Obamas Speech at HRC

I thought the speech was huge for a sitting president.

I coudnt help but wish I was a fly on the wall in some of those right wing conservative saturday night cocktail hours.

Progress is such a long process sometimes.

Obama's speech was terrific. The most poignant for me was his pledge to end DADT. After hearing so much hate and fear from some with whom I share much, it was heart-lifting to hear the president of the United States recognize the struggles I face as a gay man. We need to hold him to his word, but I hope that this speech may prove a watershed for GLBT issues

One has no other option but to ponder the fact that he makes this speech right after he wins the NPP. Just sayin...

Seriously, I just wonder how I could love a man any more without having sex with him! Is he just the greatest ever, or what? Now to the doubters about him winning the Nobel Peace Prize...see why he won it now? No, I didn't really think so, but it sure firmed up my belief in that he deserved to win. I just hope and pray it all comes to fuition. What a brave leader. Bravo, President Obama! This is what a president SHOULD be! Thank you.

It was a very good speech. But where was the gay marriage mention? Yes he mentioned the DOMA but he didn't say anything about us being able to get married. And that audience was like the ones from Oprah's Favorite Things episodes.

I think he talked about marriage without saying the word "marriage." He acknowledged the upcoming vote in Maine and said that LGBT Americans will one day share all the rights every other American enjoys (excuse my poor paraphrasing). Close but not the money shot. I agree with the above posters that the speech was terrific - the best speech he's given since his speech in Egypt - and I got the chills listening to it. Having said that, just because a man throws confetti in my face, it still don't make it no party. I'll be partying when the hate crimes bill is signed, and DADT and DOMA are gone, and we're free to marry our partners and have those marriages recognized throughout the country.

GVf: Good one about the Oprah's Favorite Things crowd!

I haven't watched the speech yet, but I read that somewhere he mentions about being the "opening act" for Lady Gaga (who performed at the event along with the cast of Fox's Glee: pic).

Someone has posted the speech on Youtube: part 1, part 2, part 3. Backstage pic: B'way stars Gavin Creel, Jonathan Groff, with Glee's Lea Michelle, Amber Riley.

Video of the speech on HRC's website.

Sorry but if he didn't say the word marriage, then he didn't talk about marriage. He was dodging, almost to say we may have to settle for civil unions. Honestly I think I'm fine with that but too many others are not.

Isn't marriage in the USA a state issue? Can the federal government force states to allow same sex marriage? Isn't this a battle the GLBT community has to organize and fight for on a state by state basis? What exactly do you expect the President to do on gay marriage/civil unions other than perhaps to voice his support? To repeal DOMA shouldn't you to working to put pressure on your senators and congressmen?

Marriage is the preserve of the individual states. Each state recognizes the validity of marriages performed in other states. Of course, until now that has been the case. That is why the courts have to decide whether, for instance, same-sex marriages performed in Massachusetts will be recognized in other states.

You are right, we must exert pressure on our Congressmen and Congresswomen in order to repeal DOMA. This March in DC is fine, but Barney Frank is correct...it won't do much to change minds. Only a movement with real teeth will matter. That is why we have to stand up on the local level and demand change.

I loved that speech last night, but we can't let Obama off the hook. It's only through continued pressure that change will occur. That pressure needs to be concerted and ready to counter specious arguments in opposition to the goals of our community.

I live in New Jersey, where the gubernatorial race is tightening up. The Republican candidate, Chris Christie, had been ahead because of the economic policies of the Democrat, Jon Corzine. Since the tightening of the race, Christie has emphasized how he would veto any bill that legalizes same-sex marriage in NJ. Oh, he pays lip service to civil unions! But this is an attempt to demonize us. It's meant to scare voters away from Corzine. We must put a stop to this. We need to stand up and be counted!

No, not even close.

Words words words. Action is what counts, and we must *engage* and *oppose* any president who delays doing the right thing.

Also, I would personally discourage any young person, gay or straight, from joining the US military. It is not a force for good in the world.

Two Videos of a Profile in Courage

Dan Choi confronts a homophobe on Anderson 360 this past Friday...

...and declares both his homosexuality (in Arabic) and unconditional love for his Baptist minister father (in Korean) after Prop 8.

