Yesterday President Obama visited California to support Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign. But, the visit turned controversial when a group of protestors showed up to heckle the president. During his speech, people could be heard shouting, “Repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!” and “Bring equality to all Americans!”
Obama unprecedentedly responded to those hecklers, showing his indignation.
“When you’ve got an ally like Barbara Boxer and you’ve got an ally like me who are standing for the same thing, then you don’t know exactly why you’ve got to holler, because we already hear you, all right,” said Obama. “I mean, it would have made more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it.”
Although I understand the concerns that some of the hecklers shouted at Obama — I have these concerns as well — I do believe that the president is making significant strides in finally bringing about equality for homosexuals.
I realize that this issue has been a running theme on this blog. One of the very first posts on this blog was about the president’s State of the Union Address. I criticized Obama’s speed on the gay rights issue. I thought that repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was a step, but it wasn’t a big enough one. I wanted him to take a bigger stand for homosexual rights, particularly on the gay marriage issue.
However, in the past few months I feel that Obama has met my expectations. He recently announced that he was ordering all hospitals in America to allow patients to establish for themselves which visitors they would like to have. This order also gives LGBT couples the same visitation rights and health proxy that is given to immediate family members.
This is exactly what happened to Janet Langbehn and her children when Langbehn’s partner, Lisa Pond suffered an aneurysm while on vacation. Langbehn and her children were not allowed to go to Pond’s bedside for eight hours because they were not considered immediate family. Pond later died.
This new order will hopefully never bring that pain to same-sex couples and their families ever again.
So, because of these efforts, I commend Obama on what he is doing for homosexuals. I understand that the process of reaching full equality is going to be slow and implementing change often takes time.
Effective Response 
Those in favor of the gay rights movement must understand that while Obama certainly did say he would repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, things like this take time and cannot happen overnight. Yes, this is finally one president who is willing to take on this issue, but he cannot be expected to make it a priority when we are fighting two wars and are still in perhaps the largest economic crisis the U.S. has seen in the last 30 years.
I do think “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will be repealed by the end of Obama’s first term. However, while gay rights activists think it is simply a matter of Obama signing some paperwork, he must take his time in winning over the American people, so he can continue to fight for gay rights for another four years.
The entire time I was reading this post all I could think about was how unreasonable anybody who thinks that equality for gays should happen overnight must be crazy. There are still inequalities for African Americans, and the civil rights movement has been going on for ages longer than the movement for homosexual equality. We live in a country governed by precedent, and until our entire general public is socially accepting and comfortable with the homosexual community, equality will be a long ways away.
I want to see equality for homosexuals just as much as the next person, but even I understand that things like this take time. At least our administration are taking steps towards that direction.
Obama actually has done a great deal in terms of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. He convinced the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the policy needs to be repealed. Ever since, they have been fighting on his behalf to have that legislation revoked. In the end, Obama does not have the power as Commander in Chief to just get rid of the law. It will take an act of Congress to repeal the ban or an issuance from the Supreme Court that the law is unconstitutional. But, he is having the Pentagon set up a review of the policy, which will come out by the end of 2010. And the country as a whole seems to favor repealing the ban, so hopefully that will happen in the near future.
But, you must look at a bit of history before becoming too upset that the progress you desire has yet to occur. Twelve years ago, when Clinton was in office, he too tried to get rid of the ban on all gays from serving in the military, but got stuck signing the compromise policy of Dont Ask Dont Tell instead. In that time, the Joint Chiefs of Staff opposed allowing gays in the military. Luckily, times are definitely changing, but some things are outside of President Obama’s control. You cannot fault him for the policy remaining intact when he is trying to bring the issue to the forefront of the public consciousness.
I too want full equality for homosexuals, for all people. But again, much of this resides in the power of Congress, and even state legislatures. Sadly, I do not think gay marriage legislation will get passed federally anytime soon, especially when even the liberal state of California denies gays of that right. Obama can only do so much.
I like how the theme of gay rights issues have been commonly appearing in your posts. Yes, as a critical social movement at the moment, the Obama administration must make an “effective response.” He has to lay down the groundwork so that local and state governments can follow his example. Echoing a lot what has been said, there is going to be a great deal of time involved. Having said that, I also don’t think it’s unreasonable for members of the gay community as well as allies to be fighting so hard and demanding immediate change.
Discrimination has picked up (across high schools in the Midwest) and even with the passing of Prop 8, you can’t help but wonder if there is some legitimate push back to be concerned about. Are we moving forward? As the President, there needs to be some substantial strides in the right direction in order for progress to actually change and for a portion of the population to be satisfied.