It's some random stuff this week.
First, I would be falling down on the job if I didn't post this video from Stephen Colbert:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad | ||||
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On that score, Steve Schmidt, one of John McCain's chief advisors during his presidential campaign, has called on the GOP to support same-sex marriage. Here's a report from Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin with the full text Schmidt's remarks. Key point:
But it cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un-American or threatens the rights of others. On the contrary, it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence – liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, I believe, gives the argument of same sex marriage proponents its moral force.
However, the Democrats in Congress don't seem to be all that motivated. From the Bay Area Reporter:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) told the Bay Area Reporter Wednesday, April 15 that repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act is not a top priority of hers right now.
The speaker said that her two legislative priorities for the LGBT community are passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the federal hate crimes bill; the latter was introduced in Congress earlier this month. She indicated action on those items would occur before any effort to repeal DOMA, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex relationships and allows states that do not provide equal rights to gay couples the ability to ignore such marriages granted in other states.
Coupled with this item from Defense Secretary William Gates, let me tell you, I'm not real happy with Team Obama right now. From NYT, via Box Turtle Bulletin:
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates made clear on Thursday that any repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law would have to be undertaken slowly, and suggested that it might not happen at all.
“If we do it,’’ Mr. Gates told reporters on his plane enroute to Rhode Island, “it’s important that we do it right, and very carefully.’’
I second Timothy Kincaid's comment: Congress needs to act on this, since Obama's not going to. (I told you he was just another politician.) Time to write your rep -- no, your whole delegation, reps and senators, and demand that they get moving on it.
So the Dems are backing off. Gee -- who would have guessed?
Ugh.
Well, this should take that nasty taste out of your mouth. Via Queerty.
3 comments:
If you look at it dispassionately, which I will admit is difficult for those of us who've been agitating about it for over a generation, it makes sense for the Dems to tackle one piece of legislation at a time and to work from the easier to pass to the harder to pass. Thus, ENDA and the hate crimes bill can be viewed as precursors to DADT and DOMA because they can be argued to be about generalized situations rather than specific gender matters. Once the population sees demonstrated (yeah, I know, but they really do have to see it in their own damn backyards) that the sky doesn't fall if there is anti-discrimination legislation, it will be easier for the Dems to push DOMA and DADT through. Does anyone realistically expect that Congress, in the throes of the worst financial situation in eighty years, is going to spend months fighting about gay rights while the economy disappears with an ear-burning sucking noise down the sewer pipe the Republicans laid?
My problem with the Democratic response is -- well, actually, there are a couple.
The Republicans are going to be as obstructive as possible on everything on Obama's agenda -- support for hate crimes and ENDA won't be any easier to get than DADT and DOMA repeal. What's probably really behind Pelosi's statement is the reality that the Republicans will use civil rights legislation as a distraction from the economy -- an excuse to avoid doing anything while the country goes down the tubes -- and then blame the Democrats, who don't have the wit or the balls to brand them with it.
There is widespread support for repeal of DADT -- that's the closest thing to a no-brainer in the whole complex. Among the population at large, the last figures I saw were something like 70% in favor of repeal, and any real surveys among serving military personal show definite majorities in that direction. The stumbling block seems to be the senior brass, who have the vapors at the mere hint of gays. This includes, by the way, those who authorize and participate in sectarian videos shot in the Pentagon with active-duty officers. (Which actually happened and is against the law, against military regs, and was never investigated.)
All else being equal, I'd be willing to say deal with the economy first, but the Democrats have a history of backpedaling very quickly on gay issues. I don't really expect more from Obama, but I'm getting pretty fed up with the spineless Democrats in Congress who can't seem to do anything at all without a pat on the head from John Boehner.
Oh, I agree with you on much of this. I'm not so sure that repealing DADT will be as easy as we'd like, since it appears to me that Congress is not willing to look at the widespread support for repeal that we know is building. And for that I mean both sides of the aisle in both houses of Congress. It absolutely infuriates me that the Democrats are working the way they do, unable or unwilling to learn the lessons they should have learnt by watching the Republicans over the last decade -- discipline and unity could achieve actual progress in areas we supposedly think important. The blue dogs, in particular, reduce me to sputtering rage, but the generality of Democrats are nearly as bad. Anyone who lived through the idealistic 60's should have realized that trying to accomplish anything by way of consensus is a mug's game.
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