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The amazing Kerry Eleveld, the Advocate's White House correspondent, asked the White House for a statement on the discriminatory referenda taking place in Washington state and Maine.She got a response.
“The President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples, and as he said at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, he believes ‘strongly in stopping laws designed to take rights away.’ Also at the dinner, he said he supports, ‘ensuring that committed gay couples have the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country.’"UTF readers already know that, though I applauded President Obama for speaking at the HRC fundraiser and reiterating his support for LGBT rights, I was critical of the fact that it was just a repeat of his campaign promises.
This new statement reflects the same tactics and doesn't mention Washington or Maine directly. Obama's been clear that he supports civil unions and not particularly marriage equality, so direct reference would be rather difficult for him to pull off without ramifications to him. Though of course I would love it if he had.
Yet, this statement does provide a lot of fodder for the Approve Referendum 71 and NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaigns to use in their media, direct mail and phone banking.
So though I hope more from President Obama, I am grateful for this statement.
This is another reason why I lean toward 2010 rather than 2012 for going to the ballot in California. Obama is not going to help us. The No on Prop 8 campaign screwed up by not using Obama's statement in 2008: at least then he could say he was against taking away rights. In 2012, he will have to say he is in favor of same-sex marriage, and that he will not do.
ReplyDeleteBetter to have Jerry Brown, Dianne Feinstein, or Gavin Newsom at the top of the Democratic ticket in 2010. They can't run away from their position in favor of same-sex marriage.