This election is crucial because it showcases two Presidential candidates with
diametrically opposed notions of who LGBT people are. President Obama believes we are equals. Governor Romney does not.
On May 9, 2012, President Obama publically supported same-sex marriage, and, in doing so, stated:
“I want everyone treated fairly in this country. We have never gone wrong when we’ve extended rights and responsibilities to everybody.”
I agree with our President.
Then, the very next day, on May 10, 2012, the following report surfaced: When Governor Romney as in high school, he pinned a fellow class-mate, John Lauber, whom Governor Romney taunted and referred to as “girl” because Mr. Lauber had long hair, to the ground. Then, while Mr. Lauber screamed for help, his eyes filled with tears, Mr. Romney repeatedly clipped his hair. This behavior is hateful and typifies how bullies behave towards people who are not like them.
Notably, Governor Romney has not explicitly denied the incident’s occurrence. Rather, he stated:
“…You know, I don’t remember that particular incident [laughs] … I participated in a lot of high jinks and pranks during high school, and some might have gone too far, and for that I apologize…”
Such a response is alarming. Who could ever forget such a horrific incident? I doubt Mr. Lauber did. Moreover, this incident is neither a “prank” nor a laughing matter.
Not surprisingly, Governor Romney rejects same-sex marriage.
However, the importance of this election even transcends the critical same-sex marriage issue. This election is a matter of life or death.
Research shows that LGBT youth (ages 15-24) are approximately three to four times more likely than heterosexual youth to attempt suicide. Among the reasons cited for this disparity is societal rejection. I can relate. Who among us does not have a story about confronting societal rejection and/or grappling with the unsettling thought, “I’m so very different” in our youth? Some of us make it; some of us take our own lives; and some of us die a slower spiritual/psychological
death by pretending to be someone we are not.
As strange as this sounds, I credit the movie Desert Hearts as one reason why I was one of the lucky ones who “made it.” When I was seventeen-years old and trying to wrap my adolescent, muddled mind around being gay, I read The Celluloid Closet, a fascinating book that chronicles
the evolution of homosexuality in film. The Celluloid Closet lauded Desert Hearts as one of the first movies to diverge from the depiction of homosexuals as “psychotic” and/or “murderers,” etc. So, of course, that night, after everyone went to bed, I drove to blockbuster and sheepishly rented Desert Hearts (in retrospect, I am shocked Blockbuster carried the movie). I watched it
in my basement with the volume low. I could not believe what I was witnessing — a story about two women falling in love. It was the first lesbian image I had ever seen. While watching, I felt a euphoric sense of hope and relief. I was not alone. I felt as though I had been given a voice.
On May 9, 2012, when the news spread that President Obama publically supported same-sex marriage, I was filled with the same sense of hope and relief that I felt that night, so many years ago, watching Desert Hearts all alone. I cannot even begin to imagine how much hope and relief President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage has provided to hundreds, thousand, millions of today’s LGBT youth; indeed, I wonder how many lives his support of our equality will ultimately save.
“I want everyone treated fairly in this country. We have never gone wrong when we’ve extended rights and responsibilities to everybody.”
During President Obama’s first term as President, he proposed and enacted legislation that protects LGBT equality, reminded us we are equal, recorded an “It Gets Better Video,” appointed and nominated gay/lesbian Federal Judges, hosted a pride party; and viewed our country not in terms of “us verses them,” but rather, in terms of ‘’we are all in this together.” What could be more empowering to a LGBT youth than a President who has given him or her a voice? That is why this election and re-electing President Obama are so crucial.
During his first term as President, Barack Obama spoke for us in the following ways:
- Enacted was The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure equal pay for woman. (Great news for families with two moms.)
- Hosted the first-ever White House LGBT Pride Reception.
- Appointed more than 250 LGBT individuals, including approximately 40 to the Executive Office of the President and approximately 30 to the Presidential Boards and Commissions.
- Appointed approximately LGBT individuals to the judiciary.
- Awarded the highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, to Billie Jean and Harvey Milk.
- Created a National Resource Center for LGBT elders.
- Signed the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act into law, a measure which extended the definition of hate crime to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
- Banned discrimination in federal workplaces based on gender identity.
- Lifted the ban that prohibited people with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States, and in doing so, said he was lifting a 22-year-old ban that was “rooted in fear rather than fact.”
- Ensured hospital visitation and medical decision-making rights for gay and lesbian patients.
- Allowed transgendered Americans to receive true gender passports without surgery.
- Clarified the Family and Medical leave Act to ensure leave for LGBT employees.
- Released America’s first comprehensive plan to prevent and end homelessness.
- Awarded a grant to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Services Center to work with LGBT youth.
- Led a United Nations measure to restore “sexual orientation” to the definition of human rights.
- Declared the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) unconstitutional.
- Hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention in America’s schools.
- Completed an Institute of Medicine Study on LGBT health.
- Issued guidance to foster safer working environments for transgender federal employees.
- Endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act, a legislative effort to repeal DOMA.
- Clarified the meaning of family to include LGBT relationships.
- Supported lesbian widow, Edith Windsor, in her suit against DOMA.
- Ended Social Security Administration’s practice of sending notification to employers when the gender marked on an employee’s W-2 did not match the employee’s Social Security “gender.”
- Repealed and implemented the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
- Permitted military chaplains to office same-sex marriages where legal.
- Recorded “It Gets Better” video to support LGBT youth experiencing bullying. In his video, President Obama stated:
- “…I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough. And for a lot of kids, the sense of being alone or apart — I know can just wear on you… But what I want to say is this: You are not alone. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t deserve being bullied. And there is a whole world waiting for you, filled with possibilities … The other thing you need to know is, things will get better. As a nation we’re founded on the belief that all of are equal and each of us deserves the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness, to make the most of our talents, to speak our minds, to not fit in, most of all to be true to ourselves. That’s the freedom that enriches all of us. That’s what America is all about.”
- Awarded Citizens’ medal to Janice Langbehn, who paved way for hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples.
- Included specific data on health needs of lesbian and bisexual women in the Health Resources and Service Administration’s “Women’s Health USA 2011” federal report.
- Called for equal treatment of same-sex adoptive parents.
- Created first-ever U.S. government strategy dedicated to combating human rights abuses against LGBT persons abroad.
- Announced HUD’s new rule protecting against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Announced White House LGBT Conference series to address such issue as health, housing, and safety.
- Promoted equal access to quality health care by enabling search for health plans with same-sex partner benefits on Healthcare.
- Ensured transgender veterans receive respectful care according to their true gender through Veterans Health Administration.
- Appointed openly gay Michael Fitzgerald to the Federal bench.
- Announced support for same-sex marriage.
- Launched the “Let’s Stop HIV Together” campaign to fight HIV stigma.
- Honored six LGBT Champions of Change.
- Addressed the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner and stated:
- “We’re pushing hard to pass an inclusive employee nondiscrimination bill … Nobody in America should be fired because they’re gay, despite doing a great job and meeting their responsibilities. It’s not fair… Tonight, somewhere in America, a young person, let’s say a young man, will struggle to fall to sleep, wrestling alone with a secret he’s held as long as he can remember. Soon, perhaps, he will decide it’s time to let that secret out. What happens next depends on him, his family, as well as his friends and his teachers and his community. But it also depends on us… on the kind of society we engender, the kind of future we build…”
President Obama’s victories for equal rights/LGBT rights are outlined on his website at http://www.barackobama.com/equalrights/
