[T]here have been times where, let’s say on LGBT issues, when we were trying to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and I got the Pentagon and Bob Gates, a Republican holdover from the Bush administration, to authorize a study of how you might end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, headed up by Jeh Johnson, who at that time was a council to the Justice Department. And it was going to take a year to conduct that study, issue a report, and figure out how it might be implemented, what effect it would have on unit cohesion and military effectiveness. And I had laid out this strategy because if I could get the Pentagon’s imprimatur on this thing, then I knew that we could end up getting legislation passed to reverse the policy, and we could get the branches of all the military to implement it. But during the course of that year, probably every speech I gave, I’d have gay activists just screaming at me during rallies. And you just say, ‘Come on, man. Not only do I agree with you, but I’ve actually got a strategy to execute, we are executing it, and in what sense do you think that you yelling at me here is going to advance your cause?'”— President (for one more month!) Obama, reflecting on one of the many difficulties of his job in an interview with The Atlantic.
Danny279
Bull. His strategy nearly tanked the entire repeal. It took him a year to decide to do the “study” and the study itself would take another year. Which meant that the whole thing would be pushed past the 2010 election, when the Dems lost the House. If we had not protested, it would not have happened and DADT would still be on the books today. And the study itself was offensive, asking straight soldiers AND their spouses lots of questions about what they thought they would need to “prepare” for gay people serving.
Oddly enough, he didn’t need a one year study and massive survey to decide to let transgenders serve, even though transgenders have a mental condition and require special medical care. Funny how that works.
crowebobby
We can kind of apply this to the guy harassing Ivanka on Jet Blue. There’s a time and a place for everything. But I don’t think any action against Donald himself is too extreme.
Kieran
A lot of GLBT “activists” are their own worst enemies. They think being angry, loud and obnoxious is how to win friends and influence people.
Herman75
I always wondered why the Prez couldn’t sit down with the Sec of Defense and Pentagon in the interim and strongly suggest they spend less resources chasing after gays and lesbians.
Bill Clinton certainly didn’t do sh!t when he was President. A record number of gay and lesbians were kicked out during his era. He could have told them to lighten up on the witch hunts. Guess he was too busy getting his deek zukt.
DarkZephyr
I agree with him here. Screaming at the ones who are helping you is idiotic.
@crowebobby: I agree that there is a time and a place for anything and if he really was screaming at her that was dumb because that ONE incident is now going to be used by the Right to eclipse the thousands of Trump induced hate crimes. BUT I doubt she is doing anything to help LGBT people. I truly and sincerely doubt it.
JoshGL
There was always a timetable and they stuck to it.
The “activists” who were screaming at these events did nothing to advance that schedule. If anything, they were irritated that they were not included in meetings with the White House. But, candidly, as Obama said privately, why would he invite such disrespectful people to his home?
People forgot that the Obama team were allies. They forgot that they were people who are just as hurt or irritated when attacked.
People forget that there was a large group of LGBT community leaders who urged folks to refrain from giving to the DNC and other organizations or simply not to vote in the 2010 midterms.
So, many people stayed home or did not participate.
2010 gave us the Tea Party, flipped the House, and change in state governorships and legislatures. That led to gridlock and gerrymandering/voter suppression.
Anyone who thinks that protesting the Obama administration by sitting out that election is a fool. It achieved nothing, except to lose goodwill in the White House.
Ditto all the nonsense by fringe groups like getEQUAL which accomplished zilch.
But, hey, a point was well made!
Idiots.
Ronbo
Politico reported that the President lobbied AGAINST repeal of DADT. Obama sought to delay the vote until after the election, under full knowledge that the House was going to turn Republican.
Obama is not a “hero”; he was still claiming that “God was in the mix”. Do you understand that this means he thought that God opposed gay equality? Think about that. We know that God created and ensured homosexuality as part of the condition of life. Obama asserted that we are not supported by God. “God is in the mix” is not supportive of US as part of God’s design.
I suspect that he “tolerates” us, when he should celebrate us as part of God’s grand design.
Ronbo
@Kieran:
Gay equality was first openly addressed by the drag queens at Stonewall and we owe them our gratitude. They are the true heroes of our story. HRC achieved nothing more than collecting corporate donations while opposing legal action.
ACT-OUT put our demands for equality on the front page. HRC worked against them at every turn because they KNEW that our achieving equality would eliminate the need for them and their corporate funding.
We achieved success because we stood up and spoke; not because we remained in the closet.
ErikO
@Ronbo: Very true. People forget all of this and actually believe the BS lie that Obama is for LGBT rights when in reality it’s not like that at all, he and his administration actually defended DOMA.
Brian
@Danny279: I agree with your summation.
Brian
@Ronbo: homosexual equality was first advanced by the Mattachine Society in the 1920’s. Illinois was at the forefront of homosexual liberation when it de-criminalized male homosexuality in 1961.
New York did not de-criminalize male homosexuality until much later. New York was NOT a leader in this regard. Stonewall was NOT the first.
Heywood Jablowme
@Brian: (Sigh.) You are wrong yet again. It would have been tough for the Mattachine Society to do anything in the 1920s because it wasn’t even founded until 1950.
You’re right about Illinois though.
Kangol
@Heywood Jablowme: He makes up stuff out of thin air.
Brian
@Heywood Jablowme: My apologies. I mistoo The Society for Human Rights, the first American homosexual rights organization and founded in Chicago in 1924, for the Mattachine Society.
