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Today, our struggle for liberation and acceptance of American lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders (LGBT) reached a new milestone: for the first time in American history, the word “gay” was spoken as part of a presidential inaugural address.
Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well….
Which is remarkable, considering Barack Obama’s immediate presidential predecessor used one of his State of the Union addresses, only eight years ago, as the occasion to celebrate his party’s bigotry by calling on Congress to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment to make civic recognition of our love illegal and unconstitutional.
Because marriage is a sacred institution and the foundation of society, it should not be redefined by activist judges. For the good of families, children and society, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage.
More importantly, though, was today’s reference to the voting coalition who actually made Barack Obama a re-elected president, in his alliterative citation of our places of liberation:
“We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still,” he said, “just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma and Stonewall.”
Seneca Falls, in 1848, was the first convention to be organized by women for their rights in the Western world, where the struggle for suffrage began with the radical Quakerism of Lucretia Mott and the secular logic of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Selma, in 1965, was where the three Civil Rights marches began. After Bloody Sunday (March 7), and then the Pettus Bridge (March 16), the third march reached Montgomery on March 24.
Stonewall, in 1969, was not the first riot by drag queens and other gay people, but is the one acknowledged today by mainstream American historians to have begun the LGBT struggle for visibility and equality.
None of these struggles are finished; none of these landmarks commemorate completed accomplishments. But having them mentioned by a newly re-sworn African-American president from the steps of the Capitol, in a single breath, in his second inaugural address, is a moment to savor. Much more work remains, but this acknowledgement of the road we have traveled together to freedom is significant.
43 Comments
Thanks, Teddy. It was indeed an important moment. Thanks for this.
Between this and the only-took-a-day giveback on the homophobic preacher, O2.0 is talking a good game on appearances, visuals, and speechifying. There are several Executive Orders he could sign tomorrow that would quiet a great deal of residual criticism from the LGBT community, however: anti-discrimination by federal contractors, anti-discrimination in the armed forces, inclusion of non-traditional spouses across the armed forces, etc.
People haven’t hesitated to raise these on the FB link to this post, but I agree with you, Jane: this was important, and we need to recognize and acknowledge and, yes, celebrate these important moments. They matter.
Somewhere on the planet, a gay kid heard that speech today and, as Harvey taught us, Ya Gotta Give ‘Em Hope.
Nice idea to juxtapose the two speeches on the subject of marriage. Thanks.
This is indeed significant. I have great respect for those who have worked so hard for so many years to attain equality. They obviously were up to the task and will continue to fight for rights for all.
Teddy, Obama always talks a good game. It’s the game actually played in DC that should worry us. I’m sure that once we achieve full civil rights for everyone regardless of sexual orientation, the NSA will have fully learned how to manipulate the dossiers they’ve compiled on all of us. (Oh, and global warming will be much more advanced then than it is now.)
So, in the future, as global warming ravages the planet, the specter of antigay rule (and of giving such a right-wing ruling class access to all those NSA files it’s compiling on each of us) will once again be raised to coerce us all into voting for corporatist Democrats.
“Seneca Falls, in 1848, was the first convention to be organized by women for their rights in the Western world, where the struggle for suffrage began with the radical Quakerism of Lucretia Mott and the secular logic of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.”
OK, as an Upstate NY-er, I have to add this: Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Elizabeth Blackwell, et al. were members of the temperance movement FIRST. And after being patted on the head for years by the men who told them not to worry, to go back to the kitchen and let the guys take care of the problem, they realized that the guys weren’t going to take care of the problem and couldn’t take care of the problem and that in order for women to stop the domestic violence (because that is what the temperance movement was all about)caused by alcohol, women had to get the vote. Long road to the Prohibition amendment and a whole lot of horse-trading later, but that’s the story.
Thank you, I didn’t mean to minimize it in this morning’s haste, and I appreciate your addendum here in the comments. NYers rule, as Chuck Schumer reminded us today.
It just occurred to me, Teddy:
By tying together Seneca Falls (women’s rights), Selma (AA rights) and Stonewall (LGBT rights), Obama’s telling the last remaining reactionary members of the faith-based bigotry groups within the African-American community that they’d better start evolving, and fast.
When Obama finally got off the fence about marriage equality, support for it jumped among African-Americans. Now that he’s reinforced his message by literally putting Stonewall on the same footing as Seneca Falls and Selma, support for LGBT rights among AAs will grow even more, thus depriving the Republicans of the wedge issue they’d hoped to use to fracture black support for Democrats.
