Hey, Obama: WHAT. THE. F***.

[torquill]

Apparently, somehow, I missed this. I would expect it to be plastered across my Friends List, but it's lily that threw me the link. From Americablog, yet, that bastion of reasoned legal analysis.

Obama defends DOMA in excruciating, and sickening, detail.

What's more, his spokesman tries to spin it as "Oh, he still supports gay rights, he just can't deal with it himself; he needs Congress to do it." BZZZZZT.

I've pulled for Obama. I voted for him, cheered him on as a savvy, intelligent, reasonable statesman who seems to know what he's doing. He was oddly silent on the Defense of Marriage Act Don't Ask Don't Tell, but it could have been because he hadn't put it on the front burner yet (I'm not saying that's a good reason, but it's not an active betrayal). But this? This disgusts me.

Hell, I'm as straight as they come and I'm ready to go marching now. I can't be arrested for health reasons, but goddamn, I'd be cheering on the ones who could. Nonviolence, god I hope it prevails, but even Gandhi knew there was a time to throw sand in the gears and bring it all to a screeching halt.

I should make some calls. I don't think any force on this earth can change Feinstein's mind, but I should at least check in with Miller and Boxer. And figure out how to calm down a little before giving the White House a piece of my mind.

*seethe*

Edit: Email sent to all my legislators. The email I sent to the President is here:

Mr. President,

I have been an enthusiastic supporter of your administration since the beginning, which is why I am even more disgusted and dismayed now.

The brief filed by the Department of Justice re: Smelt and Hammer (about DOMA) is extremely disturbing. It does not argue for dismissal of the case on technical grounds so much as it implies that gays and lesbians do not deserve the same federal recognition that straight couples enjoy even when they are legally married by a state. It does this by comparing same-sex marriage to incestuous and underage marriages, which is deeply offensive, denying that marriage is a right, and denying that gays and lesbians deserve the same rights and privileges as other minorities such as blacks. It even suggests a "solution" that gays and lesbians enter into sham marriages if they wish to get recognized by the Federal government. And for added tackiness, it hides behind "fiscal responsibility" for upholding this injustice.

You said when you ran for office that you would fight for the civil rights of gays and lesbians. You said that DOMA should be repealed. Your statements are on the record, Mr. President, but the GLBT community is seeing no sign that you mean to honor those promises. You are silent on Don't Ask Don't Tell, and now your DoJ puts out this homophobic rhetoric.

I am heterosexual myself, but even I am deeply angered and ready to take any action necessary to ensure that all citizens of this country have equal standing, including the right to have their legal marriage recognized by the Federal government. The fact that DOMA exists stands in the way of that, and to see such a passionate defense of it by your administration sickens me.

We deserve better from you, Mr. President. Walk the talk that was apparently so cheap on the campaign trail. Give something back to those men and women who backed you as their champion for civil rights. Turn your back on DOMA and lead Congress in working to repeal it, before I lose all faith in your promises of change.

Thank you.

Oh, and Towleroad is reporting that HRC has finally spoken, joining with NGLTF, the ACLU, etc. to request that Obama repeal DOMA. Better late than never, HRC.

Comments

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

While I agree with you, either the SCOTUS needs to overturn DOMA *or* Congress needs to repeal it. That said, he could, I dunno, NOT support the damn thing. I do understand what's going on, he's a politician and he doesn't want to spend his influence on a fight that he doesn't think he can win, or that won't give him more political clout for other things.

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

I agree, Congress (or SCOTUS) needs to get rid of it. But between the silence on Don't Ask, Don't Tell (talk about no loss of political capital by getting rid of that) and this very disturbing brief by the DoJ, it's starting to look like he's tossed aside his promises to support LGBT people and taken up what amounts to an opposing position. And to get that from a President we almost overwhelmingly supported is infuriating.

He could issue a definitive statement saying that he does not agree with DOMA, and believes that it does not serve the people. He could use his bully pulpit to push Congress to repeal it, without losing a heck of a lot of capital. He could at least partly mollify the community by issuing a stop-loss on DADT and promising that he'll work within the system to support the other issues the community cares about. It's not like he's been afraid to take on other complex issues where the right-wingers are ready to soundbite him to death. Instead we get silence, and mealymouthed non-committal, and a poisonous brief from the DoJ. Gah.

I like Obama personally and professionally, and I've enjoyed having an intelligent statesman in charge. It's why I can't comprehend this, and I can't let it slide. We deserve better from the most eloquent President of our generation.

[unseelie23.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the silence on DADT is that there is a bill pending in Congress that will address that and he's already said he'll sign it.

It's worth noting that DADT was passed as Federal Law so it's unclear as to whether the Executive Branch can conveniently ignore it.