HRC's Joe Solomonese Tells Olbermann Obama "Went Way Over The Line"

On last night's Countdown on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann took President Barack Obama to task for the overwhelming slow-footery he's displayed on his campaign promises to the gay community. Olbermann noted right off the top that on the campaign trail, Obama said, "When it comes to Federal rights, the over 1,100 rights that are not being given to same-sex couples, I think that it's unacceptable and as President of the United States, I am going to fight hard to make sure those rights are available." Since then, there's been precious little "fighting hard," and no significant remedy offered to close this gap.

Until yesterday, of course, when the White House made a to-do about handing out a "handful" of rights to same-sex partners of federal employees -- a "pretty please maybe" memorandum instead of an executive order. Olbermann pointed out where all the "supplies are limited, void where prohibited, your mileage may vary" language lay. Employees of the U.S. Armed Services, for example, need not apply. Oh, and social security and health care benefits -- still just a heterosexual thing! And the Defense of Marriage Act? The administration's gone to the wall to keep that the law of the land as well.

I have read speculation that Obama's unwillingness to wade more forthrightly into the arena of gay rights stems from a sense of priority, that the complexity of health care reform and the battles that it is sure to engender loom so largely, that the administration cannot afford to expend any political capital on another hot-button issue, for fear of muddying the waters or drawing support away from their health care goals. In the first place: Man, this had better be some first-rate gollydarned health care we're getting from the White House! But in the second place, if, in fact, the White House sees this health care reform fight as one that needs to be borne on the back of same-sex marriage rights, they'd better recognize that they're adding to the debt they owe the LGBT community.

How does Solomonese see the situation? On Countdown, he seemed to have cause for encouragement, praising the incremental step taken and acknowledging that the vagaries of legislation stood in the way of Obama taking further, direct action without the assistance of Congress. Nevertheless, he was willing to define the sort of outcome he was looking for from the president:

"I think that the only thing that will really satisfy me and members of the community in the aftermath of that -- not the -- not just the defense but obviously the language in that defense, the language that to my way of thinking went way over the line. I think the only thing that is really going to appease people in the aftermath of that is overturning DOMA, overturning the two aspects of DOMA, the ability to move marriage from state to state and the ability to get federal benefits that go along with marriage."

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Comments

[garcia83]

in the south, where i am from, the conservatives reign. this is well known.

but what these conservatives don't understand is that two men may hold hands and can be just as qualified to be your lawyer, your waiter, your police officer, your marine. no matter their contribution to society, gay people are largely unaccepted in the south.

though when i see this attributed to "bad behavior", i think i understand. the attention driven "love me or hate me" displays of outright immaturity gay people cab be guilty of are doing nothing to get these conservatives to the table. it doesn't help them understand that as there are members of the heterosexual community that make mistakes, such are there members of the homosexual community; that in fact we are all human and cannot be generalized by the idiocy of any particular member of our category. that there is good in all of us.

instead of shoving tolerance down these conservatives throats, perhaps we can win their vote with a little understanding of our own. we'll be needing it.

[rf-hawaii]

This IS an important issue. But I can understand the desire to schedule the fight after health care is settled. The folks obstructing health care are the same ones determined to kill any advancement of gay rights. The ability to bargain one bill against the other would put both in jeopardy.

[RickL50]

How many people who read this story and take the time to show their interest think that the government has any business interfering in the private lives of it's citizens?

The ability to get married and have that marriage recognized by the entire country is inherent for all Americans and interference by the government under the influence of religious ideologues is the cause of this debate and not even the most important of all the issues any minority faces.

Bigotry and discrimination still exist in this country and the only way it will disappear is for each person to analyze their own feelings and behavior and weed it out themselves.

In the mean time, the laws of this country need to protect every identifiable minority from those Americans who won't.

[Raster]

Busy with "health care reform?" Obama has let that "initiative" go to weed. Strictly hands of f and it shows glaringly. Health care reform is about to become a debacle--again for the umpteenth time since 1937. So pleas Obama PR Team, try another excuse.

