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Update: From Tracy Baim’s Firedoglake article Obama spokesman denies 1996 gay survey (media release of the same article content here):
Despite a statement by President Obama’s White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer June 17 that a 1996 survey response was not written by the then-candidate for Illinois state Senate, Windy City Times newspaper stands by the reporting on Obama’s early support of gay marriage in at least two gay surveys.The surveys were from a 1996 response to Outlines newspaper (which now owns Windy City Times) and IMPACT, a now-defunct gay political action committee. They are online at are available available at http://bit.ly/gMBR4e and also printed in the 2010 book Obama and the Gays: A Political Marriage, by Tracy Baim, publisher of Windy City Times.
Baim added:
In January of 1996 he filled out the IMPACT questionnaire, and it appears to be in his own writing, and uses the first-person “I” throughout. While the IMPACT questions were a bit more complicated, Obama did say he would oppose any attempts to outlaw same-gender marriage, by supporting a resolution stating “the state should not interfere with same-gender couples who chose [sic] to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of civil marriage.”
Tracy Baim then, in the article, provides links and background to why the Windy City Times stands behind the reporting from 1996.
From the footer of Baim’s article:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tracy Baim is co-founder and publisher of Windy City Times, one of the oldest and most honored weekly gay newspapers in the U.S. Baim has been covering the gay community since 1984, including Chicago politics and Barack Obama’s first race for elected office. Baim interviewed Obama during his 2004 U.S. Senate run, and has covered a wide range of gay political issues for more than 27 years.
Wow. I feel like I’m watching a denial from the Obama Administration of Barack Obama’s 1996 position on marriage equality in the face of documentation that makes the denial appear to be a lie. It looks to me to be an attempt at a history rewrite.
From AmericaBlog‘s Senior White House aide: 1996 Obama gay marriage questionnaire is a fake, even though Obama signed it:
During a Q&A this morning at the annual Netroots Nation liberal blog conference, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer claimed that Barack Obama never filled out a pair of 1996 questionnaires that show then-Illinois-legislature-candidate Obama supporting gay marriage.
It’s expanded upon in AmericaBlog Gay, in an article with the same name:
Those are some fighting words from the Obama administration, and they’re almost certainly an outright lie.White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer told the Netroots Nation blog conference this morning that the Barack Obama never filled out the 1996 questionnaire, when he was running for the Illinois legislature, in which he averred that he supports gay marriage. The questionnaire – two questionnaires in fact – have been out there for years – 15 years in fact – and it has caused the President, who now claims to oppose marriage equality for gay couples, a good amount of heartburn as reporters, such as the Blade’s Chris Johnson, keep asking the White House it.
This is the first time Obama has tried to question the questionnaires’ authenticity. Both are fakes?
Here’s Pfeiffer this morning:
“If you actually go back and look, that questionnaire was actually filled out by someone else, not the President.”
AmericaBlog Gay then shows a copy the document that Barack Obama signed. (There’s more in the article at AmericaBlog Gay that’s worth the read too.)
I can’t imagine that this isn’t going to cause problems between the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and the Obama Administration, and it will require someone more senior to White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer in an attempt to straighten this out.
Seriously, this looks to me like White House amateur hour at Netroots Nation. I’ll betcha the White House isn’t going to enjoy that huge can of worms that Pfeiffer just likely opened up with the LGBT community’s political donor base.
11 Comments
It doesn’t matterwhether Obama or an aide filled out the questionaire or not.
What matters is that Obama signed the damn thing.
Seems like some shuckin’ and jivin’ from the White House to me.
yup
Another day, another damn lie.Business as usual for the Obama administration. This one is only slightly harder to swallow than the claim that even though we’re bombing Libya and have launched aerial attacks on Gaddafi’s residence, we’re not at war there. (So if Libya sends a squadron of planes to bomb the White House, that wouldn’t be an act of war either?)
As for Barry’s gay donor base, most of them have swallowed so much bullcrap already, they won’t have trouble digesting this too. The DNC membership card comes with a lifetime supply of Maalox.
What’s a few gnats when you’ve been swallowing camels?You are right: True Believers will just pay the bill and leave a generous tip, as always.
