When I first read the brief in support of DOMA, I was astonished. President Obama promised so much to the gay community during his campaign, yet it seems that each time he has an opportunity to stand up for the basic civil rights of LGBT people he cowers away. Today Obama plans to announce health benefits for the same-sex partners of federal employees. And while I’m happy that more same-sex couples will have access to health care, this is nothing more than a carrot given to the LGBT community to quell the outcry against Obama and his administrations backpedaling on LGBT civil rights issues. Ruby-Sachs says it best in a post on HuffPost:
Well, I hate to be the one to explain a rights struggle to the first Black President, but the equality movement is not a grab bag of rights. You don’t get to reach in and see which prize you’ve won. Each of the rights discussed above – the right to benefits for your partner, the right to serve openly in the military and the right to access the same tax breaks and immigration privileges given to heterosexual couples – should be granted. Immediately. Granting one does not absolve trespass over the other rights.
As Ruby-Sachs calls for later in her post, I believe national outrage is looking more and more like our only viable option. We are constantly mentioned in speeches and promised that soon we will see change, and then thrown under the bus as more of our best soldiers are discharged while our families are denied the dignity afforded to heterosexual couples. This simply cannot continue. We cannot allow ourselves to be ignored any longer.
via Emma Ruby-Sachs: Obama Offers Gays a Consolation Prize of Extended Benefits.
