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Look at this exchange, excerpted from his remarks in Tampa:
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________
For Immediate Release January 28, 2010REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AT TOWN HALL MEETINGUniversity of Tampa Bob Martinez Sports Center
Tampa, FloridaQ All right, I’m Hector and I’m a student at UT. (Applause.) And my question is, last night you talked about repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and my question is what are you doing now to put in motion so that same-sex couples and homosexuals are treated as equal citizens of the United States, i.e., same-sex marriages and the thousand-plus benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy after marriage? (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Look, as I said last night, my belief is, is that a basic principle in our Constitution is that if you’re obeying the law, if you’re following the rules, that you should be treated the same, regardless of who you are. (Applause.) I think that principle applies to gay and lesbian couples. So at the federal level, one of the things that we’re trying to do is to make sure that partnerships are recognized for purposes of benefits so that hospital visitation, for example, is something that is permitted; that Social Security benefits or pension benefits or others, that same-sex couples are recognized in all those circumstances.
I think that we’ve got to — we actually have an opportunity of passing a law that’s been introduced in Congress right now, and my hope is this year we can get it done, just for federal employees and federal workers. A lot of companies, on their own, some of the best-run companies have adopted these same practices. I think it’s the right thing to do and it makes sense for us to take a leadership role in ensuring that people are treated the same. (Applause.)
Look, if you are — regardless of your personal opinions, the notion that somebody who’s working really hard for 30 years can’t take their death benefits and transfer them to the person that they love the most in the world and who has supported them all their lives, that just doesn’t seem fair. It doesn’t seem right. (Applause.) And I think it’s the right thing to do.
Okay, look, guys — listen, everybody. I’ve got to take off.
27 Comments
Smells likeseparate but (un)equal.
How can a man from a diverse upbringing/background lose sight of this? Must be the second-term hopes doing the talking.
What I’d love to see…Is someone asking the President how his justice department can justify ignoring laws such as the marijuana one, while filing homophobic briefs against DOMA and advising his office of personnel management to ignore court orders by stating they must follow the law and can’t pick and choose which laws to enforce.
H. R. 2517 Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/…
Introduced in March 2009. Passed House Committee. Not scheduled to consideration yet.
140 Co-Sponsors and would be for Fed Employees only to be able to get SS and pension…
Does nothing for the rest of us who have been partnered the whole of our working lives.
LookPresident did not use the word ‘marriage’ once. Refers to ‘same-sex couples’.
Didn’t even refer to full equality- refers instead to a bill right now that only applies to federal employees.
I hate this man.
It always pisses me off when…
…he, or anyone else, prefaces his remarks with, “LOOK!”
It’s defensive, hostile, implying that the person is insulting him just by asking the question.
As I recall, the first time we heard it re LGBT issues was during the HRC Logo forum when Joe Solmonese, or someone else, dared push him the tiniest bit about marriage equality.
You remember that: when he tried to poo-poo its importance by virtually rewriting the history of the fight against anti-miscegenation laws, asserting falsely that it weakened the movement for other black civil rights.
BUT, CNN is allegedly claiming that Joint Chiefs Chair Mullin will be making “a special announcement” at Tuesday’s Senate Armed Services Committee DADT hearing. Why then and not today? About ACTION or more spin about pie in the sky?
Knows not I.
Kudos to UT student Hector!Obama and our members of Congress need to be asked questions in this same vein everywhere they go. ”Consistently disappointing” is my response to Obama’s failure, once again, to show that there’s any real plan of action afoot.
Let me breathe first….1) First of all, Obama maybe from a “diverse upbringing and background” but he’s still a straight married man, with all the privilege that comes with that. In the furthest corners of his mind he may…understand the stigma and animus associated with this but I’ve said before and I’ve said it again (and I’ll say it again)…most black people (even enlightened, non-homophobic black people) are straight. And most straight people. Don’t. get. it.
