Pundits and analysts are actively working over yesterday’s statement by President Obama that “same-sex couples should be able to get married.” It was calculated! It was a cynical attempt to recoup lost demographics he needs to get elected! He just wants to motivate a lackluster base!
You know what? He said it, and that’s what matters to me. Because for me, and for millions and millions of other LGBT Americans (and the friends and family who know and love them), no matter how he got to that statement or why, he said it. I still got to hear those words come out of his mouth. It matters that a sitting president has, for the first time in history, recognized my rights to provide my family equal protection under the law.
Read the rest over at BlogHer.com, where this post appeared yesterday…
I’ll take it, too! I was not expecting him to ever take that stance while President, and I’m honestly elated. I remember so well the night of the election in 2008, watching news of Obama’s victory with the results of Prop 8 scrolling across the bottom of the screen, and the punch to the gut I’d felt earlier in the fall when Obama didn’t come out in support of marriage equality and fold the lgbt community into his visions of hope for the country. I’m really a bit surprised at how much of my residual bitterness has melted away. Words matter. Words from the highest elected seat in the country matter. Whatever motivated him to choose this point in time, his words now stand and I know they are sending ripples of consequence throughout the country, into the hearts and minds of every listener, gay or straight.