"Barack Obama is someone who will lead for [LGBT voters], who will fight for them, fight for us." Remember that quote from Steve Hildebrand, Obama's deputy campaign manager? That sounded nice, I guess. How about what Obama said in his acceptance speech last month: "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."
That sounded... well... I don't know if I'd call it nice, as such, but it was something. Sure, when my husband was in the ICU, it would have been great to have been able to visit him without having to lie about who I was. And yeah, thanks for making it clear that I should be able to live my life "free of discrimination."
So what's up with the Barack Obama: Faith, Family, and Values Tour? Specifically, what is up with Douglas Kmiec stumping for Obama as part of this tour? Douglas Kmiec, the man who recently authored an op-ed piece for the San Francisco Chronicle in support of California's Proposition 8. Prop 8 is the initiative that will, if passed, ban same-sex marriage in the state. Or, as Kmiec puts it, "re-secures a millennia of tradition and common sense."
Ah, yes, once again it's "tradition," "common sense," and "fuck you, faggots."
So, how am I supposed to reconcile Obama's promise of lives free of discrimination, with his tapping of an anti-gay, anti-equality bigot as his messenger in the final days of the campaign?
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