Don’t forget in how many ways President Obama is actually quite privileged (male, straight, religious, class privileg)in terms of this society. Sometimes it almost sounds like folks is trying to bring a negro down to size…
2) He has stated and stated and stated his position on marriage equality. I wish the President would just shut the fuck up about it, I wish folks would stop asking him aboutit, because all that’s going to happen is someone else whose would rather see gay people dead will cite this.
I am not going to continue to browbeat the President on the issue of marriage equality (with the exception of DOMA). I don’t like, I hate it, in fact, but…enough.
I will continue to pressure him on the political homophobic way in which he seems to handle the issues that he has come out in favor of.
Let me clarifyI get as angry at Obama for his heterosexist privilege flaunting as anyone else (i.e. talk about the damn tax benefits for a change or the inability to call a same-sex partner to testify against his partner, why is it always the damn hospital visitation benefits…that’s how comfortable in his heterosexist marriage privilege that Obama is…)
But why neglect to look at the enormous privilege that Obama does have in this society as opposed to pushing back with the privilege that he doen’t have (and even then, only on part)?
Okay, look, guys — listen, everybody. I’ve got to take off.
Yeah, you do that.
I hear what you are saying, butlet’s not forget that, though he said he was conflicted about same-sex marriage, he campaigned on full equality of benefits at the Federal level.
If that isn’t going to be marriage, then it isn’t unreasonable to ask him what he’s doing in terms of full-out federal civil unions.
And since only marriage IS equal, it isn’t wrong to ask him in those terms and let HIM waffle with regards civil unions, rather than pandering to the homophobia.
So what is he doing for LGBT equality? “So they can visit each other in the hospital” ain’t going to cut it.
“look,” he is defensive all of a suddenHalf-measures on Federal employees but no DOMA repeal. And now a report that DADT repeal probably won’t be this year.
I suppose it’s DADT repeal “with all deliberate speed.” He wasn’t kidding when he gave us hope and talked about the audacity of it.
http://gay.americablog.com/201…
Apparently DADT repeal in his SOTU was the same as Doe v. Wade repeal was in Bush’s. Nice gesture to the base, but in the end, a gesture.
Hey, it’s the least he could do.
Did I miss something?
To really do that, as opposed to try to do that (which is a weak grammatical structure expressing weak desire), you’d have to repeal DOMA.
It’s that simple.
You’d have to say DOMA treats some American citizens as second class.
It’s that simple.
The three classes of citizens denied pension benefits if they were married to Senators or Members of Congress are traitors, spies, and gays and lesbians.
It’s that disgusting.
He’s campaigning again. Already.If he promises us lots of stuff (short of actual equality, of course), and says lots of “uplifting,” touchy-feely things about us, then we’ll vote for him, right? We won’t notice that he keeps waffling, and we won’t mind at all that he doesn’t actually do anything.
One day after his SOTU promise about DADT comes word that repeal won’t happen this year. This man is a serial liar. The incredible thing is that there are still people who believe him. Having bought the Brooklyn Bridge from him, they’re in line now to buy the Golden Gate. I know I keep saying it, but it bears repeating as often as possible: There is no hope for this country.
I will say Obama is a disappointment.
I didn’t vote for him, but he’s still a disappointment.
Wow, that’s powerfulI’ll be sure to repeat that to whoever will listen. Thanks.
I will sayI did vote for him but am so disappointed I cannot now imagine ever voting for him again. I shudder to think who his replacement will be, but I look for him to lose in 2012. I am not saying I want that to happen, but right now, I think it deserves to happen.
I voted for himAnd will say I’m tremendously disappointed all around. Summers, Geithner, he hardly fought at all for a progressive approach to health care reform. Big pharma got their back room deal first. And how he’s treated OUR community.
My choice should be easy in 2012, he won’t have trouble taking my state’s (NY) electoral votes. Freeing my conscience to leave the POTUS ballot blank, or go Green.
