Opinions

[aishah]

Originally Posted by blush

There are always "more urgent issues" to fight for. A 5 minute speech stating his stance on a controversial civil rights issue takes nothing away from other issues. He's the fucking president. I hope he can multitask.

my comments were on the attention given to the gay marriage issue as a whole, not just the president's speech, because i was addressing other issues brought up in the article snow posted. these were my comments specifically about the president's speech, in case you missed them:

* obama's statement doesn't actually mean anything concrete for queer folks. it's just a statement.
* the only reason he came out and said this now is because it's an election year.
* he's still allowing a civil rights issue to be treated as a states' rights issue, and as we saw in the civil rights movement, that does not work.

and regardless of how anyone feels about gay marriage, obama's statement is a nice gesture but it doesn't have any concrete meaning.

if i'm wrong, i wish someone would explain to me how this statement actually makes any meaningful difference in terms of getting gay marriage laws passed. obama still doesn't believe it's a federal issue; he still believes it's a states' rights issue. as we've seen in the civil rights movement, that basically means fuck all for equality. i'm touched that he gives a damn but...his 5 minute statement doesn't make much concrete difference in the current state of gay marriage in this country.

it's sweet but people are seriously acting like he passed gay marriage for everybody himself, based on the responses to it. he didn't actually DO anything. and my point was not that he can't multitask, it's that this is the ONLY relevant issue he's voiced ANY opinion on. fuck cece mcdonald being in jail. fuck trans women of color being murdered. obama will never speak about that because gay marriage is the only relevant political issue for him.