Gay bloggers have been asserting for some time now that President Obama and his administration have not kept the promises made to our community on the campaign trail. Well, a year into the administration, they are partially correct. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is stuck in Congress and there is little movement on repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. But there is movement on the most important piece of legislation to our community — the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This act, which would provide protection against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, would help all LGBT citizens.
Again, 29 states in this country give absolutely no protection from discrimination to its LGBT citizens. In those 29 states, you can fire an LGBT person on a whim, deny him an apartment lease, refuse to sell her a house and a slew of other discriminatory issues. Yes, those actions are legal in 29 states and the only remedy for those people is this ENDA legislation. Can you imagine Mississippi or Alabama offering protection from discrimination to LGBT people? Neither can I.
To be fair to the administration, it has only been one year, and an administration can’t be judged on one year. You’ll judge the accomplishments — or lack thereof — of this administration on LGBT issues when the president runs for re-election and we can ask: What did you do for the LGBT community in your first term? You’ll do that when you enter the voting booth.
And it should also be said that while our three core issues have not been addressed as speedily as we’d like, that may have been caused by many of us putting our expectations too high on a new president — one who was greeted on day one with two wars and an economy going down the toilet.
In appointments and policy change, he has done more for this community than all presidents before him combined. That says a little about his commitments. The remainder of his first term will tell us about his political skills and, after the Republican Party picked up Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts, the stakes just got a little higher.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].