One thing I missed today, compared with four years ago, was the Laura and George Bush helicopter fly-away, enjoyed so much by Americans last Inaugural. You’d think W could have been coerced to attend, if only to provide a re-enactment of that blessed event.
But he couldn’t attend, citing his father’s recent illness. Rachel mentioned it sometime the past week, in an intonation as if she was reading a note from a third-grader’s mom but otherwise without comment.
Everything you say is true.
And I still reserve the right to celebrate the mention by the President of the United States, for the first time ever in an inaugural address, of my people.
Why do I have the feeling that Obama was speaking to an audience of 9 with these lines, and let millions of the rest of us overhear what he was saying?
Oh, if only there was a split-screen television shot of Chief Justice Roberts while Obama was speaking these words . . .
We also need to celebrate the fact that it wasn’t Mitt taking the oath.
A-yep.
As I noted earlier (but forgot to document with a link), when Obama first came out for marriage equality, he brought a large number of on-the-fence African Americans to join him in his support. I expect this will bring even more (as well as a number of Latinos) to back marriage equality.
All of this taken together, as well as the demises of elderly anti-equality voters who made the backbone of opposition to LGBT rights, means that the antigay tide is now at full ebb in America.
Mitt probably thinks of a Confederate general when he thinks of Stonewall.
The shot during the Inaugural Luncheon of John Roberts, loneliest man in the room, with Bill sliding behind Hillary, chatting up some other Democrat, in order to avoid The Chief, was priceless. No one wanted to talk to him, is how it looked.
LOL. Too right.
Yes.
We do. True dat.
Well, I’m no fan of John Roberts and/or AHCA but the scene reminded me of the old aphorism, “No good deed goes unpunished”. He’s lucky he’s appointed for life. If he were an elected official, his untimely demise via primary would well under way. And, actually, if I were him, I might have invested in Kevlar underwear by this point, given the obsession his party has with the second amendment, (think: Sharon Angle).
Presidents don’t initiate as much as they reflect the people. This staement by Obama reflects the fact that the LGBT community has succeeded in convincing the people, enough of the people, of the argument for equal rights. This is not the President’s accomplishment; it is the accomplishment of over 40 years of hard political organizing and action.
And like the 55 years of organizing that it took to end Jim Crow laws and the 72 years that it took from Seneca Falls to suffrage, this struggle is not over.
But savor this moment. And get ready to defend it.
Obama’s progressive accomplishments in 1 minute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynhvkm-p3Jw
Good point: this fight isn’t over, and the direction we move isn’t always forward. It’s ironic that the LGBT community learned this very hard lesson, of backwards take-aways, the day this president was elected. We lost our right to marry in California that same day in 2008, which did make everything about that Election Day, and thus his first inauguration, tinged with the bitterness of civil rights lost at the ballot box.
Today seems different. If President Obama signs some Executive Orders tomorrow, the promise of today will be immediately fulfilled.
I liked seeing the interplay on the platform between President Obama and Justice Kennedy. Obama spent LOTS of time with Tony, I thought. LOTS.
Charlie Pierce gives an account from his seats in the “Gold section” which was midway down the Mall, a place where “John Boehner got booed when he came out onto the marble steps.” He recounts the speech piece by piece, leading up to something special:
What surfaced at that point was the Seneca Falls-Selma-Stonewall section, as Pierce quotes. He then continued:
Emphasis added, because that is what makes this line powerful. Obama may have crafted the rhetoric, but he tapped into the spirit of both the nation’s ideals and a sizable portion of the nation’s people.
Nice analysis.
My family has an openly gay young man, my grandson. We are not going back. No way.
Good post, and as you say a good start, but must be made whole by his actions.
Well done is better than well said. ~Benjamin Franklin
I heard an NPR commenter saying something very similar about the 9. I really appreciate this post and its affirmation. We as a people have certainly learned to tear down; I appreciate the recognition here of something important and healing.
I also have been thinking about the immortal line that All men are created equal. I do not know the original thought or intent; it certainly did not include women and or non-white men…..yet we have continued to say these words…Aspirational only? Maybe the error and gap are becoming more glaring….I wonder what it would take to get an inclusive language correction underway, an action that has been pretty effective in Biblical studies and the faith community.
I could learn to say “all folks” or “all people” or “all of us.” All men sorta sticks in my throat.
Sickening. A proven charlatan throws a few crumbs to progressives–gay rights, equal pay for women, vague talk about illegal immigrants–and you gush over it like a school girl who just got asked out by the captain of the football team in high school.
Who’ll break the date as soon as the cheerleader says “yes.”
