Chicago Free Press Editorial: Miss California and Mr. Obama?

Chicago Free Press Editorial: Miss California and Mr. Obama?
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
April 29, 2009
http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/3436


It’s hard to imagine that Carrie Prejean—the current Miss California whose answer to Perez Hilton’s question about gay marriage riled up Hiton and many others in the media—and Barack Obama have that much in common.

“We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or (the) opposite,” Prejean said on the topic, adding, “And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”

Prejean doesn’t seem like she’ll be winning a Nobel Prize anytime soon, but it’s not hard to figure out where she stands on gay marriage and why she stands there. She’ll become a conservative darling for fifteen minutes and will be mercifully forgotten.

Unfortunately, though, Prejean’s stated viewpoint pretty much mirrors that of our current president. Yes, he’s said he’s all in favor of civil unions and giving gay couples the same rights as straight ones. But he’s also said that the institution of marriage should be reserved for a man and woman.

What’s most frustrating is that few people who follow the news actually think Obama believes that. Indeed, back in the 1990s, he gave an interview to a Chicago GLBT publication wherein he said he supported gay marriage. His current stance seems to have been chosen because it is the most politically expedient.

While we have been impressed with much Obama has done in his first months in office, he has proven to be a politician who doesn’t like to get his hands very dirty, and our community’s issues can be particularly messy and inconvenient.

But just because we are happy with his performance elsewhere does not mean that we should let him off the hook with our issues. If we do, those are likely to be procrastinated on and nothing will be done.

As a community, we’re not afraid to lambaste people like Carrie Prejean, or organizations like Amazon.com, when we feel slighted. At the same time, though, all but a handful of activists seem hesitant to hold Democratic politicians’ feet to the fire.

So Obama never pledged to bring about gay marriage in his campaign. But he can change his mind—he wasn’t afraid to do so before. He can also get going on overturning Don’t Ask Don’t Tell—he did pledge to change that, and his administration has made no inroads there whatsoever. He can similarly do much to promote a federal non-discrimination law covering GLBTs.

Back when George W. Bush was president, we would constantly harp on the fact that politicians are paid to serve their public. Unfortunately President Obama sometimes needs to be reminded of this, too, especially when it comes to his GLBT constituents.

The House voted Wednesday to pass a bill that would give gay victims of violence protections under a revived and expanded hate crimes bill. President Obama urged its support and called for its passage in the Senate.