John Aravosis has a post from one of his readers that largely sums up my feelings and emotions to date on Barack Obama and his administration. It's one of disappointment and borderline despair that after being promised change and fooled into believing that Obama actually gave a damn about LGBT Americans - as opposed to merely our money and votes - the real story is that we were suckered and nothing is going to change as we were promised. All in all it is very disheartening and among the activists that I know the level of frustration and unhappiness seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. In truth, if I had a realistic way to leave the USA, I would seriously consider it. Here are some highlights from the America Blog post:*
Recently my partner and I have been growing more and more despondent over the current state of the nation and the direction it is going. We both feel that our votes for Barack Obama, votes we were proud to cast for the very first American of African decent to run for president, were in vain.
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It is almost like what we fought for was not a new progressive century but a return to politics from the 80s and 90s. Gay rights, corporate welfare, lobbyists, universal health care, smart drug law, support for the middle class and their jobs and all the other progressive issues seem to not even be on the table anymore or have been so castrated that they no longer resemble the change we were promised. This is not what my time, effort and money were supposed to do.
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I'm sitting here looking at information I just received from the Danish Consulate stating that I, as well as my partner, qualify for working in and possibly gaining citizenship in Denmark. Please John, Chris, Joe and the others, convince us to stay. Convince us to fight. Convince us that this nation is worth living in now that all of our hopes have been shattered. We love America, we feel great pride for our nation sometimes, but not enough to justify staying here when there are other nations that have gotten the issues so right while we get them so wrong.
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I continue to hope that I will be proven wrong on the apparent false promises of the Obama administration and the Congressional Democrats, yet I remain pessimistic.
2 comments:
Michael, once again, I'm going to advocate for patience in our longing for full equality and civil rights... Yes, "Gay is the new black," and as a gay person of color, I take no offense in recognizing that.
The similarities and the differences in the struggles of both groups I belong to are noteworthy and perhaps that's why I can understand that justice is not often swift... In the case of black civil right, it took more than 100 years for the law to address the promise of freedom that came with the end of the American Civil War.
Having just celebrated the 40th anniversary of the beginnings of our struggle for gay civil rights, I'm convinced that we won't have to wait as long. In fact, I am sure that we do indeed have a "friend" in the White House. However, we do need to remember that we are a nation of laws, and Barack Obama is not a king. We need to continue to work within the system, in the halls of political power and in the courts - that is where our fight will be won.
Have we forgotten the days when we weren't even allowed to be seen in the White House, let alone openly and warmly welcomed by a president who I truly believe to be a man of his word... Patience, while continuing to demand justice and making our voices heard and our lives known needs to be our task. Running away from our allies and from our country and from the fight will win us nothing.
As always, thanks Michael for keeping the fight for justice and equality uppermost in my mind.
Christopher Flournoy
Look at Bilgrimage today for a disgusting piece of smarmy talk from Obama about struggling to reconcile his faith and the need to respond to gays who feel victimized.
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