Did you even notice that your Precious Leader did not say one word about what he was even going to try to DO about any of this?
As I said, sickening. But I’ve got some beachfront property on this island in the middle of Lake Erie I’d love to sell you. Give me a call.
Noted.
But you can’t take away that, alone among his 43 predecessors, he mentioned Us. Me and my people. That matters. Speech matters. Doing matters too, and he’s done more than all the other 43 put together for my people.
So, I’m sorry you’re bitter. But — you don’t get to question my motives. You don’t get to rain on my parade. You don’t get to dim my joy.
This was a wonderful day, and you can’t take that away. I’m truly sorry you can’t join us in celebration, but you can’t take a bit of it away. I’m sorry you’re sickened by human celebration of being recognized, I’m truly, really sorry.
Stellar recap Teddy P, and summary.
Today was indeed, epic in the history of our species even, perhaps.
I cross posted with a small intro on FB, hope you don’t mind.
Thot it was important to acknowledge, and share.
Rcc’d hoss, and bless you for YOUR activism for all things human and humane.
That’s a huge leap forward if it plays out like you suggest. Great insight, too, I can only hope it DOES play out as you posit. Great thots, PW, thanks.
I’ll bet that makes Boehner FIRM in his thots of same.
Diary – Recc’d.
And double ditto what you said. This is a big event in a very long process that’s not over yet.
Marking milestones is a very welcome thing, and I am very glad for this day. Very. So I am celebrating this! *clink*
Then, it’s back to working for more progress.
Nice reportage from ya Peterr, from Pierce, thanks for sharing. Great writing, great moment in history. For us all.
Now if only he’d do something about domestic jobs issues and more. And stop the waste of the Pentagon overseas.
And nationalize energy production and delivery and usage, transportation, break up the media monopolies . . . n then I woke up.
;-)
Thot they tried that with Esperanto. ;-)
But I hear ya . . . gender wise, all men are created equal is outdated.
But it was out of line when all MEN were not equal, too. Lest we become too enamored with our fore daddies . . . ;-)
OB, love ya like a brudder, but some days, you just gotta let the pop music play and dance to the joy.
This is one of them days.
The Big O’s past behavior, is most certainly a predictor of his present and future behavior.
However, on this day, we let that go for the joy others NEED to feel. NEED to feel. It’s their day, too, hoss.
Let them enjoy it. As many LGBT’s and others have already said in these comments, NONE of these fights are over.
But sometimes, ya gotta stop and just celebrate what cha got and what might be.
So hush, hoss, yer right but man, let all of us for ONE day, just fucking hope. And celebrate. Let the village celebrate, OB.
It’s not like you to do this . . . I’m quite surprised.
He’ll be fine.
YOU however, just put forth yet another foot forward about today, and it’s meaning, and potential.
I sure appreciate all you’ve done, and today, are doing.
Just fucking well spoken, Teddy P. Well damned spoken.
Slainthe, hoss, to you and yers.
I’ll *clinky* to you and yours, too, if I may.
Teddy P has just nailed it, hasn’t he.
N well, as long as there’s celebration in the air, I think you deserve a laurel and hearty hand shake and hug for all YOU have done for the LGBT cause, and here at FDL, for all the causes us proggy’s live and die for.
So, thanks, hoss.
Slainthe!
I’m an Old Fart, but having had my kids late in life, they’re young [25 & 27].
Both my husband & I were active in the Civil Rights movement [he registered voters in Louisiana in 1964 and went to the March on Washington]. Thus it’s remarkable to us to see
** how completely rights for LGBT persons ARE the “civil rights issue” of my kids’ generation; and
** how they can’t understand the stupidity of those who oppose these rights. Both — but my daughter in particular — work tirelessly to bring about change, although both are straight. [But each has a wide circle of LGBT friends.]
With this generation, I think change will come almost as fast as we wish it would.
LOL! Now Partridge gets to fight the trolls and the endless Obama Derangement Syndrome in his comments because he had the tenacity to say something positive about Obama!
It was just 4 years ago when FDL slipped over the edge into Obama outrage and now you have to deal with it. Good luck!!
No I don’t.
Good luck to you.
This is one of the few times in life that saying the words alone is a sea change.
Re: sea change.
I went to the Wiki to read more about the Stonewall and Compton Cafeteria riots, and found this quote in a blue-green box:
Some of the sentences we curious, but a fascinating entry, including the tensions between NOW and lesbians; bad form, NOW. But as far as lasting consequences, my stars:
So I agree, Mr. fourpresidents: ‘This is one of the few times in life that saying the words alone is a sea change.’ And may the change continue.