The military, desperate for Arabic translators is about to discharge Dan Choi, an officer in the National Guard under the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. This will make him the first minority to be publicly discriminated against under the Obama administration.
Obama has to put up or shut up. Does he smear everything he stands for by allowing systematic discrimination against gay men and women, or does he stop it? Now that he’s President, he’s not just allowing bigotry and discrimination, he’s encouraging it. He’s the Commander-in-Chief. He doesn’t get to say, “my hands are tied.” Yes, he inherited Don’t Ask, but he can just as well disinherit it.
For a great piece on what could be a watershed moment for ending Don’t Ask, read Aaron Belkin’s column in HuffPo.
As a candidate Obama railed against prejudice; as a leader he can end it. What’s he going to choose? How many people will his administration victimize before he acts? Does Obama, who speaks openly of the discrimination he suffered, turn around and inflict it on others? Will the Commander-in-Chief become the Discriminator-in-Chief? Or will he step up and show us the courage of his conviction?
I know his advisers are saying, “Now’s not the right time, we’ve too much on our plate with the economy and the war.”
Here’s what I say: There is never a wrong time to do the right thing.
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That’s what film maker Cindy Abel, said in our debate about the twisted Warren/Robinson prayer pretzel. Here’s the rest of our kitchen table coffee clash:
Cindy: Eugene Robinson is a crumb thrown from the master’s table to those of us living on the edge of legal starvation. Are we supposed to be grateful that Obama picked a gay bishop without civil rights to pray at an obscure ceremony while the chief opponent of those rights gets to lead the invocation?
Mike: Obama promised CHANGE and he’s delivering it.
Cindy: Giving a platform to an opponent of equality is not a change. We’ve had that for eight years.
Mike: It IS a change. Would George Bush have chosen Gene Robinson for ANYTHING, even as a crumb? Think about this: An openly gay bishop is going to kick off a presidential inauguration. That’s HISTORIC change. Look at all the good that’s come out of this. Mainstream America has heard more gay voices and seen more gay faces–it’s harder to demonize the humanized.
Cindy: Well, of course good can come from bad, but why does something bad have to be committed in the first place?
Mike: Because unfortunately that’s how progress is made. A Matthew Sheppard had to die to get people to see our humanity. A Harvey Milk had to die to accelerate a movement.
Cindy: That’s partially true, but completely wrong, morally.
Me: If Nelson Mandela could get people who killed each other’s families in the same room, Obama can get people who disagree on gay human rights to say the same prayer. I’m not discounting your hurt or your point of view, all I’m saying is that the pain is necessary if we’re going to live in peace.
Cindy: I think it’s good to have different points of view expressed in a forum of dialogue. But a ceremony, in which there is no discourse, only statement, is not the place. If Warren used the Bible to argue against Jews or Muslims having the same rights as Christians, would Obama have given him this honor? Would the Martin Luther King Center?
Me: No…
Cindy: So there you have it. Obama does not give gay people the same respect as other groups. That’s the kick in the gut.
Me: I don’t disagree. But you think we’re living in 2009, when from a civil rights standpoint, we’re probably somewhere in the late 1960′s. George Wallace was not considered a racist by the mainstream then and Rick Warren’s not considered a homophobe now. I’d rather make friends with him–meet him where he is and move him towards our humanity–than to stay with the politics of polarization. Now be a dear and pass me the half-and-half.
Cindy Abel is a film maker and board member of Victory Fund (a PAC that works to elect openly gay candidates to public office)
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