President Obama tried to buy himself more time with gay supporters by giving one of his trademark moving speeches over the weekend, in which he talked of the need for American hearts to open on gay issues and for laws to change.
But he has yet to act on most key gay issues, and the calls for progress are getting louder and more insistent. Obama needs to find a way to navigate the politics of this volatile issue while keeping his campaign promises.
We share the frustration of gays and lesbians who have grown tired of being asked to wait. But we also understand that timing is important when it comes to politically divisive issues.
As tough as it is to watch advances on gay issues coming so slowly, ultimately, we think, there is greater likelihood for success if the nine-month- old administration is given a chance to first bank some political capital.
That capital can be expended later to, for instance, push for repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which compels the federal government to define marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman. It means that same-sex married couples are denied the federal benefits that heterosexual married couples are entitled to, such as filing joint tax returns and receiving Social Security survivor’s benefits.
DOMA, as it is called, must be repealed, and the sooner the better. During his campaign, Obama, who opposes same-sex marriage, said he would work to overturn it. And the country should hold him to that promise.
Taking on such a thorny issue at the same time the administration is wrestling with two wars, health care reform and a struggling economy would be political overload. Polls have shown Americans are divided on the issue of same-sex marriage.
On Saturday, the president reiterated his support for changing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that requires gay and lesbian members of the military to keep their sexuality secret. He made the comments to 3,000 people attending a fund-raising event for the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest gay-rights advocacy group.
But then he failed to lay out a timetable for reversal of the policy, which was a political compromise dating from the Clinton administration.
While it’s true Obama has yet to fully use his bully pulpit to push major gay issues, his administration did extend some benefits to the spouses of federal employees who are gay.
He also has expressed support for an expansion of federal hate-crimes laws to include gay, lesbian and transgender people. That law seems poised to pass, and as we said Monday, such an expansion would be a laudable change in federal law.
The president’s comments came on the eve of a large gay-rights rally in Washington, D.C., which was intended to pressure policy makers. We were glad to see fervent support for these issues of basic equality.
But the president needs to know that more than just gays and lesbians are supporting these necessary changes. It’s about equality.
None of us should give up until gay people are no longer treated as second-class citizens.