Unless he really does deliver a DADT repeal (or ENDA, or GLBT immigration rights) before then.
He’d have to deliver all threefor me to support him. With anything less, we’re still second-class citizens. Oh…and he’d have to end his wars, too. In the Old Testament it says the messiah will come riding a white ass across a bridge of paper. He’ll be here first.
The disappointment ranges so far and deepMajor fail in one area after another, most critically, at the moment, in the economy:
Paul Krugman in today’s NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01…
I agree with this…mind you I am not opposed to pushing back on President Obama, I am opposed to the form in which the push back happens.
I did vote for himYou know, it’s kind of like when my Mom would whoop me for misbehaving out in the street. More often than not, it has little to do with what I actually did. It’s almost all about the fact that she was embarrassed.
As some who has watched his career, admirred him, enthusiastiaclly voted for him in 2004, somewhat ehthusiastically voted for him in 2008…he’s embarrassing me with his pandering, his stubborness, etc…
I did know that Obama was arrogant, and could seem rather cold at times.
For me…Obama and the Congress will have to deliver DADT or ENDA, with the addition of some “low hanging fruit,” and tone it down on the political homophobia.
He also needs to deliver some sort of health care reform, jobs…
And I have no problem sitting at home or voting Green. Especially since I live in Illinois.
WHY are people still askingthis man about gay marriage? This is the ONE area where he is not with the community. Its the SINGLE MOST DIVISIVE ISSUE even within the Democratic party.
I’m always amazed that people spend so much time annoying politicians that have already given their position on marriage while ignoring the issues where they do agree.
Rather than constantly push on something that does not have support…use that energy for ENDA or ending DADT. All this wasted time, energy and resourses going into marriage could be used to galvanize support for policies that that voters do in fact support.
Furthermore, the next LGBT person that insinuates that a black person MUST agree with every aspect of the LGBT agenda just for being black needs to get a punch in the mouth.
Its frankly RACIST to insist that someone should agree with you just because of the color of their skin or their ethnic background. It is up to advocates to CONVINCE people to agree with them, not demand it based solely on a person’s ethnicity. This heavy handed attitude that one is entitled to our support is one of the MANY things that pisses off black Americans, both LGBT and straight.
I would not be quickto take the word of an unnamed source at the WH over the word of the President. I say that because right up until the last minute people on the President’s own communications staff were saying that DADT would not even be in the damn speech. It was the President’s choice to keep it in. Never mind that he adlibed his own part about it being the right thing to do.
This is oone area where I can believe that the President and his advisors are split over the issue. The more cautious and conservative among them were not eager to have the subject touched at all.
This is one time when folks ought to simpluy agree to wait and see while continuing to push the issue. The President has now thrown it out to the media. Its up to the activists to keep the fire lit and the pressure on. This is why the endless whining and bitterness is counter productive.
Lymis has a good point, thoughI’m not, per se, opposed to asking the question. But bring up his support of federal civil unions. Ask PBO, since civil unions are NOT marriage, how would he shore up the differences between the two. Say that since the nomenclatures are different, ipso facto, they are separate and studies have shown that the 2 institutions are unequal (especially given the existence of DOMA).
He is a constitutional law scholar, after all. Respect him as such when asking questions about marriage equality,
Sheeeit, if I were asking Obama about gay marriage, I would make him squirm.
Besides being racist, pointing to Obama’s ethnicity is rather cheap and petty and easy.
DADT wasn’t in the speech“This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.”
Obama didn’t mention DADT. In fact there is no law “that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country”. DADT denies gay people the right to honor, fidelity, integrity and truth.
So I suppose we should infer from this vague reference that our “fearce advocate” is unable to correctly define the law as it stands. No wonder he is unable to resolve this issue. I wonder if he misinterprets DOMA and EDNA in the same way?
Sure he does.The President is an “Unreliable ally” as opposed to a “fierce advocate”.
Same result either way.