During the civil rights struggle for African Americans, we often heard pleas for "patience" and that "these things take time" by those who were at the very least luke warm about doing away with segregation. The fact is that "patience" and "time" are the last things that are needed to have full and equal civil rights granted to any minority group! It's the very pleas for "patience" and "time" that retards the acquisition of civil rights, be it for African Americans or for Gay people!
Moreover, both Democrats and Republicans are seeking to give Pres. Obama a pass on his virtual silence regarding such crucial issues as DOMA and DADT, the latter costing us crucial military personnel such as Lt. Dan Choi, and so many others, that is both causing them to forfeit their careers as well as seriously harming our national security. So, national security issues and equal rights are put on the back burner in favor of discharging Gay military personnel who have the courage and integrity to demand that they live authentic lives, with all the rights and privileges that accrue to all other military personnel.
Pres. Obama could at the very least set a tone whereby he forthrightly comes out and says: "I believe that DOMA must be repealed and that DADT is unfair and is harming our national security." Yet, he hasn't done so as of this date.
Apparently, political expediency and/or political cowardice has prevented him from speaking out in favor of equal rights, having his spokespeople use as an excuse the paltry explanation that he has so much on his plate.
Regardless of the other crucial issues facing the President, it wouldn't take much time to draft a speech decrying discrimination against Gay people within the military; asking that Congress repeal DOMA, as it is patently unfair to countless Gay couples who wish and deserve to have the same rights and privileges extended to themselves and to their children as heterosexuals enjoy.
To give Pres. Obama a pass by excusing his lethargy regarding equal rights for Gay people is absolutely no different than the patience advocated by those who really didn't want equal rights for African Americans!
Civil rights are not to be up for grabs; not to be granted or denied by the will of the people; not to be granted incrementally! As I've written before, having civil rights is like being pregnant: you either have them or you don't!
The President helps set the tone of our society, and by merely forthrightly coming out and affirming the right of Gay people to enjoy equal rights, and demanding that Congress repeal DOMA, and by demanding that DADT be rescinded in the military (He is the Commander-in-Chief, after all!) as Pres. Truman did in regard to African Americans, will go a long way to the realization of those rights in the near future.
However, as of this time, Pres. Obama hasn't shown the will and/or the courage to affirm those rights, and no amount of excuses or rationalizations change the fact that he seems to view equal rights for all citizens to lack priority in his political and moral agenda.
The following video highlights how both Democratic and Republican spokespeople give Pres. Obama a pass, counseling more "patience" and "time" in any move to grant equal rights to Gay people. Frankly, as you can imagine, I find such pandering to Pres. Obama, and rationalizing the inequalities inherent in the status quo, very disturbing.
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