Jul 03, 2009  |  By: Mary Frances Berry  | COMMENTS     

PRESIDENT OBAMA, YOU are moving too slowly. Your recent actions concerning LGBT issues appear too hesitant, too tentative. You claimed to be a “fierce advocate” for the gay community while you were campaigning for the presidency, inspiring the masses with cries of “Yes we can,” yet you seem to be foot-dragging on progress.

In a 2007 interview with the Advocate, you made the bold assertion that you were helping to encourage understanding that would ultimately strengthen the cause of LGBT rights. You even stated that, “there has not been a stronger and more consistent advocate on LGBT issues than I have been.” You may talk the talk, but you certainly do not walk the walk. Since becoming president, you’ve shown inconsistency with your rhetoric and violence and hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals are on the rise across the country.

On issues of fundamental rights, leaders must not show hesitance or a tendency to waver. First, your administration’s lawyers filed a brief defending the constitutionality of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” with language unnecessarily analogizing same-sex marriage to incest. Then a week later, you sign a memo granting limited federal employee benefits for gays and lesbians serving in government and their partners while also pledging ultimately to repeal DOMA.

You promised during the campaign to end the discriminatory military policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but did nothing when the Supreme Court refused to hear a case brought by 12 former service members who were discharged because of their sexual orientation. I understand that the issues are difficult and times are tough and you are busy dealing with other crises, but I can assure you there is no cause of greater urgency than protecting human rights.

A BATTLE IS brewing across the country and you, Mr. President, are moving too slowly. We’ve seen incredible progress in states like New Jersey, Iowa and New Hampshire recognizing same-sex marriages and unions, but then the recent strife over Proposition 8 in California serves to remind us just how divided Americans are still today over a major civil and human rights issue like marriage equality.

When political leaders face urgent problems and a polarized public, a commission that honestly gathers facts and develops a consensus can be enormously helpful. Such a commission can listen to all sides, clear the air and “put the facts on top of the table,” as President Eisenhower suggested when he first established the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1957. Yet in our country’s time of need, when it desperately begs for a bi-partisan voice of reason to direct us toward a higher moral standard, the current U.S. Civil Rights Commission is unsuited for the task. 

Tragically, the commission’s major role of hearing the grievances of those who are usually ignored has been abandoned. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens who need their complaints about wrongful discrimination to be heard find the current commission disinterested in their problems or better off not attracting its attention. Commission Chair Gerald Reynolds  publicly stated when he was appointed that he did not know of any discrimination problems in the country. Those planning the National Equality March on Oct. 10 in Washington, D.C., to help you to act, would say otherwise. 

WHEN CIVIL RIGHTS advocates and their allies were protesting in the streets and marching on Washington, the commission conducted investigations and public hearings, prepared detailed reports and recommended new protections that would ultimately be passed in the form of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. People are planning to march on Washington again because basic human rights are unprotected.

Congress and the President should convert the present commission into a bipartisan independent Civil & Human Rights Commission armed with subpoena power and devoted to the idea that all persons are inherently entitled to equality of rights simply because they are human beings. Recommendations for resolving the controversies over the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people should be on its immediate agenda.

We need independent minded commissioners, with a structure designed to protect their independence. We need Senate confirmation re-established so people can see who is being nominated and make objections. Such a commission, Mr. President, could flourish again if you would make good on your promise of change, if you find it impossible to move without delay. Now is the time. Yes we can, if you turn your words into action.