The title of this one is probably one of my favorite chants that I learned at the National Equality March last October. Now, it's time to call upon Obama once again to be the fierce advocate for equal rights that he promised to be around this time last year.
Has there been steps? Yes. He's called for hospital visitation rights for LGBT couples; openly expressed disagreement of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy; even made a video for the "It Gets Better" Project. But it's not enough! I watched the video for the first time the other day and I genuinely wanted to say, "Good for you Obama, nice way to stand up for our community." But instead, the thoughts in my head were going, "This is so hypocritical." At one point during his message, he tells queer youth that they have done nothing wrong. Well, if that's true why is the queer community being punished? And not by high school bullies, but by our federal government. How can you tell them that they did nothing wrong and then say they shouldn't be allowed federal marriages? How can you say they did nothing wrong and then let your administration slap an injunction on the ban of DADT? How can you say they did nothing wrong when you are constantly making them feel like second class citizens who don't deserve all the rights their peers get? How do you say that?
Kind and supportive words are great, probably more than we might have gotten with the alternative candidate, but it is not enough. There MUST be action or else those kind words are just examples of the meaningless rhetoric that politicians are always accused of. And don't take this as an attack against Obama. I think he's done a decent job so far. But as the President, decent isn't good enough. He must be held accountable for the promises that he made that got him elected into office. He has the power and the ability, now he just needs the courage.
No comments:
Post a Comment