party like the fat unpopular girl in high school who gives the football captain a blow job, just to get close to him, then cries when she hears the captain laughing about her to his friends.
Stop giving them money, when they call or write begging for money let them know until they put up they need to shut up and pander to some other group. Do what they’ve said they would do or make due with a shit load less money.
I’m voting mainly Democrat in NYC, except for that THIEVING CROOK CHARLES RANGELL, but they get no financial support until I see some serious support. My monies go to the Trevor Project and other charities that actually do something.
jason
Ewe,
Exactly right. Bill Clinton was another Democratic Party conman who seduced us into thinking he was going to make things better. Of course, he ended up signing DADT and DOMA into law. Typical Democratic Party sleaze….
Pat Duffy
@jason: Obama’s like the weenie that sits around Chanting and Burning Incense for a job yet never goes out and applies for one. As we Heathens say, “Deeds not Words!” and sadly what Deeds he’s done for us have been mostly to our detriment. I’m still Voting but not for him….EVER AGAIN!
DR
@Michael:
If you’re dumb enough to vote for a Democrat who actively stabs you in the back, you’re just as stupid, actually more so because you lie to yourself and pretend, like an abused spouse or kicked dog, that “some day things will get better”. At least if I stay home on Tuesday, I can live with myself knowing I followed my conscience.
What races do I have to vote Democrat in? Locally, I have one politician who, while state employees were going to food banks because the state hadn’t passed a budget, dipped into an unaudited slush fund to keep his own paycheck going (and admits it). No way in hell does he get my vote. A second Democratic race has a three or four time loser being run yet again in the vain hopes she’ll win against the same guy she keeps losing to (the very definition of insanity). The third major race has someone who done lots of co-sponsoring but hasn’t really spoken up or out about much of anything. A lot of pretty words, but nothing substantive as far as I can tell.
I’m going to vote for these guys why?
greenluv1322
Wow you guys are crazy. I see none of you bothered to read the actual transcript! I bet that none of you guys that are so pissed are even in relationships…with an actual live person. I am willing to give the man a chance. What have you guys done in the last 18 months? Lost weight? Completed graduate school? Cured cancer? My guess is none of the above. So chill out and go vote on Tuesday. Obama is NOT on the ballot!
Rainfish
@greenluv1322 who wrote: “I bet that none of you guys that are so pissed are even in relationships…with an actual live person.”
——————————-
Oh really,”greenluv1322″? …Really?
——————————–
My spouse and I were married on September 13, 2004 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We have been together for more than thirty years. When we arrived back home in Kansas, the sky did not fall; dairy cows did not stop producing milk, and gravity was still intact — although common sense and common decency seemed to have left our segment of the planet under the seemingly endless Kansas prairie sky. Yes, we got the expected “Welcome Back Home to the Good ol’ USA!” reception alright to which we’ve sadly grown accustomed as Gay and Lesbian Americans.
(for the rest of the story, click on link below…)
http://rainfish2000.newsvine.com/_news/2010/01/19/3776376-we-are-married-let-no-one-put-asunder
Mark
Obama’s political expediency is dishonest and cowardly. He is the only politician I know who has moved backward on the issue. He was for Gay marriage while in the Senate. Now he is opposed for religious reasons. He is wrong and out of step with most American’s on this issue. He is on the wrong side of history. It’s embarrassing to watch this fierce advocate “evolve” at our expense. He’ll take credit for Gay marriage one day. It will be cringe worthy to watch.
the crustybastard
…There are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all”…
Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority…
An unjust law is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself…By the same token, a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that it is willing to follow itself…
We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal”…
…Over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
– Letter from a Birmingham Jail [excerpts], Martin Luther King, Jr.
hudson
if your crazy Randy Quaid can come up here to Vancouver and claim refugee status (I kid you not), all things considered, you all should be shoo-ins. come on up!!
peteNsfo
I’m disappointed, but I doubt I could ever vote Republican.
The mistake is imagining that the Dems are really about leadership or equality- it’s politics & gov’t and it works, barely.
I’m reminded of that bumper sticker, “If the people lead, the leaders will follow”
So, hang in there, stick together, and keep on fightin’ like hell where you can- b/c change doesn’t come from Washington- it comes from YOU and the people you interact with daily.
