PRESIDENTIAL PROMISES: President Obama spoke at the HRC dinner in Washington last night. If you didn’t catch it on CNN, go watch it here!
Obama opened with, “it is a privilege to be here tonight to open for Lady Gaga,” which instantly caused our hearts to grow two sizes and our faces to LOL. The speech was kind and touched on topics including AIDS, hate crimes, the rights of families, and, most importantly:
+ “I have called on Congress to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and to pass the Domestic Partners Benefit and Obligations Act.”
+ “I will end ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ That is my commitment to you.”
Over at Queerty and the New York Times, it’s very noticed that he gave no timetable for doing so. Here at Autostraddle, we are just gonna feel happy & warm right now that he stood up there and said he was gonna do this stuff. Obvs this means we get to sleep in tomorrow and don’t have to march right? ‘Cause Intern Katrina just took off her pants.
Here’s the first 10 minutes of the speech:
Yes, actions speak louder than words, but the fact that Obama is still talking about these issues means he hasn’t forgotten them. All we can do is wait and see if he delivers. In the meantime, keep fighting the battle for equality on the local and state levels.
Also Lady Gaga performed and was super respectable about the whole thing b/c of her incredible honor for the gays. Here’s a video interview with OurScene TV:
Michael Moore, who is usually quite angry, makes some good points in The Huffington Post about how we ought to consider dealing with O’Bawms:
All I ask of those who voted for Obama is to not pile on him too quickly. Yes, make your voice heard (his phone number is 202-456-1414). But don’t abandon the best hope we’ve had in our lifetime for change. And for God’s sake, don’t head to bummerville if he says or does something we don’t like. Do you ever see Republicans behave that way? I mean, the Right had 20 years of Republican presidents and they still couldn’t get prayer in the public schools, or outlaw abortion, or initiate a flat tax or put our Social Security into the stock market. They did a lot of damage, no doubt about that, but on the key issues that the Christian Right fought for, they came up nearly empty handed.
NEM: JK! Today is the National Equality March, and Autostraddle is in D.C. ready to do our part! If you aren’t in Washington, follow the action on CSPAN from 2 to 5 p.m. EST. You can also stay updated by checking the Equality Across America blog or by searching for #NEM on Twitter. (@equalityacrossamerica)
Bonus: it’s is also National Coming Out Day! Go tell someone you’re queer. Really, just anyone.
Lady Gaga & the Glee Cast at the HRC Dinner
PASSING JUDGMENT: Joe Solmonese has suggested that we not judge Obama on gay stuff until the end of his (hypothetical) second term in 2017, and AmericaBlog Gay is pissed about it, BECAUSE THAT IS TOTALLY SKETCHY. “Maybe somebody should ask the 6,000 gay and lesbian service members, discharged between now and 2017, how they feel about that. Maybe we should ask Dan Choi. And Victor Fehrenbach.” (@americablog @queerty)
Oh AND Gay-inclusive Hate Crimes legislation easily passes House of Representatives!
16 Angry Women Attempt to Protest the World’s Biggest Douche. Or, The Anti-Tucker Max Story, “I Hope They Serve Subpoenas in Hell.” (@thevillagevoice)
SWEDEN FTW: A Swedish committee has reprimanded Toys “R” Us for gender discrimination following a complaint filed by a group of sixth-graders! (@thelocal)
JUDGE JUDY: Comic Confrontations: Judge Judy vs. John Gosselin. (@jezebel)
GOSSIP GIRL: Blake Lively is gonna be in a lesbian bondage movie! We thought we’d end this on a decidedly positive note. (@current)
13 responses to “Obama Pretty-Promises He’ll End DADT & Lady Gaga Sings For Her HRC Supper”
this is a really great late night post, gang! lots of information and pretty pictures! i was about to loll off there towards the end but you were like BAM! BLAKE LIVELY LESBIAN BONDAGE! and i was like I’M AWAKE!
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i hope a lot of TEAM and INTERNS do a lot of twitpic’n tomorrow b/c SOME OF US can’t attend the march and feel desperately terrible about it. so terrible, in fact, that calling her & passing around the phone to tell her that she SHOULD BE IN D.C. can’t even make her feel worse b/c she already feels just rotten.
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third paragraph! did you know that bcw is totally there in d.c. w/ you guys? hm? did you? she’s totally there. you guys should find her and tell me if she’s wearing a black beater NOT THAT I CARE.
laneia: i was looking for bcw, but since she mostly looks like a garden gnome or maker’s mark on the internet, i wasn’t really sure who i was looking for. what a shame.
hello! it’s true, i WAS there, but i had no internet access so i couldn’t get on autostraddle until i got back to new york (thanks for nothing, boltbus wifi). i looked for you guys too, but it was not to be. did you see the big, seemingly inexplicable rainbows over the march? we need some kind of autostraddle bat signal, like that. i was not wearing a black beater, but i will next time.
Obama’s speech brought me back to the way we all felt on November 4th. As this post said, actions speak louder than words but for now I’m just–thank god we FINALLY have someone in our corner.
Obama already has the statutory power to tell the Pentagon to stop investigating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell claims. So my number one feeling about that speech is we’ve all heard it before. Actions speak louder than words, Mr. President.
And now that’s I’ve read more closely it’s already been said…but I’m just really tired of hearing he’ll work to repeal something he already has the executive privilege to change.
So is there any defense for him not doing it? Like is there any chance he’s not doing it yet for a real reason?
I’m sure there are a host of reasons for not doing it yet and that doesn’t bother me. I’m fine reviewing policies and the potential consequences and effects of changing them (which I think is why he hasn’t done it yet)…but give me some sort of tangible time line as opposed to a “trust me”. I also think he should put a freeze on the investigation process until he determines what to do with the policy, rather than continuing to force out highly qualified individuals more than willing to defend our country.
Meghan McCain says it best:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-11/dont-ask-dont-tell-makes-america-unsafe/
There are just no words for how much I like and appreciate Lady Gaga.
Lady Gaga 2012!
http://twitpic.com/l76ws
Go sixth graders!