Marriage equality. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Banning HIV-positive foreigners. Journalism bear Andrew Sullivan already joined the chorus of critical Obama voices on his blog; last night he sat down with journalism twink Anderson Cooper. “I have to say, so far, sort of not to great. We have to wait and see and hold their feet to the fire on this.”
Andrew Sullivan
Yes, Even Well-Known Social Libertarians Have Problems With Obama
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myrios123
I did not know about the HIV ban. That is ridiculous.
Terrence
a ‘thing’ his family ‘lived with’ for years?!
sounds like salmonella or the clap.
InExile
The HIV ban is the ultimate in discrimination written by Senator Jesse Helms for those of you who remember him, basically as another method of attacking gay people back in the 80’s. If you are from a foreign country you must obtain a waiver to enter the US if you are HIV positive. Straight couples can easily obtain the waiver, not so for gay men! This law is a disgrace and was repealed by the Bush administration. Why is the Obama administration not making this continued injustice a priority?
Tony
More Obamabushit. More same I cannot believe in.
stevenelliot
andrew honey. purchase a beard buzzer. Youre getting a little fuzzy….Its June not January
Dennis
That well known social libertarian was willing to kiss George Bush’s ass for the first 4+ years of that administration from Hell…Not so concerned about our rights then, were you Andrew?
That man should beg forgiveness from the community b4 he says a damn word about anything.
Cam
@Dennis: You said “That well known social libertarian was willing to kiss George Bush’s ass for the first 4+ years of that administration from Hell…Not so concerned about our rights then, were you Andrew?
That man should beg forgiveness from the community b4 he says a damn word about anything.”
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Remember, he wrote ages and ages ago that we should have the right to marry, back then all the gay groups were opposed to fighting for marriage. So perhaps a little ass kissing should go both ways. If his comments on the HIV ban are valid, you would ignore them because he supported Bush the first time he ran? I didn’t realize that supporting your candidate made your opinions more or less valid. Well he supported Obama in the last election so does that now make him half right on this topic?
Dennis
@Cam:
Bottom line is I’m not an Andrew Sullivan fan (obviously). He has little credibility with me…Whatever his ‘professed’ beliefs were/are, he DID function as a Bush apologist and supporter for several years on numerous issues.
He also is (was?) a Catholic, again supporting a hypocritical organization that has used gays as punching bags forever.
I guess I don’t understand “how his brain works”, nor do I care to…Glad he wants rights for us, but he’s not willing to give Obama “some slack/ some time” to get a plan together? 4 1/2 months of Obama’s administration is a LOT shorter time span than the YEARS he was willing to give to Bush the benefit of the doubt.
Essus
Having read Mr. Sullivan’s blog for a couple of years, I am afraid I must welcome his participation in keeping an eye on Obama. He may not have political beliefs I like, his positions on Christianity are not to any of my tastes and he occasionally reminds me of a few blowhards I have had the dubious pleasure to know, but his tenacity on subjects that he holds near and dear is welcome. The man is like a pitbull when pursuing such things.
Landon Bryce
@Dennis: I hate, hate, hate Sullivan for the reasons you name. I do think he and Dan Savage, another gay Catholic bully with ridiculous political opinions, are obligated to be beating the drums of criticism of criticism of Obama given the extent to which they worked to sell him to gay people.
But Dennis, it’s not the timeframe. It’s the appointments. Obama has assured that there will be little progress for gays in his administration by appointing too many people who hate gay people and blocking gays from appointments with decision making infuence.
Tim Kaines, who probably hs the worst record on gay people of any current Democratic governor, was the president’s choice to run the DNC and was nearly VP. Kaines ran ads mocking his opponent for seeming gay, opposes the rights of gay people to marry and to adopt, and signed the most bigoted, hideous anti-gay marriage law in the United States.
His pride proclamation and Obama’s are virtually identical. They cannot point honestly say that the president made LGBT appointments more significant than Clinton’s, even though the country’s attitudes have changed so much in the last sixteen years that it is clearly an embarrassment.
Cam
@Dennis:
Dennis, Obviously you don’t like him. I myself think he is a bit of a pseudo intellectual poser but still read his blog once in a while. But the fact is, you’re beefing on him for supporting Bush on something totally different than Gay rights. He has also been all over the Catholic church for ages about their homophobia.
I think the main thing with Obama is, he’s going after him because Obama specifically promised the gay community things, now not only is their no movement on them, but his press secretary is now not even answering questions anymore about them, and recently at a fundraising dinner Obama made fun of a protest sign help up by a group of gays saying “Keep your promise”.
I supported Obama, but I understand Sullivans frustration. I mean a house member introduced a bill to repeal DOMA and the adminstration suddenly turns around and offers her a job..pulling her out of Congress and leaving her bill to die without her shepparding it through….again, it’s frustrating.
Jen
I guess it makes sense to be gay and Catholic. I mean thats where Catholic Priests have always come from, so then they can have some whoop ass fun in the orphanages on poor little boys. Sick idiots. Anyone who supports the Catholic boy-rape society should go to hell, if only there was one.