An LGBT Report Card for Obama's First 100 Days

Standing in Grant Park, President-elect Barack Obama told the crowd of thousands that his presidency was "...the answer spoken by young, old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled."

Hearing that acknowledgment, the open recognition of LGBT voters - 70% of whom supported Obama - was thrilling. It also set high hopes for the new year when the new President would finally take office.

The inaugural train asked sixteen guests to accompany the President to his opening day ceremony and one of those chosen was a lesbian organizer from Cleveland. Openly gay representative Tammy Baldwin was selected as an honorary co-chair for the inauguration and Reverend Lowry, a supporter of equal rights for LGBT people, was asked to give the benediction at the inaugural ceremony.

Reverend Rick Warren, decried for his anti-gay sentiments, was given a White House makeover: taking trips to gay neighborhoods, backtracking on homophobic statements and recently stating that he was "oblivious" to the Iowa gay marriage ruling.

Even Easter at the white house included LGBT families specifically invited to participate in the Easter Egg Roll.

If Barack Obama were a student in a high school civics class, he'd be getting a pretty good grade for class participation. Compared to the rows of sullen, silent Presidents behind him, he would look like a gay rights brown-noser.

But 70% of LGBT voters came out in support of Barack Obama because they expected that the support for equal rights expressed on the campaign trail would result in action for LGBT people once Obama was in office.

And when it comes to actual change in the lives of LGBT people, nothing has been done. Obama has failed to hand in any of his assignments.

The gay rights agenda is clear: pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act that adds LGBT Americans to the list of protected groups in existing hate crime legislation; pass the United American Families Act that permits committed LGBT couples to sponsor their foreign partners into the country; repeal the Defense of Marriage Act that denies federal benefits to same-sex couples even if they are married; pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would protect employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity; and repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, a policy that forces many service members to forego relationships or live part of their lives in secret in order to avoid discharge from the military.

This is just the fight for legal equality. It says nothing of funding and support for programs that target at-risk youth (1 in 3 gay youths have attempted suicide), public awareness campaigns that promote tolerance and social services - specifically health services - that cater to the LGBT community.

Obama has permitted Secretary Gates to indicate that repealing DADT may never happen. He has merely pledged to sign ENDA and the hate crimes bill, but has done nothing to actively campaign for them. And repealing DOMA isn't even on the radar.

Nancy Pelosi tells us that Congress, and the President, have their hands full with, "health care, energy and the issues related to the economy." And it's true that LGBT people are also citizens who care about the same things most Americans care about: health care coverage, good jobs, a healthy planet.

But we expect the government to be able to multi-task.

We reject the notion that Obama's political power and political capital are all used up by getting this country in basic working order.

If we had ranked political problems, like Pelosi urges us to, equality gains, past, present and future, would never have been achieved. She is effectively telling the LGBT community, create a national crisis or good luck getting basic rights.

Well, individual LGBT citizens are facing a crisis. They are being fired from jobs so hard to come by already because of their sexual orientation. They are paying huge amounts more in taxes than their straight counterparts despite the fact that everyone is scrimping and saving to make it through the economic downturn. They are losing their life partners to deportation because immigration rights don't extend to families with two parents of the same-sex.

Sure, these are tough times, but being an LGBT American puts a magnifying glass on your life. Economic problems, social problems, problems with access to social services, are all compounded by the lack of legal equality.

Obama has been ignoring this reality.

In his own words, the struggle for LGBT rights is "about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." He has an obligation to put that promise of equality on his immediate political agenda.

We have an obligation to make enough noise, raise enough money and put enough pressure on Congress to ensure that Obama's overall grade on LGBT rights becomes a sparkling "A".

Class Participation (30%): B+
Class Assignments (70%): F
Overall Grade: D -

Comments

[matazaking13]

btw I think that DADT is the first and easiest thing that we can try to deal with as the arguments against it are finally being showed for absolute bigotry and nothing else. I am mad at Obama for refusing to step in with the new cases being heard, but as I said he has to take his time lest he run into the same problem as Clinton. I say we keep pushing our local and state representatives because we don't need to push Obama. He supports the move against it, but he can't do everything by himself. We are the voters, and we are who the people in Congress who are still on the fence about DADT will have to deal with.

