Obama to Lift Global Gag Rule

OMGOMGOMG: "President Barack Obama on Friday will lift restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, reversing a policy of his Republican predecessor George W. Bush, an administration official said. 'It will be today. He's going to make an executive order (lifting the global gag rule),' the official said."

We knew it was coming, but still: OMGOMGOMG.


At the Obama rally I attended on the Friday night just before the election, Obama was more explicit in his support of women's and LGBTQI equality than I had ever heard him. Part of me reacted to it by wishing he'd be so unapologetic even in areas he knew not to be so amenable to the message—and part of me reacted to it by suspecting it meant he would, if elected, go as far in the direction of real equality as the political culture will allow, that he would do whatever he can.

It was another moment in a very long string of moments over the course of two years in which I noted that Obama has an unrivaled capacity to irritate and thrill me in equal measure, frequently at the same time.

But right now, this week, his first week as our president, as he is, it appears, going as far as he can go, doing whatever he can, and maybe even then some, I am unreservedly thrilled.

And I might as well enjoy it, because it won't last forever.

But it's fucking great while it does.