If he were to allow Choi's discharge by the National Guard I am not sure I could support Obama for dogcatcher, regardless of the Nobel Peace Prize and all the good policies for gays he supports.

Max Baucus' excuse for voting against his own health care proposal was that he has a "duty" to do so as the chairman of the finance committee because it would not get the filibuster proof 60 votes needed in the senate.

Would he have voted against a bill that would have saved 40,000 Jews per year from the death chambers under Hitler as a procedural necessity? It is true that DADT does not reach the magnitude of the Holocaust or a health care bill. But Obama does not have to allow the discharge of this soldier. Let us hope he will not.

That speech was the biggest load of bull shit since the last time some teenager got his girlfriend to bang him by claiming he really respected her. If we allow ourselves to believe that crap, we deserve the scraps of "equality" being tossed at us.

I am a lifelong Democrat and a major supporter of Obama's during the campaign, and I have more than passed the breaking point with the spineless cowards in the leadership of my party, Mr. Obama included. Not one of them has the cajones to actually stand up and defend our existence as human beings and citizens of this country. Instead we are treated as a political problem - like tax codes - that can be dealt with when there's nothing more "important" to deal with.

Well, this may come as a shock to Mr. Obama, but in more than 1/2 this country, you can still be fired for being gay, you can be denied housing or the right to eat in a restaurant for being a fag, you can still be slaughtered for the crime of being gay. Exactly how long are we supposed to wait before the Democrats acknowledge these facts are simply wrong, and cannot be tolerated in a free society. Because until that point in time comes, we are nothing, absolutely NOTHING, to the Democrats, to the government, to society. As long as it is acceptable to demand bigotry towards LGBT human beings, we will be diminished as a people.

I really thought I'd helped to elect a man who got that. Instead I got a bullshit politician who wants praise for being so accepting of us faggots. Well, guess what? Bill Clinton spoke to HRC in 1997 and promoted his desire for hate crimes legislation (which BTW, is still at risk in the House and Senate conference this week). So congratulations HRC and all the A-gays - you've successfully forced the President and his administration into the 20th century.

The HRC audience's rapturous applause for the same old vague platitudes reminds me precisely of the gay activism industry's attitude toward Bill Clinton: "Oooooh, the captain of the football team TALKED TO MEEEEE!" (And that went on up to and after the signing of DOMA.)

In other words, Capt Doom has seen the light. The rest of you need to wake up.

So you're Captian Doom, Bill W.? That explains a lot! I am fully awake, thank you. It seems you are the one lacking in sleep, since you seem to be so cranky these days. I really have seen the light, the light of hope, which was abscent in this nation for the eight years prior to the election of President Obama. The rest of the world has too, Bill. That's why President Obama won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. You can keep knocking him all you want, but he is still President of the United States. It doesn't sound very constructive when all you do is knock the President of the United States. Did you really expect the HRC to NOT clap? Turn off Rush, turn off Faux News. You really will be pleasantly surprised how your life will improve.

I can assure you, millerbeach, Bill W and I are not the same person (although oddly enough my real name is Bill) and I have NEVER watched Faux News and the only thing I would watch of Rush is his funeral - I even turned off the Today Show yesterday and this morning when they polluted my TV screen with his fat, drug-addled bullsh*t. I am, on the other hand, a huge fan of both Keith O and Rachel "lesbian goddess" Maddow on MSNBC.

I am also, as I pointed out, a lifelong Democrat who very much wants to see health care reform pass; having spent my entire 20 year career in the industry, I have a unique view of just how screwed up it is. I am also an economist, and supported basically the entire stimulus plan - it was classic Keynsian economics used exactly when such techniques are at their most useful.

I get that the administration and the Congress had to focus on the economy and healthcare first, and political priorities must be set - but what they don't get, and most of the LGBT community seems not to get, is that our lives should not be part of a political issue. It is a travesty of justice that we have to beg and plead for approval from our neighbors for rights we are guaranteed in the Constitution and as Americans. What I need, what I demand, from my political leadership is that they recognize this.

I heard a lot of promises from Obama in his speech, but what I did not hear was an unequivocal belief in our fundamental equality as human beings. We need political leaders who will not just support piecemeal efforts, but will fight against the organized anti-gay hate movement that has consumed the GOP and poisoned our political discourse.

