.equalifornia.

As of last night [as we knew was coming] the ballot initiative to amend the CA Constitution to ban same-sex marriage officially qualifies to be on the ballot in November. The anti-gay hate coalitions have raised over a million signatures to get on the ballot; they only needed somewhere over 700,000.

In a different vein, Barack Obama is officially the Democratic candidate for president in November as of tonight. As I think about Obama’s triumph, I ask myself, what will he do for LGBTQ Americans?

Although Obama and Clinton both proclaim their commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and equality, and both have substantial records of such commitment, both candidates continually refuse to support same-sex marriage. Both cling instead to the idea of “civil unions”, which inevitably is a “separate but equal” cop-out that leaves LGBTQ couples with diminished social recognition and very frequently, diminished rights. As I see members of the LGBTQ community rally around one or the other or both, I can never fully feel satisfied and joyous, because my life aspirations are still being negated. Even tonight, in Clinton’s speech of defeat, she told her rapt audience that she “sees” everyone and their plights. Perhaps she sees me, but does she care? And if she cares, does she care enough to rustle some people’s feathers to actually stand up for what is right?

I still contend that if all the main Democrats, not just heroes like Dennis Kucinich, stood up and voiced their support for same-sex marriage, they wouldn’t have to fight over who was best at getting the “gay vote” without actually acting too liberal - Democrats would have to vote for one of them, and maybe same-sex marriage would be seen more as the completely obvious issue that it is.

Of course, despite my hesitation to rejoice over Obama [or Clinton], I acknowledge that McCain would be yet worse for the LGBTQ community. Someone who supports “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”, who voted against including sexual orientation as a category of victimization in hate crimes, and who voted against protecting LGBTQ people from discrimination and harassment in the workplace does not deserve my vote.

Maybe Obama should take to heart the very accurate parallel made between same-sex marriage and the precent established in Loving v. VA: if he thinks it would have been horrible for his parents to not be able to marry due to the banning of interracial marriage, how is this any different? He consistently skirts the issue when pressed with that very question, and my attitude about “YES WE CAN!” continues to remain skeptical as a result.

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