[jordan3189]

Who's keith olbermann?

[rf-hawaii]

An incisive, honest, intelligent interviewer.

[genia]

I keep reading these threads....you gay folks seem so defensive and selfish and childish...you are not listening to what we are trying to tell you......................
You are behaving badly...it's not what you're doing...we support you....IT IS....how you're doing it.

Pay attention...................you are losing our support.

[ibwilliamsi]

Just to clarify, I'm not one of "you gay folks". What exactly is it that "the gay folks" are doing, and HOW are they doing it that makes it "bad behavior"?

[Jezreel]

Get a clue. If you have to ask it means you are neither informed enough nor mature enough to make a difference or move the dialogue forward.

[Gnrshrtd]

RE: "you are not listening to what we are trying to tell you.... You are behaving badly..."

oh, are we being too uppity ?

[GayMark]

Please do not feed the troll.

[petalsoft]

When I watched Big Brother and saw a gay man call his dog the N Word...I knew right then and there the majority of the LGBT community were going to want to vote for Hillary as their soldier.

[Disuberence]

lol

[mikey683]

petalsoft huh?

[Solja]

That's not funny, not even a little bit.

[ibwilliamsi]

Nor does it make any sense whatsoever.

[nomobull]

another misleading taken out of context headline.MR SOLOMONESE had a lot more to say and he did not say the president wrote the brief. and he acknowledged the limits of what president Obama can do /. and gave him credit for what he has done. and gave the impression that the president has every intention of doing what he can but that the real fight is to get congress to change the law.

[moxieme]

You know what, as supportive as I am of the LGBT community, you guys are "going way over the line"! IHere in my area I am witnessing some pretty disapointing behavior. Some of the LGBT community doesn't care if their conduct is appropriate, wrong, questionable, lor illegal. The just know if the person is gay that's whose side they are on. I guess I didn't know that after all these years. I know it now.

[klandish]

Specifics... very vague.

[mikey683]

Gee moxieme tell us how some of your best friends are gay now.

[Gnrshrtd]

walk a mile in my shoes . . .

[bostongreen]

So now you're going to take out your "righteous" anger on gays? LOL, LOSER!

[Solja]

I've seen lots of inappropriate behavior from gays, but nothing compared to the things I've seen straight people do in public. It's all about humans doing this stuff. Don't make a difference between bad behavior and who's doing it. Look at like this... change the "LGBT community" in your sentence to "black" or "hispanic" or "asian" or whatever, and see if your statement still sounds right and applies to the overall community of those people.

[complice]

Californialoathe: So if g ay people have the right to marry someone of the opposite s3x, even though they lack the physical/emotional intimacy that hete r0s3xuals experience, does that mean that a g a y man has the right to marry your da ughter when she grows up?

I suppose you'd be just fine with that, right?

I mean, it isn't making a mockery of the institution of marriage as long as they aren't of the same gender, right?

[Jack Straw]

Complice. Your argument "does that mean that a g a y man has the right to marry your da ughter when she grows up?" is so off base and so missing the point.

One of the best reasons TO give them full rights, and one trumpeted by Howard Stern is that you DON"T want them marrying your daughters and 15 years of Rest Area interludes down the line he finally decides that he's ready to come out and live with Bob. Where then does that leave your daughter and her kids?

Quit discriminating against them and forcing them to hide amongst us in straight marriages. Nothing good will come of that policy and it just leads to families being hurt.

[Solja]

No one is forcing anyone to hide in a marriage. That's a cop out. There are some married men who have sex with other men, outside of their marriages, but don't consider themselves gay. This freak of nature is also part of the problem in the spread of AIDS to heterosexual women, particularly married black women.

I think people stay in the closest mostly because of their family and their own upbringing, because they mostly know they are gay when they are very young, and most others do too but it just hadn't been said out loud. I think some stay in the closet for fear of being ridiculed, harassed, etc., but most, I think, stay in the closet because of family concerns.

