A Letter to Our President

Dear President Obama,

While fighting for the abolition of slavery, one politician qualified his stance, "I have never been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people."

That politician was Abraham Lincoln. Obviously time and experience brought Mr. Lincoln to what would have been called the extremist view; that freedom cannot be compromised just to appease the majority.

And so he made a grander gesture reminding us of "...a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Passing a law would change the course of slavery, but those words changed the course of the history.

Mr Obama, I have heard you speak eloquently in favor of inclusion for gays and lesbians. But then you sternly state your opposition to marriage rights. It leaves me wondering if you are straining to be politic or, if like Lincoln, your views still need maturing.

Days after your historic election an aide of yours told me that you plan to do away with the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." I applaud the gesture. But don't kid yourself. Redefining that policy will do little to end discrimination against us.

With or without the Pentagon's permission gays and lesbians have been serving in the military since the birth of this nation.

We may have served in silence.

We may have fought in secret.

But a complete ban of gays did not stop us from fighting and dying for our country.

Abolishing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" won't bring us into the military or end discrimination against us.

Legalizing gay adoption won't end discrimination against our children in the playground.

Even legalizing gay marriage won't bring about the whole cloth change our nation needs.

When you, leader of the free world, accept, tolerate and even invite bigots into your fold changing a policy is not enough.

In any case, we don't need you to fight our small battles for us.

We will eventually win these on our own. Property matters, adoption rights, and even gay marriage will be won in courts of law as they are now being won in courts of public opinion.

Given time, our constitution, and the American values of fair play and justice, will prevail. We will win equal rights.

But what only you can give us is the grand gesture.

Mr. President, we need you to be more than another reasonable voice.

We need you to raise yourself up out of the mire of majority opinion.

We need you to rise above the daily politics of compromise.

We need you to mount that bully pulpit our blood, sweat and tears have erected, and speak to the greater ideal.

America needs to hear you say, "We will no longer tolerate the oppression of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. They are our family. They are we and we are they."

The nation needs to hear you say, "We must prove ourselves worthy of the title Americans; protectors of the weak, standard bearers of freedom, and guarantors of equal rights for all."

Mr President, history will record the day you say, "From this day forward no amendment, statute or law that seeks to deny full rights of citizenship on the basis of sexual preference will be tolerated. Hatred and bigotry are here forth banished to the dark recesses of small minds.

Let the Pledge of Allegiance light our way to tomorrow as "...one nation, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all.'"

That, dear son of Lincoln, is the grand gesture we need from you.

We need a hero, and you have been elected.

This post was originally read at Defying Inequality: A Celebrity Benefit for Equal Rights.

Comments

[Spunky714]

Michael Lucas was also in attendance at the concert and posted his thoughts about Harvey's speech (and a few other participants) here: http://www.lucasblog.com/archives/2009/02/last_nights_def.html. Very insightful on a number of topics.

[darker]

Most eloquently stated, thank you, Harvey Fierstein.
--a friend of the late Richard Hale.

[bearblue]

Beautifully stated, but I would reconsider comparing what amount to a naming rights issue (as is the case in California) to equal rights for slaves. Prop 8 may have been defeated if black and other historically oppressed minorities in California would have voted against it in greater numbers. Even hinting that there is a comparison is not going to sway black americans, but just piss them off.

[southwindow]

piss "them" off?
the comparison to lincoln was made because obama continually compares himself to lincoln, uses his bible and invokes his presence.

[BarryS]

Obama is a politician. He probably is a scared politician. Gitmo, torture, bailouts, socialize medicine are nothing compared to Gay Rights.

As he has said, after, everything else is fixed due to the "emergency" he'll work on Gay Rights. I.E. never.

[gascelebrations]

Why should "he" fix a problem that isn't his in the first place? Why should we wait around and expect him to do anything that we can do ourselves? Are you incapable of making decisions for yourself that you need someone who is completely unrelated to lead you to decide?

This is precisely the problem with Gay America: we need a hug?? We need a leader?? We need validation? A catchphrase? Some symbolic nothingness to give us a false sense of security?

