Making True Progress
By Jake Kaskey
Throughout the course of this campaign, I’ve heard the moaning from some in our community about the LGBT community’s strong commitment to electing Barack Obama president. In bars and hangouts, and in some corners of the blogosphere, some in our community continue to show their discontent with Obama and his campaign for the Presidency.
The refrain is too often the same — he doesn’t believe in same-sex marriage, we’re selling out the goals of our community — and completely disregards the very different approaches each candidate takes toward LGBT people.
For just a glimpse of how each party values their LGBT members, you need only to look at this past week’s Democratic National Convention, where most-every high-profile speaker specifically highlighted equality for LGBT people:
“I ran for President to renew the promise of America… To fight for an America defined by deep and meaningful equality — from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights, from ending discrimination to promoting unionization — to providing help for the most important job there is: caring for our families.” – Hillary Clinton
“The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world. ” - Bill Clinton
“I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.” – Barack Obama
Some argue that all of this is simply sweet talk, keeping those great gay dollars flowing into the Democratic Party establishment, but when you really take a look at where both Obama and McCain stand on issues that directly impact the daily lives of LGBT Americans, it becomes clear which candidate will deliver tangible results for our community.
Obama supports federal legislation to protect LGBT people from getting fired from their jobs simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; John McCain doesn’t. Obama would allow gay and lesbian service-members to serve our country openly; John McCain wouldn’t. Obama would allow same-sex couples to adopt; John McCain wouldn’t.
I know it’s easy to get worked-up into a tizzy over Obama’s opposition to same-sex marriage rights, a position that is obviously regrettable to us; but as an organizer on-the-ground for issues important in the daily lives of LGBT Americans, I feel it is irresponsible to neglect the many areas in which his presidency could further protect the rights of our community. I meet people every day who have been fired from their jobs, simply because their partner picked them up from work. I’ve met countless members of the transgender community who are terrified to present themselves honestly to their employers for fear of retribution. With federal legislation to protect against this type of discrimination, and a President supportive of our community, we have a historic opportunity to impact the lives of thousands of people, finally. This election is about more than you, or me. It’s about more than marriage. It’s about the millions of LGBT people whose lives can and will be directly impacted by his presidency
In these and many other examples, Barack Obama’s policies will clearly, and tangibly, help the LGBT community in our march toward full equality. Sitting this election out solely because of the marriage issue is a dangerous precedent, and disregards the day-to-day needs of countless in our community. This Nader-esque approach to electoral politics not only throws the baby out with the bath water, but neglects the opportunity to make real progress for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.
Jake Kaskey has years of electoral experience as an organizer for Grassroots Solutions, Dick Gephardt for President 2004, the Human Rights Campaign, among many other local and state campaigns. He is currently an activist for the LGBT community in Pennsylvania.
Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, DNCC, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, LGBT rights, Republicans
