Argument Piece - President Obama has not betrayed the gay community

The topic of gay rights is something I hold dear to my heart. Having many friends within the community, I have the fortunate opportunity of seeing "the other side" of the story. Without question, when subjected to the experience of learning about something considered different, you soon learn that there are always two sides.

The piece I am going to write about is "President Obama has not betrayed the gay community" by Chris Geidner. I have incredible difficulty with my thoughts on this subject. Although I am extremely pro-gay rights, I also see the reasoning and realistic timing issues related to the execution of legal change. It appears that Chris Geidner somewhat shares my feelings.

Chris Geidner, being openly gay, creates a fair argument. He states the feelings of the gay community, and the reasoning behind their feeling betrayed. However, he also shows why the gay community may be creating an over-reactive storm out of something that can actually be seen as a small step toward progress. An example is the brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act. Chris points out that "...and when they read descriptions in the gay media of that brief that claimed it compared us to pedophiles and practitioners of incest." Here he clearly shows that the gay media claimed this, but upon his own review he sees that he "disagree(d) that the Obama administration had a real choice about whether it would defend DOMA in court and that DOJ's brief "compared us" to incest and pedophilia." Now, bottom line is, this shouldn't, theoretically, even have to be a discussion. Equal rights should be granted to all, however, it is not reality right now.

Gay activists, including myself, would love to see the day where political movements don't need to be critized and inspected for proof of betrayal. So long as gays are refused the right to marry, there will be a sense of betrayal. Democracy is "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections." The irony lies in the fact that democracy's intended purpose is to create equality for all, but in historical cases, including gay rights, democracy is the very thing that can thwart equality for all. When a majority is able to stamp out a minority, democracy needs to be questioned.

Has Obama betrayed the community? Perhaps. As I said earlier, as long as there is not equality, there will be betrayal. Since we live in a democracy, and politics are politics, we must bide our time and wait for things to happen when they will be most effective. It is my hope that Obama is waiting for the most opportune time to make his move. As Chris Geidner also states, "Our leaders, though, deserve nothing less from us than fair and honest debate and direction as we advance on the way toward that goal. That is the path that will lead us multitudes to the equality we seek." As much as I hate to say it, and I'm sure Chris would agree, the gay community must remain steadfast and patient. This democracy we live in must go through its steps.