Candidate Barack Obama was our guy, falling to the left of Clinton on LGBT equality and without question favorable to McCain on LGBT issues. He wanted our votes and our support and he got it. Polls showed that over 70% of the LGBT community voted for Obama. Candidate Obama was even kind enough to mention us in his acceptance speech, truly an historic moment for all Americans.

Arthur Smelt and Christopher Hammer

In Smelt v U.S.,the plaintiffs are a same-sex married couple seeking federal recognition of their California marriage, as well as the recognition of their marriage in other states. The case directly questions the constitutionality of DOMA which is precisely what the Obama administration defended in that brief. The blogoshpere lit up in an uproar after the brief was released on June 11th and the Obama administration tried to clarify their position that they believe DOMA is discriminatory. Now it seems clear that the brief was written by a Mormon attorney leftover from the Bush administration and was either not reviewed or not taken seriously by the higher ups in the department who signed off on the brief. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding the release of the brief, the language and tone of bigotry against the LGBT community was biting and a slap in the face from the very administration that fought so hard for our votes by making promises of “fierce advocacy.”

The June brief has been followed up by yet another brief on the caseby the Justice Department that was released last week. This time, the brief made clear that the Obama administration thinks DOMA is discriminatory and should be repealed, however it does not go so far as to say that the legislation is unconstitutional.

This is a discussion from CNN yesterday about this case and President Obama’s overall ability to live up to his campaign promises to the LGBT community.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0fxF9-If48]

FIERCE!

Listen, I am sure President Obama has his hands full, but what happened to our “fierce advocate” who referenced Dr. King when he spoke of the “fierce urgency of now?” Was he just trying to relate to us by using our language?

While Obama keeps himself busy trying to define the “public option” of his health care plan to the crazy town hall patrons carrying assault rifles and shouting Nazi references, gay youth are still being harassed in schools, hate crimes are happening against LGBT people around the country, gay and lesbian soldiers are being discharged from the armed forces, and in 29 states, including this one, LGBT people are being fired from their jobs simply because of who they are. These among other injustices happening daily seem to me like urgent and pressing matters.

September 2009 Issue of The Advocate

But do the bloggers and activists have it all wrong when they point their finger at the President and demand action?

Since ACT UPwe have done nothing on a mass scale to exploit the potential of passive resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience, the most effective, proven techniques of social action refined in the last century. Aside from a few rogue players who’ve applied for marriage licenses and small bands of activists like Soulforce (who’ve been arrested for trespassing on Christian college campuses where they try to instigate conversations about homosexuality), we have not even tried. When gay soldiers get kicked out of the military, why don’t they refuse to leave? Why don’t the rest of us go to support them? Why haven’t we tried?