On a state level, the community showed incredible political maturity last year. Along with our friends in the House and Senate, we successfully fought off numerous attempts to constitutionally outlaw marriage equality in Pennsylvania. Almost unnoticed was our drastic step of getting the Democratic presidential candidates, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, to join us in that battle by urging Pennsylvania Democrats to defeat the legislation. This battle is not over yet, but we’re one up thus far. Next match will be the introduction of a nondiscrimination bill into the legislature. How much of a challenge is it? We’ve attempted to pass such legislation in Pennsylvania since 1976 without success while every bordering state — with the exception of Ohio — has passed it, along with 28 other states. Expect other surprises statewide this year, and soon.
PGN was on the cutting edge of political LGBT coverage this year. No other LGBT publication or media of any kind could keep up with our list of firsts, from live blogging at the Democratic National Convention to the first interview with Vice President-elect Biden. And the only interview in the LGBT press with Obama after he was nominated as the Democratic candidate. Along with other local LGBT media, we came of age.
If I’d call 2008 anything, it would be the year of promise. Of course, the key word was change, and change started in Philadelphia at the start of the year as Mayor Nutter took office. He kept his promise of inclusion with his appointment and retention of members of the LGBT community in his administration — especially the appointments of women from our community to important posts, namely Rue Landau at the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations and Gloria Casarez as the Director of LGBT Affairs in the mayor’s office in City Hall.
But if there is anything that 2008 will be noted for, it is the election of Obama as president. How incredible. Pundits will overanalyze this for years (and we’re not going to do that here). What we are going to do is ask our community to not set its expectations too high. The simple fact is that this country is in trouble, and so is the world. As I write this, Israel is in an “all-out war” with Gaza, targeting Hamas strongholds, and less noted, India is sending troops to the Pakistani border, which will prompt Pakistani troops to reinforce their border. This will leave the tribal lands, bordering Afghanistan, open and two nuclear powers facing each other down. Did we mention the worldwide economic meltdown?
The point is, Obama on Day One will be faced with both an economic meltdown the scale of 1933 (the height of the 1929 depression) and an international stage falling apart. This president will have little time for social issues.
This does not mean that he gets a pass. We should expect numerous changes in his first term, such as hate-crimes, nondiscrimination and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” legislation. We’ve tried to pass some of this legislation for 30 years. The time is now with this administration — but the administration has four years, not four months.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].