Why have we EVER needed these things?

Did the black community wait around in the 1950's for President Eisenhower to say "I love black people" before they did what they needed to do in order to guarantee their human rights?

[FearlessFreep]

When Obama said "Marriage is between a man and a woman," he lost the right to say the problem wasn't his responsibility.

[prolibertate]

Excellent letter! But the President won't do a thing. The man doesn’t admit he's half-black AND half-white, so I doubt he has much empathy for gays and lesbians.
While some believe the issue of gay marriage isn't 'important,' perhaps they don't realize that gay people are being discriminated against in many ways. Discrimination in any form is wrong.
Too many people equate marriage with religion, which state homosexuality is wrong. If government is separate from religion, religious beliefs shouldn't enter the marriage debate. Perhaps some see religious connotations in the word 'marriage'; I don’t. If organized religion comforts someone, then follow it; but don’t put your beliefs on anyone else - nor try to make religious beliefs laws. We have separation of church and state for good reason. Just look at what that lack has done to other countries!
If two consenting adult of the same sex love each other enough to make a commitment, they should legally be able to do so and gain all the benefits people gain when they get 'married'. 'Marriage' is a word; it's the commitment behind it that matters. Anyone willing to make that commitment should be afforded the legal protections available.
Obama won’t make a difference. Only individuals can make that difference in their own hearts, realize all PEOPLE are created equal, are constitutionally given the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, nothing more, nothing less, and one of those pursuits may be marriage to the person they love.

[gascelebrations]

I would like to know what Obama (or anyone else) "saying" all of those nice things will really produce in terms of:
-lives saved
-mouths fed
-REAL discrimination ended

I'm waiting. I've actually been waiting for the endless obsession with symbolic acts to translate into something more tangible and REAL beyond a bunch of words from someone's mouth.

If Obama said these things, does that mean we are "better off" than we were the last 8 years? If there's a gay character on a soap opera or sit-com, or there is a gay couple in a television advertisment, does that mean true progress has been achieved?

I'm waiting.

[csavage]

As mentioned before, Obama never campaigned on an equality platform. Even if he did, I think he still would have won, however. The Repub party was hijacked by the religious nut-jobs-there's plenty of Repubs who think the government has no business legislating morality, it's just that the party powers, for some strange reason, don't see them for the majority of the Repub party that they are (maybe it's because they not vocal)
In any case, my opinion is that, marriage is a religious institution and the government has no business being in the religion department. I'm a married hetero, with gay friends and family, but I do not believe I should get any special consideration from the government because of it. Face it, with less than 50% of heteros being married, the marriage business is in trouble.
Also, as a doc, I apologize to the person being denied access to their partner in the hospital. I've been in practice 20 years and I've never denied access to a patient nor has any of the hospitals I've worked at either-except in clear cases of abuse

[jcwtts1]

There are two issues at play here, , maybe three. The nut jobs as you call religious people have a gripe. If states enact laws that make same sex marriage legal, they also simultaneously make churches who refuse to perform them illegal or acting outside their constitutional responsibilities. The most recent case of this that I can think of, and please correct me if I am wrong, is the LDS race thing. If LGBT marriage is the law then churches are required to a) allow LGBT members, and b) marry same. The second issue is the reason this isn't already the case.
LGBT people are not a suspect class, that means they are not entitled to the protections given federally for race, ethnicity, sex, religion, physical disability, vets, and I think the seventh is mental disability. Sexual orientation is not listed in the supreme court decision and as such there are no federally mandated ways to force the marriage issue. However, the court seems poised to either add them to the class, or to create a new class for them and their rights. Here is the problem. That will take about 10 years. Maybe longer. And there is no guarantee that it will work. It is time to negotiate civil unions or a faith based exception to the mandated suspect class laws. If we can do either one of those we should have LGBT marriage or unions in the next 6 months. But neither side wants to negotiate.
J

[SunDriedTomato]

jcw, you are a victim of misinformation.

