One can be a gay critic of Obama without being a racist
Just once it would be nice if Obama supporters would refrain from calling gay critics of Obama racist. I am not the hugest fan of heckling political figures, and yes Michelle Obama is a political figure, but it happens from time to time. Michelle had no problem telling gays and lesbians to vote for her husband based on his record, so I fail to see why it is so out of bounds to confront her on that record. Again, I think that she should have done so in a question asked after she spoke, but the fact is the question wasn't out of bounds.
Gays get called racist by Obama supporters for three reasons. One, we had the temerity to support his opponents over him in the primaries. Now, lets recall exactly what Obama did during those primaries. His very first rally featured, as an emcee who later gave personal testimony, an ex gay Gospel singer who called gays vampires. He then gave one interview of damage control to gay media and then went over two years without doing so again. In comparison, Hillary repeatedly gave interviews to gay media and actively campaigned for LGBT voters. I am not saying no gay could rationally vote for Obama under those circumstances but to call gays racists for not doing so is deeply unfair.
Two, we supposedly treated Obama more harshly than Clinton. That is, put frankly, revisionist history. Gays repeatedly dogged Clinton over several issues. He was protested over DADT in the first months of his Presidency, he was protested over AIDS funding, he was protested over approval of AIDS drugs, his best gay friend refused to endorse him in 96 after he signed DOMA, and lastly he lost gay support in 96 and Gore lost even more in 2000. These aren't my opinion, they are verifyable facts, they exist in these things called books.
Finally we are called racists because we fail to give all the credit Obama is due for passing DADT repeal and for the other things he has done. First let me start with a bit of a mea culpa here. I thought the survey of the Armed forces over DADT was a horrible idea. I think I, and many gays, thought the results would be quite unfavorable and we were dead wrong. There Obama was right and we were wrong. But that said, on one huge thing, Obama was dead wrong. Waiting until 2011, which he wanted to do, would have doomed the repeal.
Now to the issue at hand, the executive order that LGBT people want Obama to sign. First, it should be noted that LGBT employees currently can't be discriminated against by the federal government thanks to a Clinton era executive order that Bush didn't remove. To be fair, Bush did appoint a person who refused to enforce it to the EEOC chair, but he didn't repeal the order. Obama has added the transgendered to that order. What the LGBT community wishes Obama to do is to sign an executive order banning such discrimination by federal contractors. There is history for this. FDR banned such discrimination in the 1940's by defense contractors and by the government itself. IKE kept that order. The order didn't prevent Truman and Ike from attempting to pass civil rights bills. The fact is, I am more likely to win the Boston Marathon than the Congress is to pass ENDA by 2017. In the meantime, this order would provide needed protection to a class of workers.
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