There's increased frustration and sniping coming from the gayosphere about their perception that President Obama is 'ignoring' them. May I remind you gay peeps once again that President Obama is more than a little busy cleaning up the political and economic mess left him by the previous misadministration that many GLBT peeps got bamboozled by?
I'm getting more than a little annoyed with GLBT peeps whining less than six months into Obama's presidency that 'he isn't moving fast enough on our issues', especially when many of y'all:
A-supported HillaryB-gave the Bush administration more time to do absolutely nothing for us.
I'm not saying President Obama isn't above criticism. But my lack of patience with it is tempered by the fact that I recall many white GLBT peeps calling him the worst president ever on GLBT issues and he hadn't even taken the oath of office yet.
So yeah, I'm giving him more time to let his deeds live up to his words.
The point is that there are more important things on the national plate than your ability to get married, DOMA and DADT repeal. I want ENDA and hate crimes passed like yesterday, and like many African-Americans we have issues on the table that we've waited years to get dealt with, too.
But the difference between the African-American community and the gay community is that we're looking at the big political picture. The GLBT community is politically immature and impatient at times, muddles its political messages, fails at times to look at the big picture and doesn't grasp the importance of unspoken communication and symbolism.
The flag issue is an example of that, and don't even get me started on its monoracial leadership.
Well, the way to build political power is to be a good ally first. If you help them pass their pet issues or support them with more than lip service, then they'll be on board with helping you with yours. That means the next time the labor movement needs a helping hand with a protest, Latino/a's request your support on the Sotomayor nomination or African-Americans request some help trying to get congressional representation for DC, that y'all need to show up and push just as hard for those issues as you would your own.
The 2012 election cycle will be here soon. Obama has to worry about the 53% of the population and the 69,492,376 peeps that put him in the Oval Office, not just 13% (African-American US population) or 10% (the GLBT US population).Contrary to the vanilla flavored bullshit many GLBT peeps are spouting, y'all didn't put Obama in the White House by yourselves. We Americans wishing for a progressive direction for the country did.
That means Democrats, Republicans, independents, liberals, moderates, conservatives, African-Americans, Latino/a's, Asians, Whites, Native Americans, gay, straight, bi, intersex, transgender, cisgender...Well, you get the picture. That means gay boys and girls, to paraphrase Spock's line from Star Trek, the needs of the progressive many outweigh the needs of the progressive few.
It may have escaped those of you GLBT peeps who live in The Castro, inside the Capital Beltway or in Manhattan south of Christopher Street, but the progressive GLBT agenda for those of us in 'flyover country' doesn't begin and end with same gender marriage, DADT and DOMA repeal
You don't think GLBT peeps need universal health care? That GLBT peeps don't want or need good jobs at good wages? That there are GLBT service members not ensnared in DADT issues who want the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to end and come home?
That there are GLBT peeps who understand the importance of having a Democratic president in office for the next seven years not only selecting diverse progressive federal and Supreme Court judges, but pushing progressive change? Whether you believe it or not, politicians noticed the gay community's decades long penchant for selling out its transgender allies and couching it in 'incremental progress' weasel words to selfishly get their own rights passed.
They also noted the lack of intersectionality work by gay community peeps who loudly dismissed it with the words 'it isn't a gay issue'.
The way the political peeps look at it, if you gay peeps repeatedly sell your own allies down the river, what are they going to do with us?
If they have to face angry constituents back home, the political peeps factor that into their cost-benefit electability analysis.Besides, the president can't sign progressive legislation if Congress doesn't introduce or pass it. It's on us to hold Congressional feet to the fire and let them know that it's progressive change we want, not bills watered down by conservacrap.
So yeah, I believe much of the GLBT criticism being directed at President Obama is sour grapes.
I'm sick of it and y'all need to stop tripping.
