Why An Obama Victory Is So Important
By Terry Bean
As someone who has spent thirty-six years fighting for equality for LGBT people, I want to explain to you in very personal terms why I think this election will be by far the most crucial the LGBT community has ever faced. My involvement in the struggle for LGBT justice dates back to 1972 when I lobbied the Eugene city council and the Oregon legislature for a LGBT civil rights bill. In 1980, I co-founded the Human Rights Campaign Fund to raise money for gay supportive congressional candidates (there weren’t many back then).
When HRC was founded, we dreamed of a day when our nation would pass sweeping federal civil rights legislation aimed at protecting our community. Almost thirty years later that dream remains unfulfilled and yet today we are closer than we have ever been to success. For the first time in our nation’s history we have a LGBT friendly U.S. House and Senate. All we need now is a progressive and fair minded President to join with the Congress in championing our cause. Senator Barack Obama will be that President.
I say this with confidence because I have gotten to know Senator Obama well over the last year and a half. I am a member of his national finance committee and on a variety of occasions he and I have spoken about GLBT issues. Each time I have been impressed by his breadth of knowledge and emotional commitment to our issues. As a minority he understands the pain of oppression, as a constitutional law professor he understands our nation’s mandate of equal protection and as an American he understands that none of us are free until all of us are free. In the words of Senator Obama “While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
Senator Obama represents authentic change for our community and we must seize the opportunity to have him as our next President. To understand the stakes, all you have to do is look at the last eight wasted years. Instead of leadership we got a President who sabotaged every effort to advance our rights, a President who scapegoated us, a President who used our community as a whipping child to distract the nation from his own incompetence.
If we elect John McCain this fall, the waste will only continue. Just click here to compare McCain’s stances on the issues we care about to Senator Obama’s. The difference between these candidates is as clear as it is profound. With Obama we can get everything we have been working for over the past three decades, while with McCain we may get none of it.
And it is not just GLBT issues that we must care about come November. There is so much more. If McCain is allowed to fill the next few vacancies to the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade will be no more. The liberal justices are aging (the oldest is 88) and some are ill. Just one more Alito or Scalia and the right to choice will be gone. We cannot let this happen. For the future and sake of our community, Obama must win.
This blog was created with that purpose in mind. It will have up to the day information, videos, facts, and commentaries on Senator McCain and Obama relevant to the LGBT community. My hope is the LGBT community will find it a helpful resource as together we convince our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to work and vote for Obama this fall.
So please visit this site often, learn the facts then give all you can to the Obama campaign both financially and otherwise.
Together, we can make a difference.
In Hope and Victory,
Terry Bean
Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, LGBT rights
August 19th, 2008 at 6:43 am
[...] Terry says in the initial post launching LGBT for Obama Senator Obama represents authentic change for our community and we must [...]
August 20th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Thank you so much for this essay. Beautifully written, so cogent, it’s all here. Spot-on!
August 20th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Hello, I am never going to vote for McCain, and I will vote for Obama, but I am having a hard time being “enthusiastic” about Obama. As a gay man I am tired of settling, I am tired of hearing from his friends and people “in the know” about how great he will be for our community when he still spouts the “Marriage is between a man and woman” line. I know people talk about political reality, and he can’t come out too much for us or he won’t get elected… I think I was hoping for a warrior, a man of principle, and just kind of feel let down. I am commenting not to go against Obama, he has my vote, I am commenting more for the hope that someone, hopefully Mr. Obama, can say something that will make me feel happy about it.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Randy,
Sen. Obama is with on every issue with the exception of marriage. In terms of legal recognition for same-sex relationships, he supports civil unions that include the federal benefits currently associated with marriage. That makes him the most supportive presidential nominee of any major party in history.
And, when you compare Sen. Obama’s platform on LGBT issues and his record, you will see that he is light years ahead of Sen. McCain who has opposed pro-LGBT legislation at every turn.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
I still say this election is about who hates us the least. In Canada, PM Jean Cretien stood up and defended full marriage rights, even though, at the time, most Canadians did not agree with him. 4 years later, when Canadians were polled, the majority agreed with full marriage rights. Jean Cretien was a real part of that.
This leadership is what made it happen, Obama is not leading, he is simpley the better of two evils. In the last 8 years, we have over-turn homosexuality as a crime in 2003 and 2 states have full marriage rights. This was all done during the rule of GW Bush and his anti-Gay Republicans.
