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 