|
Presidential proclamations honoring LGBT Pride Month are back, thanks to the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Although largely symbolic, they nevertheless remain powerful statements of support.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton issued the first gay pride acknowledgment, perhaps as an act of contrition for signing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and the “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA). In June of 2000, he issued another proclamation recognizing our community, but this would be the last one for eight long years. George Bush was not about to celebrate gay Americans in any way.
Presidential proclamations honoring a community represent an opportunity for a sitting president to tout accomplishments on behalf of those being recognized. Clinton’s Pride Month proclamations recounted his administration’s gay appointments. Obama has highlighted his signature on inclusive hate crimes legislation and the elimination of the HIV entry ban. He also restated his goals of repealing DADT and DOMA and wrote of his commitment to “equal justice under law” by giving “gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple,” securing adoption rights and ending employment discrimination.
While George Bush did nothing to advance LGBT equality, he did acknowledge the gay community. During election cycles, he would use our community to whip up fear. This may have scored him votes, but it would have made lousy copy for gay pride proclamations.
By next year’s Pride celebration, President Obama hopes to have signed legislation ending DADT. Senate Republicans hope to kill this repeal effort.
In May, the language to end DADT was approved as an amendment to the Pentagon appropriations bill on a mostly party line vote. The full House of Representatives voted 234-194 for repeal (229 Democrats were joined by 5 Republicans). The Senate Armed Services Committee approved repeal by a vote of 16-12 (15 Democrats, 1 Republican). The full Senate will be voting on repeal later this summer.
The Republican senator leading the charge to keep gay troops closeted is the man who could have been our president, the Log Cabin Republicans-endorsed John McCain.
In June 2008, writer Chris Crain’s “A Place at McCain’s Table” warned gay Republicans that their meetings with McCain had so far not produced political benefits: “That’s not good news for Log Cabin’s leadership, which appears willing to stake its reputation on an ‘inside’ relationship with McCain.”
Two years later, McCain declares, “I’ll do everything in my power” to keep DADT from being repealed. All the requirements that McCain previously stated he needed to win his support are here - a complete review by the Department of Defense, followed by the President, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and Defense Secretary certifying that the change will not hurt unit cohesion, military readiness, military effectiveness and recruiting and retention. Yet McCain pledges, “without a doubt,” he will support a filibuster.
In their desire to filibuster repeal of DADT, Republicans would need 41 votes and there are 41 Republicans in the Senate. Since the two Republican senators from Maine are likely to go against their party and support repeal, Republicans need to get at least two Democrats to join them. They are working on conservative Democrats Webb of Virginia and Pryor of Arkansas.
Working to get DADT’s repeal to the President’s desk soon, for legislation that would not be approved and implemented for months, seems unusual. But given political realities, it’s necessary. Republicans will likely gain House and Senate seats in November, and almost to a man or woman, they are uniformly opposed to all gay rights, whether for civilians or soldiers.
The President’s signature on legislation to repeal DADT could also help the Democrats in November by exciting and motivating its progressive base for the upcoming election.
Furthermore, forcing Republicans to vote on DADT exposes GOP homophobia. The majority of Americans are appalled by DADT’s dehumanizing treatment of gay troops. It’s hard to imagine a Republican senator like Scott Brown being re-elected in 2012 in liberal Massachusetts if he maintains his current position of opposing repeal.
The GOP remains committed to keeping gays marginalized. Dante Atkins in the Daily Kos described today’s Republican Party this way: “They’re just interested in trying to preserve one more way of telling the country that being gay isn’t okay.”
To understand the importance of DADT’s repeal, observe the hysteria on the far right. Southern Baptist leader and Republican activist Richard Land told the Baptist Press, “I’ve never known of a better excuse for a filibuster than to stop the Congress of the United States from essentially destroying the greatest military force our nation has ever known.” Tell that to the openly straight and gay troops serving together in the British and Israeli armed forces.
Do I wish that a Democratic Congress had voted to eliminate DADT and DOMA and passed LGBT employment non-discrimination legislation in President Obama’s first year? Absolutely! I also wish Obama could make the oil in the Gulf of Mexico disappear. The unfortunate reality of politics is that presidents can lead, but they cannot perform miracles.
|