It really doesn’t make a difference who is elected in November 08, unless one of them stands up for full equality. We will continue winning it, slowly, without support from the White House, just like we did for the last century. When America finally joins the rest of the civilzed world on full equality, it is be last and it will be because of the day to day battles. It will have nothing to do with who is elected to the White House.
August 21st, 2008 at 12:25 am
Seperate but equal is NOT equal! I’m sorry, but Obama doesn’t want recognition for same-sex marriage. If he’s so for “civil unions” why not call it marriage? That’s what it’s supposed to be, right? I am tired of people touting Obama as LGBT friendly, when he won’t even stand up for EQUALITY despite all he’s been through. People thinking he is Muslim, the color of his skin, having a mixed family. According to US law when Obama was born, he shouldn’t have been! Mixed marriage was illegal for such a long time, and not that long ago! Come on, people! Think for yourselves and stand up for your rights!! Let’s do this, and while we’re at it, support a candidate that actually believes in FULL equality!
August 21st, 2008 at 8:00 am
Again with Political reality taken into consideration, the only person to vote for is Obama. I am not even comparing him to McCain, or any other person in the running. But one statement does set the tone for me and I would bet a number of those who are having a hard time committing to him, not that he is great for everything else, but that he publicly states that he doesn’t believe in our right to marry. I don’t think, or want to think, that he personally believes that, but that he politically feels he has to say that, and to me that just makes it about voting for a politician instead of a human. And I think if that was going to be the case all along, I wish he hadn’t gotten my hopes up. That’s it, and I am sorry if my question caused strife on the site, it was not my intention, Obama is the best politician for the job.
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
It’s really great that you’ve put this website together, I think that Sen. Obama has one of the most best positions on the rights of LGBT American’s that I’ve seen in someone seeking national office. I believe that he will do the right things for us.
I hope you will make one small correction to your site, though. Sen. Obama does not currently support the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). He has said he would be supportive of a modified version of it, but he has steadfastly refused to be a co-sponsor of the current UAFA, unlike at least 10 other Senators (and over 100 Representatives) at this point.
For those of us separated from our partners, this is a sore point, as you can imagine — to have a Democratic candidate supportive of every other single piece of legislation under consideration but not the one impacting us. There are 30,000 gay and lesbian citizens in the position of having the US government send their loved ones from the US. So you can imagine that it’s very important to us that the LGBT community itself accurately portray Sen. Obama’s position on this.
I hope that you will change the wording for your description of his position so it is more accurate, something like “would be supportive of a revised UAFA,” or “generally supports immigration rights for same-sex partners.” It would also be great if you had a post specifically on this issue, at some point, on this site. But it’s just flat out wrong to say he supports UAFA. If he does, he should co-sponsor.
September 20th, 2008 at 1:23 am
[...] I wanted to bump up this post by Vic Basile because with less than 50 days before election day Vic’s message is even more important than ever. This video from the Human Rights Campaign also underscores Vic’s message and makes clear what is at stake this election for LGBT voters. [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
A recent poster says that as a gay man, he has a hard time supporting Obama because as this person says Obama still spouts that Marriage is between a man and a woman line. Well, this line comes from the same line in the Bible that says that marriage is not between a man and a child, a woman and her daughter, a son and his mother. Gays have full rights as citizens, but what they do not have rights that pedophiles would desire and that is to elevate their fringe behavior into law. In some cultures, they believe that a man can have sex with his virgin daughter and sell her to the highest bidder. To stop this practice, government would have to legislate the bed room, which our government does when it also says that a loving father can not have sex or marry his daughter.
To Ken who wants Obama to support UAFA and make illegal immigration a gay issue, i say he is typical, by wanting to elevate an illegal act into a gay position. I wonder if he would support an amendment to exclude gays from going to prison for theft, murder, and other lawless acts on the basis of some mind-altered belief in some right to freely pursue a lawless lifestyle.
March 15th, 2010 at 10:31 am
I hope this makes since i am a little tired tonight God Bless…
hmm i have no idea why we feel like that but now i’ve just turned 22 and i’m beginning to freak out cos in 8 years time, i’ll be 30. and i know i’m still young and theres a lot more to live that to worry about getting old. …