Obama and the gay press
Barack Obama has given an exclusive interview to The Advocate. Here is the centerpiece of the discussion:
If you were elected, what do you plan to do for the LGBT community -- what can you reasonably get done?I reasonably can see "don't ask, don't tell" eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law. [...]
The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I'm interested in making happen and I think can be done with some opposition, some turbulence, but I think we can get that done.
And finally, an area that I'm very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there's full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.
Even the accomplishment of all four of those goals would not constitute a perfect embodiment of "liberty and justice for all," but it would a good start.
The other main issue is how Obama has been criticized--and rightly so--for the Donnie McClurkin issue. Despite my favorable opinion of Obama, based largely on his open letter to the LGBT community, homophobia from his religious supporters is still a sticking point. Michelangelo Signorile comments:
On McClurkin, an issue that I think kept him from talking to the gay press, he still pushes this idea that you have to "reach out" to people, which begs the question of why we don't accept reaching out to racists or other bigots.
Obama did indeed say that "my campaign is premised on trying to reach as many constituencies as possible," but every candidate has some threshold beyond which a supporter/donor/voter is no longer acceptable. Where that line is drawn can tell us a great deal about what kind of person the candidate is, and what values they cherish. McCain, who called Pat Robertson and his ilk "agents of intolerance" during the 2000 campaign and then sucked up to them this time, has failed this test.
Obama's status is still somewhat undetermined, although this interview did follow up on this point somewhat. Despite Obama's imperfections, Andrew Sullivan makes an important observation:
More pertinent: look at his age. The sooner this country's leadership shifts generations, the more equality gay and lesbian people will have.