Obama Support(ed)(s) Gay Marriage
By Dylan Matthews - Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:23 amBen Smith has a good catch: during his first run for State Senate in 1996, Barack Obama responded to an issues questionnaire from Outlines, a Chicago LGBT newspaper. When asked about same-sex marriage, Obama wrote, “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” He also signed the questionnaire after completing it.
At one level, this isn’t too surprising. I think a lot of liberals–myself included–just assume that Obama and other Democratic politicians really support same-sex marriage, and don’t say they do for opportunistic reasons. With some people this could be a coping method, but in the case of Obama, and indeed most Congressional Democrats, I think it’s true, and this questionnaire confirms that hunch.
But when it comes down to brass tacks, who cares? The only value in crypto-tolerance is the pro-gay polices it can produce. But does it even do that much? The last example we have is Bill Clinton, who, like Obama, I’ve long suspected is actually for marriage equality. But despite these sympathies–and symbolic nods like appointing James Hormel–gay rights suffered setback after setback at the federal level. Clinton sold out gays early by capitulating to Colin Powell and Sam Nunn and accepting the “don’t ask, don’t tell” non-compromise. He pushed through and signed the Defense of Marriage Act as a ploy to get reelected, and rubbed salt in the wound by airing a radio ad at the last minute bragging about the bill. He never pushed to pass a ban on employment discrimination, and when Hawaii and Alaska both held referenda on enshrining marriage discrimination, Clinton declined to campaign against them, or even denounce them. Despite Clinton’s personal sympathy to gay rights, the LGBT community lost a number of political battles during his administration, with him either doing nothing or assisting the bigots.
So while I’m happy that Obama is, or at least was, supportive of marriage equality, it doesn’t really count for much. What would be much more encouraging is if Obama promised to make repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and don’t ask, don’t tell, or passing ENDA, or federal civil unions, a priority in the 111st Congress. A substantive commitment to advance civil rights says more about Obama’s commitment to the gay community than a 13-year-old questionnaire.
Post a Comment