Obama faces heat over gay rights
US gay and lesbian activists gathered in Washington on the weekend to pressure President Barack Obama to overturn the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ military policy and the national ban on gay marriage.
Thousands gathered in the streets waving flags and holding signs in a large show of support for equal rights, with many concerned the President is not moving fast enough on gay rights issues.
The protest followed a speech by Obama Saturday night in which he renewed his pledge to overturn the military policy and offered his support for same-sex relationship rights.
“I will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’. That is my commitment to you,” Obama said.
The speech was made at a gala fundraiser for the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay advocacy group in the US.
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was introduced in 1993 under former president Bill Clinton to prevent military personnel being questioned by their superiors about their sexuality. The act of homosexuality, however, is still a dischargeable offence.
Although activists welcomed Obama’s assurance, they criticised the President for not committing to a firm timeframe to overturn the military policy and said he was falling behind on early campaign promises to improve gay rights.
Obama has thrown his weight behind legislation currently before the Senate which expands the definition of hate crimes to include attacks based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, named after a gay student who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998, is expected to pass.
Shepard’s mother, Judy, spoke at the weekend protest.
I do not understand why children would benefit from having opposite sex couples as parents. If they are responsible loving parents is this not what should matter ? I agree Obama needs to move on this……… We have waited too long already !
TIME TO REPEAL “DADT AND DOMA” FOR GOOD!!!!!
* DADT means “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
* DOMA means “Defence Of Marriage Act”
Breann,
I’m an old man and I was exposed to hetero relationships in my younger days (there was no chance of ever seeing let alone hearing about the OTHER type) and I still turned out gay.
There are several children at the local school with same-sex parents. Don’t you think in their daily lives they exposed to plenty of opposite sex relationships via real life, movies, tv, books etc.?
If anything, all children need to be exposed to more same-sex relationships so that they can grow up to have a healthy non-bigoted attitude.
if someone is gay then let them be gay.we should not make someons life hard because they prefer to be with someone of the same sex. at the same time the thing about them being able to have children also has a negative side to it. If a child is born to a gay couple will they really have the opportunity to be exposed to opposite sex relationships?? This is something that should be looked at both ways
Well, President Obama is going to have a tough row to hoe dealing with all the brass in the military (all branches) with this. These folks will fight him at every single turn to stop it. I understand that the President can, with one fell swoop, make an executive order to end “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” and allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military (as so many other countries are successfully doing now) but to do so will certainly cost the President millions of votes in the next election providing he does it during this his first term. Waiting until his next term is most likely . . . providing he’s elected . . . (health care notwithstanding) and if he holds off until then and “promises” to end “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” his next term, I doubt seriously that he would win the election. So he’s kind of damed if he does and damed if he doesn’t. His head is on the chopping block with this and it’s going to be interesting to see how he plays it.