Friday, May 8, 2009

Obama forgets to care about gay people. Again.



While Zaid may be somewhat pleased with Obama's performance, his position is hardly universal.

I am tired of Barack Obama's limp approach to LGBT rights. I am tired of being left out in the cold.

Today, Obama got to do what every president hopes to: under his auspices as Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant Dan Choi was discharged for being gay. Dan Choi, an Arabic linguist and West Point graduate, admitted his homosexuality on Rachel Maddow's show in March. Now he's out--and, the letter discharging him says, his "conduct" has hurt his unit.

Obama campaigned on a platform of hope and change (and some of us wondered if he intended to throw in dreams, friendship, and sparkles as well). He stated explicitly that he believed in equality for all people of this nation, gay or straight.

Once elected, he brought an anti-gay pastor in for his inaugural prayer. Despite the many, many more liberal pastors available to him, he chose to showcase Rick Warren.

Slowly more and more of his pro-LGBT rights opinions are disappearing from the White House web page. Where did we go, Mr Obama? Don't you remember us?

While it will take an act of Congress to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Obama has the power to immediately suspend it with an executive order. That's it, Mr President. Have your aides write the order, and then all you have to do is scan over it and sign on the dotted line. You can squeeze it in during one of your smoking breaks. That would effectively end DADT as a practice and allow LGBT people to serve openly in uniform, working to end it in law. You could change the world with a few strokes of a pen.

Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to be left out in the cold yet again?

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