As much as President Obama strives to keep up the pretense that he's on the side of LGBT Americans, various signals continue to leak out that we are mostly likely being cynically played. The latest episode involves one of Obama's top policy advisers stating that she disagrees with the president on the issue of gay marriage and that Obama has not shifted in his views. It is discouraging that the president cannot put his own religious based beliefs aside and look at the issue from solely a constitutional issue and a civil rights perspective. Like it or not, the reality is that Christian anti-gay discrimination all derives from the Bible. Melody Barnes, the head of President Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, made the statement while speaking to students at Boston College Law School. Here are some highlights from ABC News:*
“I really appreciate your frustration and your disappointment with the President’s position on this issue,” said Barnes when asked by a student if she supported equal civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians. “[W]ith regard to my own views, those are my own views, and I come to my experience based on what I’ve learned, based on the relationships I’ve had with friends, and they’re relationships that I respect, and the children that they are raising, and that is something that I support.”
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“I really appreciate your frustration and your disappointment with the President’s position on this issue,” said Barnes when asked by a student if she supported equal civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians. “[W]ith regard to my own views, those are my own views, and I come to my experience based on what I’ve learned, based on the relationships I’ve had with friends, and they’re relationships that I respect, and the children that they are raising, and that is something that I support.”
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She noted, however, that President Obama “hasn’t articulated a shift in his position”. Although President Obama continues to oppose same-sex marriage, Barnes said that he is trying to “move the ball forward” for gay, lesbian, and transgendered Americans by wanting to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, encouraging changes to military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, and taking action to combat hate crimes.
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Barnes made her remarks in response to a Boston College Law School student who said that he was an Obama primary and general election voter who was deeply disappointed in the religion-based rationale that the president has offered to explain his opposition to civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
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Boston College Law School shot video of Barnes' speech and Q&A that followed but initially held off on releasing it to the press because it wanted to “give the White House staffers a chance to view the video and give us their thumbs up on making it public.”
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A spokesman for Boston College Law School says that he has now received the “thumbs up” from the White House, and the school is planning to post the video -- which was first shared with ABC News -- on Friday afternoon.
Like the student who asked the question, I am deeply disappointed with President Obama in general and in regard to his failure to deliver on campaign promises to the LGBT community. I had hoped that he was not just another slick politician who said whatever might be expedient to get votes - and of course, LGBT dollars. A transcript of the exchange is available on the ABC News page in the link above.
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Barnes made her remarks in response to a Boston College Law School student who said that he was an Obama primary and general election voter who was deeply disappointed in the religion-based rationale that the president has offered to explain his opposition to civil marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
*
Boston College Law School shot video of Barnes' speech and Q&A that followed but initially held off on releasing it to the press because it wanted to “give the White House staffers a chance to view the video and give us their thumbs up on making it public.”
*
A spokesman for Boston College Law School says that he has now received the “thumbs up” from the White House, and the school is planning to post the video -- which was first shared with ABC News -- on Friday afternoon.
Like the student who asked the question, I am deeply disappointed with President Obama in general and in regard to his failure to deliver on campaign promises to the LGBT community. I had hoped that he was not just another slick politician who said whatever might be expedient to get votes - and of course, LGBT dollars. A transcript of the exchange is available on the ABC News page in the link above.
1 comment:
It's not even the position of what was Obama's Chicago church. And he has articulated a clear distinction between constitutional law and religious beliefs... while doing less than nothing in that the DOJ has issued briefs for throwing out cases challenging both DOMA and daDT.
Boston College is a Jesuit school.
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