President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a cocktail reception for gay leaders Monday, ostensibly to mark the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. Observers know that this was really an attempt at damage control, after gay activists have criticized the President's lack of effort to fulfill campaign promises to end DADT, overturn DOMA, and pass ENDA. The President gave a speech where he reiterated those promises, receiving polite applause from those present. He went on to say that, by the time he's done, most of us "willl have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration." The crowd cheered.WTF? No, seriously. He's not running for President anymore. He IS the President. While overturning DADT with the stroke of a pen might shock the system, he easily has the authority, the political capital, and the support of the public, to issue an executive order that would stop the discharges while the policy is under review. As for DOMA, he still says it's unfair, but why did his Justice Department defend the law recently, using language comparing us to incest and pedophilia that came straight from the far-right's playbook? As for how we'll feel when he's "done" fulfilling these promises: we'll believe it when we see it. Get back to us then if you want cheering from us.
Why are these champagne-sipping suck-ups cheering? We've mentioned before that it pains us to criticize this President; we know there are big problems facing the country that he's trying to deal with. Wars, the economy, healthcare; all impact far more people than the issues the gay community is focused on. Yet we still see these issues all intertwined; isn't discharging qualified soldiers in a time of war a matter of national security? Wouldn't granting marriage benefits to same-sex couples help insure vulnerable families? Shouldn't protecting a class of people from job discrimination be a priority in an economic downturn?
We're not cheering anything until this administration finally starts keeping its promises.
To hell with the suck-ups: we're takng our gripes straight to Washington for the National Equality March on October 11th. I doubt we'll be sipping cocktails in the East Room with Barack and Michelle, but we'll make sure they hear from us! Don't forget to register for the march, and we'll see you in DC!
