Barack Obama: The Only Choice in this Election If You're Jewish and/or Gay

In a column in The Advocate Stuart Milk - a Facebook friend - makes the case that for many of us in Tuesday's election there is only one choice if you are Jewish and gay.  I would argue that the similar reasoning also applies if one is black, Hispanic, a non-native born citizen, or non-conservative Christian and motivated by anything other than racism, greed and/or one form of bigotry or another.  Mitt Romney by his own admission has no desire to think about most of us citizens.  He will be looking out for only the 1%, the homophobes, the white supremacists and the Christianist  religious extremists - i.e., the base of today's Republican Party - and, of course large corporations which in Romneyworld are people.  Here are excerpts from Stuart's column:

The great evil the world saw [during WWII] with the horrific persecution and mass murder of minorities—from Jews and Roma to many members of the LGBT community—led Harvey [Milk] to adopt the Jewish community’s post-war message, “never forget,” as his compass for human rights. He saw that our community, the Jewish community, took the ideal of b'tzelem elohim, that all are created in the image of the divine, to heart, through standing arm-in-arm with those fighting for the civil rights movement and helping to lead the women's right movement.

Jewish support for the LGBT community was visible back even in 1965 when the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods (now Women of Reform Judaism) passed a resolution condemning the criminalization of homosexuality when no one else would. My uncle was quite prophetic in his belief that fellow Jews would be among the first to fight for marriage in numerous states and they have—Jewish organizations ranging from the Religious Action Center to the Anti-Defamation League and local communities around the country have championed LGBT equality efforts for decades. But the fight is not over and this is why the LGBT community needs you to carefully weigh your vote in this year's presidential election—an election that is likely to impact LGBT individuals for years to come.

I ask you to look at our two options for our next president.

We'll start with President Barack Obama. The President's record advancing pro-LGBT legislation is too extensive to list, but highlights include repealing the discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy, signing into law the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and issuing a mandate that requires hospitals to provide LGBT families the same visitation policies given to everyone else.

President Obama also became the first sitting U.S. president ever to declare support for same-sex marriage, joining 81% of American Jews who, according to recent polling by the Public Religion Research Institute, also share his desire that same-sex couples be able to celebrate their love—under a chuppah, at a church, or in the town hall—the same as different-sex couples.

Now I ask you look to at Governor Romney's record. The Governor carved out an extremist anti-LGBT position from the beginning to appeal to socially conservative voters. Governor Romney voiced his opposition to not just same-sex marriage but even to civil unions, putting him at odds with the views of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. What’s more, Mitt Romney openly declared he would not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that prohibits workplace discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." This position puts him out of touch with 73% of all voters—even 66% of Republicans—who support protecting LGBT individuals from workplace discrimination. 

The Jewish community has been involved in every major civil rights fight in American history. We know with our all too painful memory of the ancestors we lost due to intolerance and hate-mongering that those who marginalize and diminish any minority group should put us all on alert. The struggle for LGBT equality is no different. I am an American who is proudly Jewish and proudly gay. The LGBT community needs support and the Jewish community needs to be at the forefront. Not just because of b'tzelem elohim, but because it is the right thing to do. There is only one choice for the LGBT community and that choice is President Barack Obama.