In any case, the point remains that New York was NOT the leader of gay rights. Stonewall was NOT the pioneering bar it might claim to be. Illinois was 19 years ahead of New York in terms of legislation de-criminalizing male homosexuality.
Illinois de-criminalized male homosxuality in 1961, New York in 1980. Nuff said.
tom_baker
@Heywood Jablowme: Not Mattachine Society, but the Society For Human Rights was formed in Chicago in the 20’s. Henry Gerber’s legacy is preserved by the Gerber Hart Library.
Obama is being revisionist in this interview. His administration dragged their feet, hemmed, hawed, and even tried to stay an injunction against DADT.
Also, Obama has historically said, if you want me to do something, make me do it. You can’t be offended by people taking up your challenge.
Brian
I just get so annoyed at the modern gay Leftists who are trying to re-write history on homosexual rights. They falsely portray New York as being the leader and Stonewall as the “seminal moment”. Stonewall might have been a pivotal rebellion by gay culture against harassment by the authorities but it was NOT the seminal moment that modern Leftist gays claim it to be.
At the legal and social level, New York was late to the gay rights party. It took a court case in 1980 to de-criminalize male homosexuality. New York politicians were – and still are – very CONSERVATIVE on homosexual rights. They did not have the courage to de-criminalize male homosexuality in the way the Illinois legislature had in 1961.
Memo to modern gay Leftists: stop trying to re-write history. New York was not the first. In fact, about 16 states in the union de-criminalized male homosexuality BEFORE New York did, including some conservative mid-western states.
New York was NOT the pioneer on gay rights, Leftists.
JoshGL
Clear that few people on this thread have met Obama or his team.
He was always for same-sex marriage. He waited for public opinion to catch up. He’s a politician Deal with it. First term was DADT repeal and hate crimes legislation. Second term was DOMA repeal and open support for same-sex marriage. Was always the plan.
In the meantime, for those who question Obama’s commitment to the LGBT community, a partial list (this is dated, but enough said):
http://www.equalitygiving.org/Accomplishments-by-the-Administration-and-Congress-on-LGBT-Equality
jkthsnk
Also the whole evovling thing, what BS. He was against us before he was for us. And to all you aholes saying we should respectfully apply our protesting, the plague would have been much larger and PReP wouldn’t exist. Learn the lesson.
Ryan Field
I’m far from being an activist, but when are we going to realize we have every right to stand up and scream just as loudly as any other minority out there?
MarionPaige
AS FAR AS I KNOW, there has never been a Gay Vote to elect a Gay Spokesperson or a Gay Agenda.
The only Political Power Gay Media and Gay .Orgs have is the power to smear Democratic Politicians with Straight White Liberal Voters.
I hate to say this,
but,
with Donald Trump in the White House for the next four years,
America is at least safe from Self Appointed Gay Activists.
Brian
The trick of the Left is to make you believe that male homosexual desire (MHD) is a “minority”. It’s not a minority at all. Male homosexual desire is present throughout all men, albeit in various strengths.
Granted, the gay identity is a minority but that does not mean that MHD is a minority. Don’t fall for the idea that the gay identity is the same as MHD. They are two vastly different things.
The issue through human history is that only a few people are prepared to take up the cause of same-sex rights. The rest of us are simply hitching a ride on the hard work of others.
MarionPaige
more specifically,
even with Donald Trump threatening a new nuclear arms race …
I still feel safe knowing that, for at least the next four years, nobody in political power will give a sh_t what any Gay Activist thinks about any f_cking thang.
MarionPaige
as some Black Man said,
FREE AT LAST
after 8 years of threats and fabricated culture wars (like how many gay people give a rat’s ass about DADT, or Gay Marriage),
America Is Safe from self-appointed Gay Activists.
ErikO
@JoshGL: Riiiiiiight sure he was always for same sex marriage LOL go peddle your BS and lies elsewhere.
Brian
I will give credit to Obama for progress on same-sex rights that would not have occurred under a Republican President.
Obama took years to evolve. A Republican President would have felt hostage to the religious Right regardless of his personal evolving views.
Jack Meoff
Many activists, gay or otherwise, feel that the only way to achieve anything is to show up on mass and scream at people and interrupt their public appearances. These are usually the activists who achieve the least for their cause and if their cause goes away or achieves it’s goal they just move on to another cause to be angry about. They are the angry masses who don’t know what to do with themselves except find things to be angry about. Times have changed and 60’s style protests and rallies are no longer the best way to get a point across.
1EqualityUSA
The long lens of history will see Obama as advancing rights for us. Our tax man was able to get refunds for a few of the years that we were screwed by our government. Taxation without representation ended for us, and Obama helped. It’s all about timing.
Chris
Well behaved women seldom make history. Well the same is true for advances in gay rights.
With all due respect, people are tired of waiting. And this pressure ensures that our causes don’t get shunted aside.
gscott
@Herman75: You must me too young to remember that the DADT policy that Pres Clinton initiated was a step forward in gay rights. Learn your history.
gscott
@MarionPaige: I am very concerned about marriage rights for all. I can see how someone like yourself who no one would want to partner with wouldn’t care about it.
Dymension
I think he has a point. It seems that we want what we want right now and have no patience. We are in a precarious state right now where some of those rights may be revoked.
Ronbo
@gscott: So do you think that WWII internment of Japanese was a movement forward for their rights?
Being denied equality in the LAW and then increasing the discharge of gay people was not an advancement, it can be considered a milestone, much as the holocaust; but not an advancement.
inbama
Remember the activist who shouted down Bill Clinton for saying “AIDS victim” instead of “AIDS survivor?”