Obama Falls Further Behind on Gay Marriage

I'll be honest, my exasperation with Barack Obama's spinelessness when it comes to gay rights issues continues to grow. His pronouncements on his personal beliefs on gay marriage give aid and comfort to extreme Christianists and now former far right figures are becoming more progressive on gay rights issues than Obama who gave gave great lip service to supporting gay rights during the campaign. As John Aravosis notes at America Blog, Obama's failure to support gay rights and to deliver on his campaign promises is becoming almost down right painful and - to me at least - suggests that he never meant his glowing rhetoric during the campaign. Here are John's words on this issue in the context of Ted Olson's (the Chimperator's former Solicitor General) representation of clients suing in Federal Court to overturn Proposition 8:

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As I mentioned last night, it's hard to overplay the significance of this. Olson may very well be the man singlehandedly responsible for putting George Bush in the White House these past eight years. He is a conservative. He was a member of the board of the American Spectator, the magazine that investigated Bill Clinton in the early 90s, and got that entire ball of wax rolling. Olson was the guy who was so conservative that Harry Reid torpedoed Bush's desire to make Olson Attorney General after Gonzales. Olson is so conservative that Bob Novak (aka Novakula) called him "highly esteemed."

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It is as significant in conservative circles, I believe, as former McCain strategist Steve Schmidt, now supporting gay marriage. Moderates in the Republican party - or perhaps more accurately, conservatives - are suddenly speaking out with more moderate views. The irony is that we always wanted moderate/liberal Republicans to stand up and denounce the culture wars. To take their party back. But instead, we have a growing number of conservatives who are washing their hands of the religious right and its phobias.

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If Ted Olson can say that about gay marriage, then all bets are off in terms of what we should expect from Democratic politicians. . . . We were willing to cut Obama some slack on gay marriage because we understood that America wasn't there yet, and it was difficult for a Democratic politician to openly support gay marriage and not lose his career. No more. Times have changed. We have conservative Republican leaders like Steve Schmidt and Ted Olson openly endorsing gay marriage while our Democratic president and far too many of his administration are treating gays and their civil rights like some kind of crazy Aunt you don't talk about in polite company because she's just so embarrassing.

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Well, perhaps it's time we started quoting pro-gay marriage conservatives like Steve Schmidt and Ted Olson, and asking the White House why Barack Obama seems to have a bigger hang up with our civil rights - hell, with us (do you see anyone openly gay in the Cabinet?) - than two of the most conservative Republicans in Washington.

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It truly is pathetic when you have people like Ted Olson who are now more positive on gay marriage and gay rights than a Democratic president who campaigned on a mantra of change which was alleged to include equality for LGBT Americans. As for Olson's lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times:

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Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, who represented then-Vice President Al Gore in the contested election, have joined forces to tackle the same-sex marriage issue, which has deeply divided Californians and left 18,000 gay couples married last year in legal isolation.

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In a project of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, Olson and Boies have united to represent two same-sex couples filing suit after being denied marriage licenses because of Proposition 8. Their suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in California, calls for an injunction against the proposition, allowing immediate reinstatement of marriage rights for same-sex couples.