Now that Barack Obama has formally announced his re-election bid, there will be those within the the White House administration, the DNC and other circles who will be advocating for LGBT citizens to be quiet, cease the demands for equality and simply do the bidding of those who "know better." We tend to see the phenomenon every election cycle, but given Obama's overall refusal to be a leader on any issue and repeated attempts to have Congressional Democrats perform the leadership role he abdicates I suspect we will be getting a double dose in the lead up to the 2012 elections. I for one don't buy the "we know better" story line and I remain convinced that the 2009 debacle in Virginia's statewide races was a direct result of the failure of Democrats up to that point to deliver any of the "change" that had been promised. Yes, the GOP will undoubtedly engage in extreme gay bashing, but the voter pool that eats up such bigotry is literally dying off. It will be important to demand that Democrats demonstrate that they have a backbone - not always their strongest suit. Kerry Eleveld has a piece at Equality Matters that looks at some of the upcoming dynamics and why LGBT voters need to be vigilant so that our issues are not thrown under the bus by our faux fierce advocate in the White House. Here are some highlights:*
President Barack Obama has just announced his 2012 bid for re-election and the inevitable push for LGBT support - donor, voter, and activist - has begun. To be sure, many LGBT Americans would much rather see Barack Obama still gracing the Oval Office come January of 2013 than a Republican. And so, many of us are faced with a familiar dilemma: should we sublimate our intrinsic desire to continue advocating for full equality to the urgency of reelecting a man who has presided over some of the greatest advances in the history of the LGBT movement? My answer: No.
*
This is not an either-or proposition in my opinion, nor should we feel compelled to surrender our basic humanity to the whims of the election cycle. That type of thinking is a relic of days past when politicians held firmly to the notion that addressing LGBT concerns would undoubtedly be a drag on their electability. What we have witnessed over the past couple years is just the opposite. The repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" scored huge points with President Obama's target voters -- independent, moderate, and progressive alike - and his declaration that the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional reestablished his ability to show bold leadership. Here's our new reality: The right thing to do is also the popular thing to do.
*
But there is much more work to be done and it would be an absolute mistake for LGBT advocates to sit back and relax after the momentum generated by the DADT win and the push toward DOMA's dissolution. The country is at a tipping point as evidenced by multiple polls indicating voters are evenly divided if not leaning toward support for same-sex marriage - a decent barometer for our overall acceptance since marriage equality has also been one of our most contentious issues.
*
Rather than assembling a patchwork of progress agency by agency, President Obama should issue executive orders or amend existing ones that set a government-wide precedent for equality in the following ways:
*
1) Directing the federal government to include LGBT Americans in all federal level data collection efforts.
*
2) Mandating that all federal contractors must have policies providing nondiscrimination protections for their employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
*
3) Prohibiting federal funds from being used to discriminate against LGBT Americans.
*
4) Prohibiting discrimination against military service members on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
*
5) Adding gender identity protections to President Clinton's executive order 13087, which protected civilian federal workers from bias based on their sexual orientation.
*
[P]rohibiting the government from using federal funds to discriminate against LGBT tax payers might seem unnecessary at first blush, but the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships -- created during the Bush administration and continued by President Obama -- has funding tentacles that stretch across America, sometimes touching rabidly homophobic organizations through grants that often go undetected.
*
While some reporting has already uncovered discriminatory abuses of federal funding, this is an area still ripe for inquiry. But for starters, Andy Kopsa of the Washington Independent documented the Iowa Family Policy Center, which publicly opposes same-sex marriage in the Hawkeye state, receiving more than $3 million in federal funding for its Marriage Matters program from 2004 through 2009 - a portion of which will continue to be dispersed through 2011.
*
With an executive order, President Obama could put a definitive end to this questionable conflation of church and state by following through on his campaign promise to end discriminatory practices in federal funding, especially where faith-based organizations are concerned.
*
We did not achieve "don't ask, don't tell" repeal by being satisfied with White House Easter Egg roll invitations and passing mentions in a handful of speeches. Now is the time for the president to employ his considerable executive powers to effect a government-wide culture change that will trickle down to every corner of America. Let's not squander this opportunity to squeeze as much goodness out of this administration as possible, which in turn will help President Obama secure four more years in office.
No comments:
Post a Comment