[zoe99]

JackStraw, you *completely* missed complice's point. Complice's comment was in support of gay marriage, not against it!

You need to read more carefully.

[complice]

Californialo athe: "Don't equate our race to what you do below your waist. This is demeaning regardless of the race or the se xu al preference."

Then don't equate a person's s3xual orientation with inc e st and polyg amy. It's demeaning and TOTALLY offensive, regardless of the person's orientation.

Still, I'm curious: Can your entire heter0s3xual identity be distilled to what you do with your s3xual organs? Honestly?
Is that all there is to it? There's no caring, companionship, friendship, emotional intimacy, etc.? Just cop u l at i0n and nothing else?

You've never answered this for me; Does a person cease to be g a y or l3sbian when they stop having s3x? Can a g a y man or woman still seek equality under the law and fight for civil rights if he or she is single, or celiba te, or simply averse to s3x ual contact?

[bleek8]

The point is you can't equate sexuality to race; they are different. To equate the two is belittling to both causes.

Can you have a gay person who is racist? Sure, Mikey683 seems to be one. I've known many gay folks who are very racist and also conservative. And looking at this "progressive" web blog, it's a little sad to see some of these comments coming from gay rights supporters. Just because your gay doesn't mean your progressive in the same that being black doesn't make you progressive.

Can a person of color be homophobic? Of course.

Civil rights should be extended to all. The gay movement doesn't need to equate homosexual rights to racial equality to accomplish this. Yet that seems to be their main strategy as well as scapegoating people of color as the reason Prop 8 passed. If the gay movement is to succeed it's going to have to mobilize progressive folks, people who are open to a progressive agenda. But enough of this racial scapegoating.

[mikey683]

Hey bleek8 just being black doesn't mean you can say anything. It's easy to call people racist. When black people say hateful things I call them on it. Again our civil rights movement isn't all about you.

[klandish]

Gay Rights was supported by the same leaders who led The Civil Rights movement of the 60's. They were secure in themselves their struggle and could see parallels to the Gay struggle for Equal Rights. The NAACP is in favor of Gay marriage. Coretta King was very out spoken on the similarities between the movements.

[mikey683]

So sick of people calling out "racist", like that's supposed to end the discussion. Give me an example. No one here is scapegoating people of color. I'm just sick of every discussion or gay civil rights degenerating into a diatribe about black suffering, which has nothing to do with gay civil rights. Get over yourself your not special.

[kforce]

Honestly, what is the problem here? It is gay people's decision where gay money goes. Why does anybody else care if we fund the DNC, the RNC, or Sesame Street. It's not your money, so get over yourselves about it.

[mikey683]

Ah there it is CaliforniaLove well how about a referendum to take your civil rights away? (We can do that now in California). Really give you something to cry about Then you tell everyone how oppressed you are first hand not just imagine what it was like for your ancestors.

[CaliforniaLove]

Start a grassroots initiative and send it to your local representative. I support your right to do so. Obviously, you aren't black you are just gay so you have no clue what real discrimination is like in this country. It permeates the very fiber of our country. Look no further than the malicious things said against our First Lady and President just this week. Now just imagine how a "regular" black person is treated.

[joemondo]

It's true, GLBT people don't know what it's like to be president (or first lady) and have nasty things said about us.

We only know what it's like to not be president (or first lady) and have nasty things said about us.

[klandish]

We feel your pain... you just don't feel ours. Discrimination is discrimination.

[JamesRiddle]

Obama needs to step up know and say something, anything, about his backtracking on Gay Civil Rights. If he doesn't do or say something very positive soon he will lose tons of support. Simple as that.

[ThisIsJustMyObservation]

He needs to worry about the economny, healthcare and foreign policy; this is the last thing he should be worried about.

[joemondo]

And gay people have other priorities for our money too. Obama and the DNC are the last things we should support.