“I can’t tell you when this evolution will continue”???This fool is incompetent. ALL HE HAD TO SAY was “The President and Atty. General Holder are in agreement that his Justice Department will NOT be defending DOMA because we KNOW it’s unconstitutional.” He could also have pointed out that when the House Republican leadership than had to hire a private law firm to defend the federal government’s position (on the constitutionality of the federal DOMA statute), THAT FIRM shortly bailed on them because they knew that DOMA was ridiculous.
The President has already caved to us on this issue and it is completely irresponsible to be pretending otherwise, EVEN if you need a titillating story.
Damn straight: this is a gnat.More to the point, the critics and carpers are just too entrenched in that bad habit TO TAKE YES FOR AN ANSWER:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
It doesn’t much MATTER if he’s “grappling” with his “personal” view if ALL OF HIS SUPREME COURT NOMINEES (and his Attorney General as well) are perfectly clear on THEIR view.
What is Going On??? I assume Candidate Obama signed the Document. I cannot understand why they would claim he did really mean it in 1996. This administration and President are inept to say the least. And the worst thing is, we are stuck with him when you consider the Republican candidates.
Yes, perfectly clear.They see it as a states’ rights issue, and have said so every chance they get. I.e., they think states should be free to ban gay marriage if they want to. That’s your idea of “YES”?
I don’t find his superme court appointments to be all that reassuring. Both of his appointments have been more conservative than the justices they replaced thus moving the court as a whole to the right. And, with his first appointment, he had more liberal options along with 60 votes in the senate.
Obama isn’t evolving, he’s devolving. It was obviously a lie. One of many coming from the White House on GLBT rights. This is, after all, the Obama White House we’re talking about and they’re two faced on every question but getting Chicago to host the Olympics.
Ending wars - Obama says he’s for peace but somehow the number of countries attacked by the US is growing by leaps and bounds. It now includes Libya and Palestine by proxy, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan. With Iraq and Sudan on the near horizon.
Ending tax cuts for the obscene rich - Obama says he’s against them but he pushed for them last year.
Preserving Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security – The WH says they want to preserve them but now they’re all ‘on the table’. Obama is overseeing the most drastic cuts in social programs since Clinton killed welfare and used the saving to hire 200,000 new cops.
Unions – Obama say he’s for them but Obama forced the UAW to accept draconian cuts in wages and benefits, change work rules to allow speedup, ‘outsourcing’ to non union scab outfits, automation a long no strike pledge, which leaves them at the mercy of the bosses. Democrat governors like Cuomo and Brown and Republicans like Walker and Scott took that as a green light to go after unions everywhere.
Now about Obama’s claim that he’s always been a bigot. He was running for the state senate and his campaign likely didn’t have a vast, bureaucratic staff.
Like his two-faced hustlers position on other everything else, his position on same sex marriage has been all over the place. 1996: “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” By 1998 he was “Undecided.” By 2004 he was for second lass civil unions “Strategically, I think we can get civil unions passed.” By 2006, his decision to pander to christian bigots was firming up and he said “I believe that American society can choose to carve out a special place for the union of a man and a woman as the unit of child rearing most common to every culture.” And by 2008 he was actively sabotaging same sex marriage in California, Florida and Arizona, going before millions of TV Viewers to say that he opposed same sex marriage because ‘gawd’s in the mix’. “I have stated my opposition to [Prop 8]. I think it is unnecessary. I believe that marriage is between a man and woman and I am not in favor of gay marriage…” He thought Prop 8 was unnecessary because DOMA was in place. (Much of this summary was from the New Republic “What Does Obama Really Think About Gay Marriage? A Telling Timeline”.
As always, Obama is a two faced liar hustling for votes on both sides of every question. At least his Republican cousins are more honest – they openly hate LGBT folks. Obama waits until he’s behind closed doors.
But by all means, vote for Democratsbecause the HRC says so
because it is better to twist on the rope in the wind than to have a Republican administration
because in the second term(which likely will not happn) Obam will suddenly evolve into a gay rights champion
because…we ae collecively blind an foolish and will never hold the dems accountable….