[matazaking13]

Gay rights are an incredibly important issue that needs to be dealt with, and while I understand that the government has to make a list of priorities and gay rights may not be the top, I feel it has to be adressed by our government in an effective and just way. However, you can't expect a single man and a single administration to reverse millenia of homophobia and purge Washington of all bigotry and make it the city on a rainbow we want it to be. There are homophobes in Washington, on both sides of the aisle. LBJ was able to get legislation done on the behalf of African Americans because the president more powerful during the Cold War and before Watergate, and he had the privilege of having an ideologically unified Congress. Obama does not have that privilege. He has conservative southern democrats who are not willing to rush towards change. He has Specters and Liebermans that have to be dealt with. It's politics. It's sad, it's slow, but it's the way things are done. So I plead Obama to do something to help the LGBT community, but I don't want him to rush into legislation that will only turn the entire country against him and bring a republican majority back to the Congress in 2010. It's painful to say but change is slow, but I believe Obama and the democratic leaders in Congress will eventually be able to make all people equal in the eyes of our government.

[MichaelGr]

Interesting read. Is Obama better than Bush/Cheney? Oh, yes, but that's hardly a gold standard of comparison. Thus far, I'd give him maybe a 25% approval rating for courage and leadership, and in terms of walking his talk in virtually any of his change-related mandates.

What's equally interesting is the tone of the blog replies. Obama has pretty much shot his wad with those who read Huffington, and here we're dealing with "centrist progressives," not with far left progressives.

A few people will say, "Give him more time." His true character is now clear, however, and I sense that time has run out. Amongst progressives in general, and here we're dealing with anyone to the left of Geithner, there's an increasing feeling of betrayal, bordering on contempt.

I voted for him--that was in 2008, not in 2012--but I won't even listen to his speeches anymore. This is just one more nail in the coffin.

[PrimusElijah]

I think the grade is overkill. Let's get real here. Obama is a friend of the LBGT community, but he can't do it all at once and this is still a very closeted and at times close minded society. You cannot possibly think he wipe the sphere clean of all the influence of the evangelical and social conservatives. No one is going to be 100% Happy with what any President goes, but I think the D- grade is ridiculous. What would you have given W, a M-. The scale doesn't go down that far my friend.

I don't envy the job Obama has. He takes it from all sides. Patience please, a 100 days isn't long.

[octobermax]

One important area that Obama did focus on in his first 100 days, which will disproportionately impact LGBTQ people, is fighting HIV and AIDS.

Obama's platform on AIDS included really important steps (developing a national AIDS strategy, focusing on prevention especially among high risk populations like men who have sex with men, young people, people of color, and women, ending the federal funding on syringe exchange, etc.) and he's definitely taken good steps forward in his first 100 days.

For more specifics check out ACT UP Philadelphia's blog: http://actupphilly.blogspot.com

[bkbzipper]

Human rights should never be put on the back burner. Our country was built on freedoms of our people, freedom of religion and separation of church and state... I'm still waiting. Pass UAFA so all citizens have equal rights.

[johnbdonovan]

The real human right involved is for every child to have a mother and a father, since both of these are needed for stable human development. Those seeking the benefits of marriage, which are largely to support this essential condition, are helping to deprive children of those rights, which are actually more important than any other right a child could have, except for life itself.

[ccwguy]

Nowhere in the constitution does it mention separation of church and state.

[jerry23]

I do feel that the choice of Rick Warren as a speaker at the inauguration was a bitch slap for many gay folks, including my self. However, Warren blew his chance to capitalize on the event because he constantly reveals that he is a lying charlatan whose ethics can be measured with an Eye Dropper. I believe the administration learned from the mess.The Economic storm has broadsided the focus but I do see progress and hope for more circumstance that portray my being as Human with a heart. Every time, I see photos of the Obama Family, my eyes tear up. I honestly never believed that in my lifetime I would ever see a Black president in the White house. I see the rays of Hope he instills in many. I also see how Hopeless the adversaries to my Equality are appearing, give them microphones, breast implants and the a spot light, they only reinforce their disjunct sense of what distorted perspective they create.

Another day in Paradise?