That poisoning is not just about LGBT rights. We see it in the teabagging protesters, in the lies about "death panels" and "socialized medicine." The Democrats need to fight against all the lies and they just don't seem to be doing it (except for Congressman Grayson, of course).

Edited to add:

And the Washington Post editorial board totally gets what I am talking about:



Leadership on Gay Rights

I like your grasp & views about glbt Americans CPT_Doom. But I have to say that lots of anger oozes from your posts & honestly I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad one. I say that becuz perhaps there has to be a sense of outrage @ this pt in history for us so that we can forcibly create change. Yet @ the same time holding on to anger is simply not healthy for one physically, psychologically, & spiritually.

Anger transformed into action is the ONLY thing that will displace corporate oligarchical rule, and give us economic justice, gay rights, and a civilized healthcare system. Not Obama, not Pelosi, not Reid, not MSNBC hosts.

millerbeach, if you can't read, shut up.

Puh-leeze. Anybody who can say with a straight face that they're surprised by the way Obama has ignored our community's needs really just deserves to be kicked in the cojones (note the correct spelling). After being an apologist for the way the last Democratic presided over DADT and DOMA while pocketing millions in campaign contributions from the GLBT electorate, there is no way anyone should be surprised that Obama expects us to grab our ankles again.

And if anybody says they're further surprised by the fawning sycophants, the self-appointed A List waterboys, the pashmina intelligentsia of HRC, who would've glady flipped the "on" switch at Auschwitz if it meant the studly Gestapo remembered their name while f**king them up the ass without any lube, if anybody says they're still surprised I'm gonna just pour gasoline on them and light a match.

Sorry if that sounds angry, SCT, but I'm just fed up with the bullshit.

Sweetie don't apologize.

I understand the anger, trust me!

So much of this debate reminds me of the elderly woman at a John McCain rally who said "I don't trust him. He's an Arab."

The Nobel committee decided they trust him. About 80% of the people in the world outside the USA seem to still "trust him".

It seems only the few among us who aren't getting what we want fast enough don't "trust him".

Or maybe some of us are suspecting he's something he's not?

Good post, MM.

Andrew Sullivan at the dinner, knows bullshit when he hears it (sometimes):

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_...hrc-dinner.html

I am not an Obama sycophant. I do not support him on a number of issues, ranging from the economy to foreign policy. But Bill W, Munson Man, and CPT Doom, you're wrong here. The speech made an impact, more so than Clinton's speech in 1997. Clinton came after he caved under the pressure of opposition to lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the military and signed DADT in 1993.Clinton came also after signing DOMA. And I would rather Obama issue an executive order lifting the ban than build a consensus. Nonetheless, he created a powerful image by standing with us now, when there are ballot box initiatives in several states to roll back what we have attained vis a vis partner rights. And speaking, as President Obama not Candidate Obama!

Yes, we need to hold Obama to his promise. Bill W, Munson Man, and CPT Doom, will you join with me to do this? It's one thing to write back and forth on this issue. Why don't we try to help bring about change!

When Adam Lambert sang Mad World on American Idol I thought he captured the angst and ennui of the BushObama generation so well that it should have become a substitute for The National Anthem.

Or maybe it should just be The Gay National Anthem, for all generations.

Faithful to our stereotype we often seem to excel at theatricality and drama.

I don't think anyone on this board is a sycophant or hater, even if I've used both terms in a general sense more than once.

For that matter, noone is either, in the sense that everyone is ultimately responsible for his or her thoughts and actions. So if we support someone when they are wrong or hate them for being right we only hurt ourselves.

I really think that we keep a subconscious record of everything we think, say and do. And it is our conscience that will eventually determine how that affects the rest of our life, or the next one if it exists. And we should be aware that what we do to others we do to ourselves. Our minds are builders of Mad World.

Today President Obama took a couple more steps, and signed another extension of the Ryan White/Aids bill and announced that beginning in January 2010 people with HIV will be able to enter the U.S. ending the discrimination.

Indeed, the U.S. was one of the few countries to ban entry to people who are HIV+. As such, no international AIDS conferences have been held in the U.S.