Churches don't have to admit, recognize, or marry anyone they don't want to. That's what this whole thing about "separation of church and state" means. Churches who refuse to marry someone are not "illegal or acting outside their constitutional responsibi­lities." They have no "constitutional responsibi­lities." They are free to do (or not do) whatever they want within their church.

Church marriages have no particular legal recognition.

It is the signed license granted by the state that gives legal recognition.

Simply as a matter of courtesy, all clergy are considered deputized by the state to sign marriage licenses. You can deputize your best friend to sign, and your marriage will be valid. You can have a clerk of the court sign, and your marriage is valid.

[paisleyface]

2008: Gays prohibited from marrying.

2010: Gays prohibitied from grocery shopping.

[LeeHInAlexandria]

A lot of people would be surprised to know this but President Obama has stated several times during the campaign that "marriage should be between a man and a woman". http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2008/08/obamas-gay-marriage-position-i.htmll) I think that stems more from the fact that the bible considers gay marriage an abomination (Leviticus 20).

That said, gays do deserve more rights than they are getting now. I have a lot of gay friends and have seen them be discriminated against. I had a friend recently who was denied seeing his partner in his hospital room.

[MsObvious]

Who? Anyone who wasn't really paying attention. Clearly most California voters followed Obama's oft repeated lead "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman" - voting for Obama and Prop8.
What surprises me is that anyone's surprised.

[mikey683]

Oh PS folks gays have 1000's of years of discrimination not just 400. The who's more oppressed card is silly.

[paisleyface]

I'm reminded of a little joke:

Is it better to be black or to be gay?

Black, because you don't have to tell your parents.

[poliguy70130]

Compassion and equlity begin at home. As a gay African American, I often feel that the gay community seeks equality from the straight world while denying it to members of their own community.

[JohnDewey]

I know where you're coming from, but here's my (somewhat) dissenting take on it.

I happen to be a lesbian & I also happen to be the child of a "mixed race" marriage - African American & "White." Throughout my life, I have felt like an outsider in just about every community I found myself in. The closest I have come to an experience of "belonging" was in the college that I chose. Even there I was a working-class student in the midst of people who had never known work or much in the way of worry. As a woman, a lesbian & neither "Black nor White" I could easily resent a lot of people. It's definitely no easier to be GLBT in the "Black" community than it is to be "Black" in the GLBT community.

Our society teaches us to fear outsiders, even while the definition of who is an outsider is constantly in flux. Membership in a despised or feared group doesn't exempt any of us from this - it reinforces it. Poor "Whites" were taught to hate "Blacks" during legal Slavery because it was an effective way of keeping us from working together against our common oppressors. Dr. King knew this when he organized the Poor Peoples' March. The only way out of this cycle is for each of us to recognize & reject it.

[reedmaker]

Thank you, Harvey.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

If Obama had supported gay marriage during the election, we would had John McCain addressing congress tonight. And to put g.m. ahead of other issues, starting with the economy, is beyond ridiculous. It would also hurt support for Obama, as well as the Democrats.

Besides, getting the Employee Free Choice Act passed into law is a million times more important then g.m.

[FearlessFreep]

Nonsense, Obama would have won anyway.

This isn't a zero-sum game. BHO can support gay rights without neglecting the economy.

[bbbtmenw]

Thank you and keep up the fight....

I was upset that some lame writer/blogger for Huffington Post decided to write that you were crazy to compare Obama to Lincoln and slavery to our fight. You didn't, but maybe you should have.

There are too many similarities with our struggle to the African American struggle.

We have and are being imprisoned and killed in the US and other countries. We were in concentration camps, had laws against us within the past 10 years, hate crimes have increased against gays and lessened against all other minority groups, we are at the top of the hate list of the GOP and most religious organizations, and we do not have laws that protect us.

Who suffers most now from lack of legal protection? Gays still do not have the law on their side and it leads to discrimination, hate crimes, and continued attacks in every way.

Who's children are killing themselves from being told they are different, wrong and will never have the right to marry who they love? Gay Teens who kill themselves at a rate of 6 times higher than straight teens, and 1 in every 2 attempt or serious contemplate suicide.

You get the point.....­.....

[AbsolutDemocrat]

Amen!