[jerry23]

I found this quote on line but don't know the author

"The first step in denying someone their rights is to deny their Humanity"

I think this quote sums up why the stragedy of Marriage Civil Right has gain tracking in understanding the bigger Picture. Gay people need to know that their Love has value, their relationships are developed and committed. I never felt that Obama was the Messiah who would be Parading around the White House waving a Rainbow Flag. As a Out Elder Gay Man, I have gotten use to reading the lines and the spaces between them. I have gotten accustomed to having Sweet Nothings whispered in my ear in the heat of the Moment and knowing that " I will call" means goodbye. We did not elect a King but if I squint, I believe I still see Obama as an Ally to the Tribe and not an adversary. Politics is Politics, a shell game and I never expected great waves of change in the first 100 days. Changes doesn't originate in Washington. Lots of positive things are happening from my perspective in this Country in many States.

to be continued

[littleblackcat]

You're jumping off the deep end a little too quickly, Miss. First of all, (I do realize there has been a couple of days between you writing and me reading) I believe the Hate Crimes Bill HAS been passed in the last 48 hours. Second, and actually much more important, is the fact that the President has been faced with, and accomplished more, in his first 100 days than many Presidents have had to handle in their entire first FOUR YEARS!
My advice, if you are interested in the advice of an old, white, straight woman, is that you cool your soup a bit. I have had gay friends for nearly fifty years and maybe it's possible that we oldsters have learned to be patient, but those in my age bracket are delighted that someone with intelligence is grappling with the problems everyone, not just GLBT communities, is facing these days.
Believe it or not, there are more important things in this world than the wants of any single faction.

[SD Indy]

WOW! So you think that a family who has been ripped apart should have to put their WANT aside because they are after all just a "faction"? You think that people who are being fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity should put their WANT of being protected under the law should just wait, because they are after all, just a "faction"? You think that in today's economy that we should continue accepting the unjust taxation that we face because we are after all, just a "faction"? You think that our brave LGBT Service Members should just be patient as they are being booted out of their military posts when someone happens to find out about their sexual orientation because after all, we are just a "faction"?

Screw PATIENCE. We've been patient LONG ENOUGH! Every election cycle we go through the same thing. They promise us the world, we fall for it EVERY time, well NOT any more! If we see the hate crimes bill stall in the Senate, and Obama fails to lobby forf it, he can all but kiss much of the LGBT community's support goodbye. That is NOT to say that most of those who supported him will go to the Republicans, but you can bet that many of us won't work as hard as we did for him this past election cycle. Nor will we donate our hard-earned money to him either. Many of us will support third party candidates.

[M1]

Well said....except for the 3rd party candidate part.

[Owlwriter16]

Hold onto your hat, folks, he's only been in office 100 days. For anyone to suggest that Obama has not been sympathetic to LGBT causes is outright fabrication and a blatant attempt to provide fodder for the naysayers on the Right. Every minority is this country has got its hand out looking for immediate gratification. So stay in line and be glad that the long nightmare of public homophibia has come to a resounding close, like the "beard and the skirt" charades of yesteryear. For the frst time LGBT really has a table at the banquet, so maybe you don't like the location and service is slow but we're getting fed, right? Transvestite Warhol superstar Jackie Curtis once remarked: "One day every boy in America will want to be Jackie Curtis." We're getting there.

(Note for you youngins: there was a time when gay men and women sought to mask their orientation by pretending to be in heterosexual relationships. For a gay man, the woman was a beard, for the gay woman the man was a skirt.)

[Matt Carter]

I'm not being contrary, Emma, and I'm certainly not defending Obama, but I don't think he really promised to do all that stuff for GLBT folks to begin with. Ever since he came on the national political stage, he has ALWAYS been equivocal at best when it came to whether he would actually promise to take action. This, for me was perfectly illustrated by Biden's performance at the VP debate, when he got all warm and fuzzy about gay rights, until Gwen Ifill asked him point blank whether he supported same-sex marriage. The response came down like a thud: "No."

In fact, Obama's consistent unwillingness to support equal rights (despite the fact that he was grabbing campaign contributions left and right from groups like the Human Rights Campaign) was the central reason I chose NOT to vote for Obama. (Small digression: I didn't vote for McCain, either, so relax.) Please, let's all face reality here.

I have said it before and I will say it again:

Don't listen to the pretty words. Don't fall for the idyllic photo ops. OBAMA IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.

[lovetheworld]

"Obama's consistent unwillingness to support equal rights"

You're so wrong. Barack Obama said repeatedly that he would have his team go through the books to have more than 1000 laws updated to benefit the GLBT community. He said that repeatedly. Repeatedly. REPEATEDLY! So get your "facts" straight, ok?

