Obama's "Justice" department crossed a line today by filing a hideously hateful brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act. The brief contained legal arguments comparing gay marriage to incest and parroting far right homophobic viewpoints that would make Pat Robertson giddy. Worse, it said that DOMA is constitutional, and that denying gay people marriage equality is not the same thing as denying interracial couples the same equality that led to the Loving v. Virginia decision. Interestingly, today is the 42nd anniversary of that decision, which decriminalized interracial marriage nationwide. Obama sure has an odd way of celebrating that anniversary.
Obama has shown a consistent disregard, if not an open hostility, toward the GLBT community. During the campaign he hosted homophobic gospel singer Donnie McClurkin. He had the bigoted fundamentalist Rick Warren do the invocation at his inauguration. His stance opposing marriage equality was used by the hatemongers who helped pass Prop 8 in California.
Yet the GLBT community voted for him in droves. Why? Because he told us what we wanted to hear, and we were "realists" about the "fact" that he could "never support marriage equality" and still be a "viable candidate." We could still get him to overturn DOMA, we told ourselves, and pass the Matthew Shepard Act, and repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, etc. Marriage equality would have to wait until the bigots, overwhelmingly old and white, died off, and the new, progressive generation, could take full control of the political process.
You know what? Fuck that.
Fuck all of it.
Fuck political realism. Fuck expediency. Fuck it all to hell. And Fuck Obama.
Because we did all of that, we gave Obama the benefit of the doubt, we trusted the Democrats to do the right thing, and they shit all over us.
Not only that, but now Obama and his "Justice Department" are actively undermining us. At least the right wingers are honest about their intent to demonize us. The Democrats pretend to be our friends and then stab us in the back. Which is worse?
What's worse is that there are progressives today who are defending this atrocity of a legal brief supporting DOMA. Obama is a President who has to "uphold the law" and DOMA is "the law." The Justice Department is "legally required" to defend DOMA.
No. I'm sorry, but that's just not ok.
I work in family law. I spend my days working on divorce case after divorce case. Straight couples who have the right to marry, do so, and then rip each other to shreds when it doesn't work out. I don't even have that right, and sometimes it just kills me that I'm deconstructing marriages, when I can't legally enter into one.
This issue isn't about legalistic arguments or what someone is legally supposed to do. It's just not.
Marriage equality is an issue of moral outrage. It is legal discrimination against a class of people for no good reason.
By filing this hateful brief, the Obama administration has shown that they care more about the technicalities of the law than they do about correcting a civil rights injustice. Moreover, they've used every argument they can against marriage equality in such a brutally thorough manner that if their arguments succeed, they'll severely hurt anyone else's chances to get justice and equality through the courts.
If you support this opinion, or you believe Obama's Justice Department was right in writing it, then you are just as bad as the bigots who wrote it. I don't care what your reasoning is.
I want our community in the streets. This is Pride week in many cities. Let's put a little bit of moral outrage in our parades. Let's turn up the heat on Obama and show him that we won't take his homophobic bullshit sitting down.
And let's not give him or the Democrats the benefit of the doubt in the next elections. It's time to stop compromising. It's time to start organizing.
