Obama has been getting a lot of praise as well as a lot of criticism for his proclamation with respect to LGBT Pride Month. I’ll admit, his feelings on gay marriage are a definite concern for the LGBT community, but I think people are forgetting that no plausible candidate this past election was willing to state outright that they supported same-sex marriage. We can’t expect the political arena to change overnight, shifting from a notion of support for gay marriage as political suicide to a sudden overwhelming approval of it. Change is a gradual process, and President Obama’s recent proclamation is an important step in that process. Its importance shouldn’t go unrecognized simply because it’s not the last stop we need to make.
Personally, I say props to Obama to recognizing the fact that LGBT issues don’t begin and end with marriage. Good for Obama for commemorating the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the resistance out of which the modern gay liberation movement was born — an event many Americans don’t even know about, and one that is often missing from US history textbooks. Good for him for recognizing LGBT youth, the problem of harassment in schools, adoption rights, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” HIV/AIDS, and other crucial LGBT-related issues we must combat but often ignore while wrapped up in debates about same-sex marriage.
Last week, a gender-variant person was shot in Memphis for “misrepresenting his gender.” How many people have read about that? Because my guess is everyone’s up to date on California and Prop 8, but not so much stories like this one.
Don’t get me wrong — I think marriage equality is important, and I think it’s quite the shame we’re so behind many other countries on that front. But I think it’s more of a shame that when a transgendered individual is shot in an apparent hate crime, we don’t care enough to talk about it. I think it’s a shame that when we elect a president who makes an effort to become a friend to the LGBT community, all we can do is criticize. I think it’s a shame that so many people are completely unaware of the various issues plaguing the LGBT community because marriage takes precedence in our minds. I’m all for the rallies, the letters, the push for legalization, and so on. But we can’t get so caught up in that one issue that we forget the others, and I’m glad that Obama hit on a lot of those. Perhaps this month is a good time to reassess our priorities.
Yeah, it’s quite unfortunate that people expect changes overnight. I’m glad that you are able to realize that it takes time and that the fact that he is recognizing it is a good sign. Hopefully soon enough the LGBT community will have the same rights as anyone else.
I support gay marriage as much as the next liberal, but people need to calm the fuck down about it. Like you said, it isn’t going to happen overnight and we finally have a President speaking of issues that were ignored the past 8 years. I think that is cause to celebrate rather than whine about what we still don’t have. Not many people know about the Stonewall riots because they’re too busy putting rainbows on their myspace and not taking their “passion for equality” to the streets. You want change? Fight for it.