For the longest time, I've firmly stood with the Obama's in this continuing journey toward equality
There is, undoubtedly, a long way to go for the rights of our LGBT brothers and sisters, just as there is still a long way to go to abolish white supremacy and sexism in this country.
Civil rights have always been and will always be a work in progress in this country.
But in regards to the approach taken by The President to achieve marriage equality, I recognized early on that he was taking the LONG view into consideration by doing the work through the courts. It was a way that would both render the most solid and irrevocable method, if successful. And it has been successful indeed.
Yes, he could have taken both immediate and temporary executive measures, especially to satisfy the loudest voices who had demanded unilateral action from his office. But, it was very clear to many of us, recognizing what needs to be done to overturn this country's discriminatory LAWS, those unilateral actions, if taken, would do more to inhibit ultimate victory for equality.
When one is drowning, I know that waiting for the right kind of solution is an unbearable feeling. Discrimination is happening now and should be abolished now. There's no doubt about that. But that doesn't mean that those of us who have stood with him all of this time didn't want this day to happen. It still pains me to remember the posts of people who believed in their hearts that President Obama was the worst person ever when it came to the cause of LGBT equality. I knew in my heart that that wasn't true, even as I heard their anger and frustration about his methods and words.
Yes, I've always had the privilege of being a straight person who had the luxury of time. That wasn't lost on me at all. However, I knew that we needed to have faith that equality would win out in the end. In that it was necessary to have faith in the system that justice would overcome all. That's not an easy thing to do when our LGBT bothers and sisters are in pain.
But with the way that President Obama has taken the country, there is no turning back. The ONLY direction to go now is FORWARD. The bigots have LOST. More and more Americans are joining the cause, only because he sought to take all of us all on this long journey with him, even if he didn't heed the immediate methods advocated by the loudest few. It's amazing, the sea change toward acceptance and equality that the President has led this country over the duration of his terms.
Today, after the end of DADT, DOMA, the codification of marriage equality AND his support for non-discrimation laws, he's turned out to be the greatest advocate for the civil rights for everyone in this country to ever inhabit the Oval Office. This is his legacy.
We still need the loudest few to voice the pain, the frustration and anger of being relegated to second class citizenry. Again, we all have a long way to go. The fight isn't over. But if something is worth doing, it's worth doing in the right way and in the most permanent way. A way that can not be snatched back at the stroke of some subsequent executive's pen.
Marriage equality is now the LAW of the land. This is only way that THAT could have happened.
I'm glad to see that we are all together on this now in this time of joy and celebration.
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