Thursday, May 7, 2009

Headlines

As many of you know, there have been a lot of headlines recently on gay issues, particularly with the passage of the Hate Crimes bill that covers sexual orientation, the Supreme Court decision in Iowa, and the legislative actions in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Washington D.C., and New York.

But I was not expecting what I saw this morning as I brushed my teeth. I have an internet-enabled phone and usually use it to check the NYTimes in the morning (because they have an amazing mobile site). Well, this morning under the politics heading, all three headlines were related to gay rights!

I particularly liked the first of the three articles, which is linked here. It discusses how the Obama White House has been mysteriously silent about all the same-sex marriage progress that has been occurring over the past month or so. While I agree in most part with those at BTB and the Washington Post in that Obama is taking the wrong strategy on gay rights at the present moment, I think a lot of the gay community frustration is because they were expecting so much from the man. Never much enamored with the man myself, I find myself somewhat shrugging, saying "eh, he's a politician acting like a politician." Why repeal DADT or the DOMA now when it may cost you votes later?

I think the gay community's thought are summed up by a quote from the NYTimes article:

“We’ve elected probably the most pro-gay president in history; he’s very good on the issues but he is not good on gay marriage,” said Steven Elmendorf, a gay Democratic lobbyist. “From the gay community’s perspective, he and a lot of other elected officials are wrong on this. My view is that over time, they’re going to realize they’re wrong and they’re going to change.”

(Day 327)

1 comment:

Ameriqueer said...

What were the other two headlines?