AS the country prepares to enter the Obama era, anxiety over the legal status and rights of gays and lesbians is growing. Barack Obama’s invitation to the Rev. Rick Warren, an evangelical pastor who opposes same-sex marriage, to give the invocation at his inauguration comes just as the hit movie “Milk” reminds us of the gay rights activism of the 1970s. Supporters of gay rights wonder if the California Supreme Court might soon confirm the legitimacy of Proposition 8, passed by state voters in November, which declares same-sex marriage illegal — leaving them no alternative but to take to the streets.
To help resolve the issue of gay rights, President-elect Obama should abolish the now moribund Commission on Civil Rights and replace it with a new commission that would address the rights of many groups, including gays.In 2000, voters passed Proposition 22, enacting a law stipulating that marriage is a heterosexual relationship. Last May, California's Supreme Court struck down the law on the ground that there is no "compelling state interest" in not recognizing same-sex marriages under the constitutional clause guaranteeing "equal protection" of the laws. Opponents of same-sex marriage quickly gathered sufficient signatures to place on the November ballot the amendment to the constitution.
The breadth and depth of California's toleration regarding sexual lifestyles refute the worry that gays are a vulnerable minority menaced by majoritarian tyranny. Proposition 8 merely restored to California law the ancient and nearly universal definition of marriage, a definition resoundingly endorsed by the U.S. Congress (85 to 14 in the Senate, 342 to 67 in the House) and written into the laws of 47 other states. California advocates of erasing the right to same-sex domestic partnerships could not even get sufficient signatures to put their measure on the November ballot.
Just eight years ago, Proposition 22 was passed, 61.4 to 38.6 percent. The much narrower victory of Proposition 8 suggests that minds are moving toward toleration of same-sex marriage. If advocates of that have the patience required by democratic persuasion, California's ongoing conversation may end as they hope. If, however, the conversation is truncated, as Brown urges, by judicial fiat, the argument will become as embittered as the argument about abortion has been by judicial highhandedness.
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Pace!
B
"I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages," - Barack Obama, to the Windy City Times in Chicago, in 1996.
Some context from the emailed press release:
During the final weeks of the presidential campaign last fall, several media outlets contacted Windy City Times because of an old internet story from the 1996 Illinois state Senate race. In that campaign, Outlines newspaper reported that 13th District candidate Barack Obama supported gay marriage. Reporters wanted to know what exactly Obama had said. Outlines summarized the results in that 1996 article by Trudy Ring, but did not list exact answers to questions. In that article Outlines did note that Obama was a supporter of same-sex marriage and that article was never challenged or corrected by Obama. Just recently, the original Outlines and IMPACT surveys were found in the newspaper's archives.
I am not ignorant in believing that Obama wouldn't change his tune. Being electable in this country for straight politicians means you cannot support gay marriage: just ask Ms. Clinton.
Wiley politician, Mr. Obama thou art!
Pace!
B
Meanwhile we're thrilled that Rev. Gene Robinson is kicking off the inaugural festivities on Sunday, meaning that his blessing trumps all the others because it's the first one God will hear. At the same time, we're still planning to protest Rick Warren's two minutes of infamy by supporting the grassroots Rick-A-Thon:
Let's join the Rick-A-Thon!The purpose of the Rick-A-Thon is to turn Rick Warren’s anti-equality stance into positive change for LGBT people. Every second that Warren stands at the podium, he will be raising money to advance LGBT civil rights.
Being discriminated against, however, is like being pregnant: Either you are or you aren't. Can we expect people to quietly accept legalized inequality? Would you?
Officially, Obama says he supports civil unions but does not support gay marriage. Considering his other progressive policies, I find it hard to believe that position is anything other than a political expedient.
Given the nation's myriad problems, tackling the divisive issue of same-sex marriage immediately would be counterproductive. If Obama wants to deliver on his message of change and hope, he must eventually find a way to summon our better angels so that we can overcome this prejudice. History will little note his invitation to Warren, but it will long remember how he handles this moral issue.
Last year the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network unveiled its "National School Climate Survey." Of the 6,200 gay middle and high school students surveyed, about 90 percent had been harassed and 60 percent said they felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation.
Hannah Devane, 17, a student at Harvey Milk, said mainstream schools failed her. She felt alienated and became so depressed, Devane said, she didn't get out of bed in the mornings. She stopped attending classes.
When Devane was 13, she heard about the Harvey Milk school in the news, and decided to ask her counselor to help her transfer.
"Coming here changed my life," she said. "Now I'm an A student."
My high school son has told me that, repeatedly in his classes, students are allowed to make derogatory comments re: LGBTQ people, e.g., fag or "that's so gay," but are only reprimanded when making racist or sexist comments by teachers.