These pols are ambitious, smart people, playing a game & they’re not gonna worry about your feelings until it’s safe to do so… so keep’on, keepin’ on.
professor Moriarty
Obama is the kind of politician who straddles the fence. He tries to appease both sides to win their support. Obama will never make a decision on this issue because he simply doesn’t have the courage to. His agenda seems to involve strategy more than genuine change.
Andy
The idea that Obama wants any change is ludicrous. He’s a status quo tool.
He could have been for single-payer health care, which in Europe costs half as much as here (and Europeans, I’m told, don’t die of old age at 35 or 40). But he didn’t: in fact, he and “San Francisco liberal” Nancy Pelosi explicitly said it was off the table but instead we get handouts to insurance companies in the form of guaranteed clients and onerous paperwork for businesses and doctors.
He could have been for meaningful financial reform but he wasn’t for that either preferring to hand over taxpayer money to Wall Street with zero strings attached. In fact, his financial team is made up of the same guys who helped cause the problem (low-interest rates, deregulation) in the first place.
Meanwhile, his own Justice Department keeps opposing any pro-gay rulings but he insists the “arc of history” is on the side of gays. Is he?
He could have ended the war in Iraq, but 50,000 combat troops are still there. He could have closed Guantanamo (and the dozens of other CIA black sites), but that’s still there. In fact, they made the CIA even [url=http://www.truth-out.org/panetta-and-obama-gut-cia-oversight64556]less transparent[/url] than before.
Foreign policy-wise, Obama has institutionalized the exceptional and questionable policies of Bush while doing nothing domestically.
safeaccess
The most important thing you can do for MARRIAGE EQUALITY is to vote AGAINST Steve Cooley on Nov 2. To learn more, see http://www.NotCooley.com. Or, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGPWDgQ7tik
Tru Agape
I take it that the majority of those who had a problem with my comments don’t view abortion as the KILLING OF BABIES. I’m sorry if anyone was offended but someone needs to stand up for the unborn cause when we stop a heartbeat we’re stopping a life.
Wouldn’t we want someone to speak up for us if it someday became plausible to identify and ABORT tiny innocent heartbeats of gay unborn babies? Come on where’s our hearts people?
tears for queers
I feel like taking a shower after sifting through all these comments from you Queerty-reading freaks.
Get a life is all I can say.
ewe
@tears for queers: And you bothered to read all of them huh? Take your own advice. The only freak is you Bitch.
Markie-Mark
The only hope to get this useless pos dumped from the Democratic ticket in 2012 is to hand the Democrats a HUGE defeat next week. I wouldn’t vote for a Republican, but they don’t really scare me any more than this bigot does. I know it will take time, but we’ll get our rights through the courts in spite of this bigot and his appeals. And besides, the liberal straights hate him too because he’s a sickening turncoat.
Cam
For President Obama to pretend that he has always held his opinions on
same sex Marriage and that his position is evolving to be more liberal
is the worst kind of cynical politics. Below is a link and an exerpt showing that when he was running for local office in ILL. Obama was fully supportive of same sex marriage. He is only saying what he needs to say now to coax reluctant liberals out to vote.
His opinionson the subject are soley guided by politics.
Almost thirteen years ago, during his first campaign for office,
Barack Obama answered a questionnaire with the phrase, “I favor
legalizing same-sex marriages.” The response appeared in a
questionnaire that his campaign faxed to the office of Outlines—a
local LGBT newspaper that purchased and merged with Windy City Times
in 2000—on Feb. 15, 1996.
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/59702.html
Ronbo
Obama is a Republican. Look at his actions. Do not be mesmerized by the pretty words from Harvard. It was a trick; there is no treat.
I am proud that America elected a black man as our President. I am not proud of Obama.
We need to move on and run a true Democratic candidate against him. Otherwise, our political landscape will move three steps further to the right.
ewe
@Cam: great, we have a proven liar to deal with.
Damien
I understand the anger, especially his transition from being pro-gay marriage. However, I certainly do not regret supporting him in 2008. He inherited a mess and it’s only been two years. Any talk about another democratic candidate in 2012 is simply preposterous. How about waiting until then before deciding if he is worthy of another term. A lot can happen in two more years, especially a possible six, and that includes gay issues.