And you say "Obama is not your friend"? What? That's a little over-dramatic. As a state senator in Illinois, Obama fought discrimination against gays in housing and employment. It's apart of the record Matt. Look it up. And so far, he's been good, considering everything that's on his plate. And most GLBT voters know that.

[superstition]

Talk is cheap. Action is what counts.

[JohnBisceglia]

I know divorce protection is NOT a big "selling point" for Marriage Equality, but it is direly needed. I've heard of horrible stories happening when long-term couples break up, with one party taking advantage of the other.

BIG SURPRISE - Some gay men are AS selfish and evil as their heterosexual counterparts, but the gay men are NOT held accountable for their actions after a divorce, whiles some ex-wives "strike it rich".

Dear divorced folk - do NOT whine about how tough it was for you.
Trust me, divorce WITHOUT law is MUCH worse than divorce WITH law.

[huzzlewhat]

This is a completely fair grade based on the accomplishments (or lack thereof) so far. Sure, there are reasons for the lack of progress, but that doesn't change the grade. After all, if the dog ate your homework, you don't automatically get an A. The teacher can't give a grade based on work he or she hasn't yet seen.

So yes. So far, based on the work he's shown, Obama deserves a D-. But it's early in the semester, and we haven't reached midterms yet — so he's got plenty of time to pull that grade up before graduation. The D- just shows how much work he needs to do to earn his diploma, and how much (ahem) motivation the teacher needs to supply.

[DEvans1]

I am so sick of this whole "100 Days" charade. How could you possibly judge what someone will do 100 days into a 4 YEAR TERM?

As an African-American, we, like everyone else, had a little laundry list of things we would like to see our first African-American President do on our behalf as well, but we are smart enough to know that there are other national and global issues and concerns that affect ALL AMERICANS that take precedent over our separate and sometimes selfish concerns.

So my brothers and sisters of the GLBT, please pull on the reins and tap the breaks a little bit and give this man some space. It's been 3 MONTHS! I know you have your concerns which are very important to you but right now, our President is trying to tend to EVERYONE'S concerns and keep our little country here from BLOWING UP!

[Tanyars5]

DEvans1- I agree. The LGBT community thinks they are the only one who has issues. He gets an F?????? Obama got 96% of the black vote. Do you see black people screaming about Obama broke promises? No.
The LGBT crowd who is doing all this screaming is not doing anything favorable for their causes. They are arrogant and self serving. Maybe Obama will look at his F and actually make sure he earns it over the next four years.

[itmaybetoolate]

Well now, what are the promises he made to African-American people that he has broken? You see, AA people already have a civil rights bill (although it has not been adequately enforced at all times). We don't have our civil rights bill yet, and we are fearful that the president won't come through for us - shouldn't we have the right to say that? Next, why do you use the word "scream?" It adds nothing to what you have to say, and serves only to paint a picture of LGBT folks as out-of-control, hysterical crazy people. Are you trying to create that idea in other folks' minds? Finally, he got a D- (not a F) and the article was based on factual information. It made no wild assertions.

[M1]

"They" like in "those people" ? You are a hater plan and simple. So much that you go to gay stories to spew your hatred of Gays. Like clockwork. What is wrong with you?

[rdm24]

Short answer: No. Why should we wait for justice?

Equality is NOT a "selfish concern"

[Tanyars5]

Black people have been waiting for equality and still don't have it. If you think you are going to get "equality" because you demand it you are dreaming.
Short answer : Failure

[M1]

DEvans1, that was nicely said. Without insult or being dismissive. Your point is well taken. I liken Obama to Luke Skywalker and the United States is the space ship he is flying through a meteor storm and the engine keeps trying to die on him. That said, I believe he can handle all this and some gay rights on the side. He is, after all, fabulous!

[alekjoly]

Why not use the executive order to pass the Uniting American Families Act? President Obama is in a position to do just that, just as he has done with the other 17 executive orders he has signed in the past 100 days. Using an executive order, before the act is debated and hopefully passed by the congress, as a temporary relief for binational couples, living in this country in fear that they may have to live this country anytime soon, will relieve so many such couple of HUGE stress and give them a chance to breath sign of relief!