I know it seems odd. Ironic even. I was listening to the president's speech to the veterans on Omaha Beach, commemorating the anniversary of D-Day and it hit me. Funny I know. I was listening to him address military veterans and I realized what is missing in the president's approach to gay civil rights.
On Sunday June 6, he spelled out, as only he and Jon Favreau can, the significance of the day not as some pedantic history lesson but as a narrative. The tale of ordinary men who found themselves in the most extraordinary of circumstances. And sure, every president throws in an anecdote about someone in the audience but for Obama, it is more than that.
My kids have had a gifted middle school history teacher. No textbooks for Judy Berecski. She brings the lessons of history to life through the personal narrative, giving our kids the opportunity to walk in the shoes of slaves, of soldiers, of those expanding America to the west, to immigrants arriving to find a home in the United States. Why? Because she believes that without empathy as a lens, history is meaningless. What choices did those men and women have? What could they have done differently? What would you have done in that situation? It is through questions and discussions that our kids realized that history is simply the reading and telling of the most remarkable story.
When first asked about the criteria for selection of a Supreme Court Justice, the president caused a stir by using the word empathy. He wants justices who understand the impact of the law on real peoples' lives. Empathy is about personal connection, about caring. Not something you learn in a textbook. It is the most important ingredient in the human experience. Caring about your fellow man.
Whether it is an address in Cairo or at Buchenwald or in Philadelphia on the campaign trail, the president speaks so eloquently, so empathetically about the real impact of the fear of difference in our society.
This is exactly what has been missing from the president on gay rights. Empathy.
I believe with all my heart that the president is in the right place on all our issues and that we will see more progress in an Obama administration than we could hope for. The impressive record of the first 100 days (and the work since) tells me that.
But I haven't heard evidence of empathy. Yet. And its absence has begun to create an air of suspicion -- a growing sense among bloggers and activists -- that we once again were courted for our votes and our dollars and then promptly left on the back burner. Or maybe not on the stove at all.
We have a right to be impatient. Let's remember. It was not very long ago that the former POTUS stood before the American people and announced that he was pushing for an amendment to the Constitution banning marriage equality. It was not so long ago that we could be charged as criminals in many states for who we love. We may be on TV and even hosting the Tonys but let's be clear. We are second class citizens. We have every right to make noise and to push.
But what we need most of all is a president who illustrates that he cares about us. A president who honors our struggle, honors our plight, honors those among us who have been fighting the good fight. We need a president who can weave a heartfelt narrative that reminds the American people that equality for gay Americans is not simply an issue of law, of right and wrong. But that as members of a global community, we have personal connections and obligations to the people with whom we share this world.
The message must come, not from his head, from his vast understanding of Constitutional law, but from his heart. Why? First, without the inclusion of empathy in the narrative of history, we learn nothing. No one changes. And secondly, the gay community knows full well. We are controversial; Going to bat for gay and lesbian equality requires more than simply having logic and intellect on your side. We've learned. The hard way.
Leaders who have been successful in moving gay rights forward are right. Of course they are. But equally as important, they care. And they communicate that commitment by helping others to walk in our shoes.
Empathy. The president took heat when talking about this as a criterion for a Supreme Court Justice. But not from me. I thought it was absolutely spot on.
Now I'd like some empathy from the president. It would make the waiting easier. I could be more patient. And if he can weave empathy into a strategy of diplomacy I believe we will have elected a president who can lead us in tackling the most important civil rights issue of our time.
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But with two wars, healthcare
Personally
Carol
Let's show the world our numbers and demand that his campaign promises be fulfilled. Stick around for the days after to lobby Congress..
Start socking away your pennies. See you at N.E.M. in October.
For now, Obama must conform to the homophobes
Only after we prove we can carry at the very least a few blue states, will we have any leverage with the national parties or their candidates
Pick a blue state any blue state.
In the meantime our efforts for or against the DNC and Obama are wasted. Whether they fake empathy for us or not, these politician
I don't blame Obama for ignoring you all, to be honest. He has bigger fish to fry, and for the race-baiti
Obama's everyone's President, not just liberals. Thirty states have voted and said they don't want gay marriage. Practicall
And..."the
Religion bashing? Look what they do to my life and try to vote away my marriage.
If someone tried to vote away your marriage, you'd care about "your own interest" too!
"I don't blame Obama for ignoring you all" ? How Christian of you!
As I said earlier...
Gay is not an issue. It's my life. And yeah, I'm focused on my life and my people like any one else.
Yeah, we run around calling people bigots, because...
I am black and when someone is a racist, I call them out on it. Should I just be silent and condone their behavior?
Oh yeah, because I'm gay and black I don't deserve to have an opinion. Sad Homophobe!
I seem to recall this being totally blown off by most of Obama's gay supporters during the election with "oh, that isn't what he meant", although no one ever did explain what he DID mean. There might not have been much of an option by November but the deafening silence in response to these red flags last year has given him a clear message: he can be as un-empathe
Obama certainly has a lot on his plate, but he needs to get a lot more citizen pressure on this. He (along with a few commenters here) seems to have forgotten that gay men and lesbians aren't resident aliens from the planet Jupiter; they're citizens of this country and as much a part of the American scene as any of the religious groups he's been trying to court.
1) It's a COMPLIMENT to the black civil rights movement that gays point to blacks as an example. Why are people so offended by that other than homophobia
2) People forget that lots and lots and lots of gays and lesbians are people of color. I keep reading comments that characteri
2) And most of them don't make the wholesale comparison
Why allowing Gay men and women to have equality is so threatenin
In the South, during Reconstruc
Of course, blacks did not stand for that. And gays won't either. I am one of the 18,000 legally wed gay couples remaining in Calif. Federally, I can't be given my husband's social security payments when he dies. We can't file federal joint taxes. There are some 700 additional federal marriage rights we are not allowed because we must "know our place."
Would blacks or hispanics or any minority put up with that and "just take it."
NO.
The thing is even when a straight person knows a gay person, they're still ambivilent about gay issues. Troll's excluded, the "liberals" here are allegedly gay friendly and yet keep telling us to wait till next year and then the year after that so another less than par health care fix it bill can be worked on and then killed.
Want empathy then show that you have empathy for others.
Funny but I don't see that at all.
"Do unto others right?
If you want understand
Stand in my shoes first before your own.
But I guess maybe that's just too hard?
Look for trouble..l
Look through your own colored glasses and you won't see reality.
Call it a "Civil Union" leaving the world "Marriage" out of it and trust me, you will find more acceptance than what you are getting.
Someday, maybe some of you will turn a corner and realize where you are as compared to those who are not gay...and then you will be able to put yourselves in our shoes and understand for the first time.
Until then, keep bashing Christians and Catholics and you will reap the rewards...
J
1) History. To be more specific, the Clinton era.
2) Obama alternated been half-heart
3) Everyone of those groups, while they still suffer from severe discrimina
Based on what precedent should we trust Obama and the Democratic Party?