Obama Extends Protections To Gay Couples Under Medicaid

[Pint0 Xtreme]

It would dishearten me to think Obama would abandon the LGBT community after his reelection (as opposed to embracing it). It's unfortunate that we're left with no much of a choice. It's either I vote for a wild card who may or may not sincerely care about us or vote for a candidate that's sure to attack LGBT Americans during their term. I can only hope, Mr Bean, that you are wrong but it's almost impossible to know what's going on in Obama's head.

[Connor MacLeod]

It would dishearten me to think Obama would abandon the LGBT community after his reelection (as opposed to embracing it). It's unfortunate that we're left with no much of a choice. It's either I vote for a wild card who may or may not sincerely care about us or vote for a candidate that's sure to attack LGBT Americans during their term. I can only hope, Mr Bean, that you are wrong but it's almost impossible to know what's going on in Obama's head.

This is going to sound harsh but, you're fucked simply because this is America and we're too good to change. If it's not the latent discrimination the LGBT continues to suffer (and probably will suffer.) it's the self interest and factionalism that will keep doing it (you know, the stuff masquerading as "individualism." and allows the rampant capitalism to fuck us over.) Obama is just as guilty as everyone else for letting it go on, but singling him out as somehow being more culpable than the rest of America is retarded, since its problems in the system and culture itself that allow this discrimination to go on and resist attempts to change it.

[Connor MacLeod]

I don't know if your aware of this but Clinton, Bush I, Regan and Carter, Nixon all did much more things via the office of the President that Obama. Bush the 2nd was just the most extremist but I could have also said the following.

Yes, and so what? are you aware times have changed (generally for the worse?) So have the various parties, especially since Reagan. I don't really have to speak to the flaws of the Republicans and the trouble/damage they inflict (especially GWB - not exactly an example *I* would use of "how to get things done", nevermind that he was a white christian southern 'good ol boy') but Clinton (the only Democrat besides Obama since the Reagan era) doesn't exactly have a stellar record, especially when it comes to the LGBT community, and Clinton likely had it easier (again being white, amongst other things, but the times and conditions in the US were also quite different.)

If you learned nothing from President Bush Clinton that it takes Congress to pass new laws or over turn existing ones. Beyond that the President can issue all the findings he likes and they become defacto law unless Congress steps in to stop him... except you know Veto power.

And he can just act in a vaccuum?

I don't know if you know this but Fox news once critised the fact he puts mustard on his hamburgers, they will oppose him no matter what he does even when he inacts Republican plans or out and out cuts back regulation and hands out tax cuts.

Yeah, and? He's faced this level of stupid shit since he took office, which should tell you just how much resistance he faces. You really think he'd be able to get anything done in the face of that? If it's not the bigots and religious fundies, it would be people who oppose him because he's black, he's intellectual, or simply because he's perceived as a fucking lefty/democrat/socialist. That alone guarantees that he'd have to burn alot of his political capital, goodwill, and personal favours just to get anything passed, and even then I imagine it would be so watered down it probably would do only a fraction of what it was intended to do.

No matter what President Obama does, good, ill or somewhere in between he will be criticized, so why give a shit about his critics?

Who says it would be limited to only criticism? Are you saying the opposition is powerless to try to stop him? We've already seen how mindless and easily swayed the american populace is by propoganda, and propoganda is one of the few things the Republicans can do with any skill still. Moreover, and this pains me to say it, but there are other issues at hand than just LGBT rights. America is so utterly fucked up and has so much wrong with it that things can onyl get done (and even then at a glacial pace) by sacrificing some issues for the sake of others. So if we go with LGBT rights, what gets sacrificed? And this assumes he could get anything like you are thinking past all the bigotry and resistance he'd face (you know, like he did with other equally socialist concepts like health care for everyone.)

No I'm not asserting he's a homophobe, but he's no grand defender of LGBT rights either, it's been observed that Obama speaks against gay marriage at every opportunity hinting that separate but equal Civil unions might be acceptable.

Yeah? And as has been pointed out many times by Mike, he's a fucking moderate by any other standards but America and he's demonstrated he's determined to stick to that position. Which should tell you something about how fucked up our culture is. Do you seriously think if he tried to be more progressive or more aggressive about it he would get anything done? He's the president but he can't fucking operate in a vaccuum, not the way the system is set up, and not especially since he is to many tTEH EVUL SOCIALIST MUSLIM BLACK PRESIDENT in the first place. Did you forget how utterly stacked the deck was against him since before he was elected? Even elements of his own party sought his defeat, nevermind the conservatives and republicans.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

This is going to sound harsh but, you're fucked simply because this is America and we're too good to change. If it's not the latent discrimination the LGBT continues to suffer (and probably will suffer.) it's the self interest and factionalism that will keep doing it (you know, the stuff masquerading as "individualism." and allows the rampant capitalism to fuck us over.) Obama is just as guilty as everyone else for letting it go on, but singling him out as somehow being more culpable than the rest of America is retarded, since its problems in the system and culture itself that allow this discrimination to go on and resist attempts to change it.

Don't forget that we've made progress despite the problems of American culture, even if it is on a state by state level. I don't have the solutions to the enormous multitude of problems facing American society nor can I say with any certainty that American society has the capacity to change to address most of them any time soon. However, I do know what the game looks like in the LGBT equality fight; and it's an optimistically winnable fight. On the surface, the repeal of the gay ban on the military sounds like such a pitiful milestone for a first world nation in the 21st century. But if you consider how reactionary Americans are to change, it's hard not to acknowledge that ending DADT was a legislative feat (And fuck, it was one hell of a fight). Public opinion is shifting dramatically and one of these days (I'm hoping it's Minnesota next year), we'll defeat one of these fucking anti-LGBT voter referendums. We're changing the cultural landscape to win politically. Sure, it's fucking slow as hell (on the political front) but it's hard to deny that we are moving and that we are reaching that political tipping point.

That said, I'm not singling Obama out for the anti-LGBT problem. He is susceptible to politics. And while he may be less susceptible to it after his reelection, he won't be immune to it. And the Democratic party as a whole will definitely stay just as, if not more, susceptible. They will want to keep the LGBT community content if want us to continue contributing and voting for them post 2012. The LGBT community is going to keep on fighting and demanding its rights until LGBT equality becomes the litmus test for Democrats. It virtually is that way for CA Democrats.

[Pint0 Xtreme]

I just found this 30 minute video on the brief overview of LGBT movement today: http://www.outgiving.org/video/the-lgbt-movement-today/

It's fairly concise considering how much there is to cover. Also, New York state is on the cusp of achieving marriage equality. It's all so exciting!