Mr. Obama: Prove you are your Own man!

June 20, 2009 by Dan Hooper.

Gay Critics Say ‘Too Little, Too Late’ from Obama

By Kristi Keck, CNN |  Thursday, June 18, 2009  |  Story Highlights:

(CNN) – “President Obama’s decision to grant some benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees is seen by some as his attempt to extend an olive branch to the gay and lesbian community, but critics say it’s ‘too little, too late.’ .  .  .”

I can’t follow politics too closely (because it’s too painful), but this one has the feel of “deja vu all over again.” After an 8-year administration which essentially deplored gay and lesbian people, we had expected more from Obama, but this and other things are nudging me to admit that the Obama years will look like the Clinton years.

Admittedly, Mr. Obama has a huge amount of stuff to face. The nation and the world do not wait for him to catch up. But as we’ve seen for decades now, it is all too easy to say that, well, there are a lot more significant problems and issues facing our elected officials than whether homosexuals get to have their piece of the pie — benefits, equal treatment, same-sex marriage, you name it.

This statement from Martin Luther is worth repeating: “How soon not now becomes never.” Luther pursued urgency in the reform and renewal of the Church in the 16^th century. It resisted, and backed up its resistance with imperial power. For the rest of his lifetime, and then for several more centuries. How soon not now becomes never.

Why should any generation of people in the minority be told by the power-holding majority that the timing is not right, or that they will have to wait, or that the votes aren’t there.

In this case, DOMA—that Clinton-era legislative garbage— is the culprit. Yes, it would be very difficult for Mr. Obama to publicly say that DOMA has to go. But his administration should be working to get rid of it as soon as possible, or at the least finding covert ways to drag before the Supreme Court to blow it away.

“Defending” marriage by defending the majority’s rights to select benefits is blatant “entitlement” which conservatives have been ranting about for years. Why should heterosexual couples be “entitled” to live a decent life, including such basics as health and retirement benefits, which by statute cannot be available to those who are not heterosexuals or liars (in the closet).

The injustice is obvious. Not only is it time to correct the injustice, the Obama administration is the one which needs to correct it. The President sold “Hope” to America with the clear implication that his administration would not be Clinton’s third term. Now he has to prove it.

— Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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