Obama and LGBTQ liberation

LeiLani Dowell, a Workers World newspaper managing editor and activist in the lesbian/gay/bi/trans/queer movement, gave this talk at a WW Forum on May 18.

On May 9, President Obama held an interview with Robin Roberts [ABC-TV host], in which he expressed his “evolved” personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

We should recognize the tremendous work that went into that mere statement — not an official decree, not an executive order. But just the statement of the president of the United States’ personal belief came from the work of lesbian/gay/bi/trans/queer people, activists and allies to push for LGBTQ rights and liberation. We have to acknowledge that basic fact, which has been completely ignored in the corporate media.

When I heard the news about Obama’s statement, I had a cynical reaction to it — which is understandable. The man is a capitalist politician. For capitalist politicians, election years are all about the game: You say what you think will get you the most votes. So, I thought, he’s doing this for the LGBTQ vote.

But my partner said, “Isn’t it interesting that that’s what he thinks will get him votes?” And he is absolutely right. It speaks to the changing consciousness and acceptance in U.S. society around LGBTQ rights and ending anti-LGTBQ bigotry, which have only come about through decades of struggle by LGBTQ people and their allies.

It is very significant that it’s Obama — the country’s first Black president — who was the first president to come out in support of same-sex marriage. Disunity is a major tool in the capitalists’ tool belt; they’re always trying to tell us not to like so and so, because so and so isn’t like you. If they’re successful, you and I waste our precious time fighting each other when we should be fighting them.

The corporate media, the capitalists, try to divide LGBTQ people and people of color — who would be natural allies otherwise. We’re told that the Black community and the LGBTQ community are at odds. This ignores the fact that many of us in the LGBTQ community are African American, and so are our friends and family. They even tell us that African countries are anti-LGBTQ — as if LGBTQ people faced no state and other oppression here in the U.S.

We’ve raised the case of CeCe McDonald here before, but it’s a perfect example: A Black trans woman is thrown in jail for defending herself and her queer people of color friends against racist bigots. (See articles at workers.org)

Here is one example of how the media will twist the struggle for LGBTQ rights in Africa. You may have heard about how Uganda tried to get legislation passed that called for the execution of gay people. What’s not mentioned in the press is that Scott Lively, a white bigot from the U.S., started that mess. He organized a group of right-wing, fundamentalist preachers to go to Uganda and influence the parliament there to propose the legislation.

Thanks to the LGBTQ movement in Uganda, with support from LGBTQ movements worldwide, the legislation was defeated. We should note that South Africa is one of the 10 countries in which same-sex marriage is currently legal on a national level. The U.S., of course, isn’t on that list.

Obama’s statement as a Black president is significant. Some analysts even suggest that Black people may be swayed in favor of same-sex marriage because of Obama’s support. That’s okay.

Let’s reflect on what same-sex marriage means. Vice President Joe Biden made this statement a few days before Obama’s, which some think forced Obama’s hand on the issue: “What this is is a simple proposition: Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love?” If that were all it was, who cares if the state sanctions it? We don’t believe in the capitalist state’s legitimacy anyway.

But the right to marry is much more than that. Here are some of the benefits that are bestowed on married couples, from freedomtomarry.org.

* Marriage enables spouses to visit each other in the hospital; to make each other’s emergency medical decisions; to share a family health plan; and to take medical leave to care for a sick spouse or child

* Governments, banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions will consider both spouses’ incomes, assets, or debts in … taxes, credit, loans, inheritance, divorce settlements, and eligibility for public housing, Medicaid, or Social Security benefits

* It enables spouses to be joint parents in making school or medical decisions, applying for passports, or being eligible for visitation rights and child support obligations

* It enables a survivor to make funeral arrangements, inscribe an epitaph, inherit a lease, file wrongful death claims, take bereavement leave and pass on property.

Even in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized, like in New York, federal benefits of marriage are still denied to married same-sex couples, such as in filing federal income taxes.

While it is notable that Obama took this bold step in openly supporting same-sex marriage, he made it clear that he and Washington would not do much to secure that right for LGBTQ people. After he said that it was his personal belief that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, Obama quickly added, “I continue to believe that this is an issue that is going to be worked out at the local level, because historically this has not been a federal issue.” (ABC News, May 9)

Obama’s remarks came just one day after North Carolina passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, making it the 30th state to ban same-sex marriage. One reporter pointed out that it’s an inherent contradiction to call something a right — which Obama said a few days later, when he called same-sex marriage an example of “expanding rights” — and then say the states can do what they want about that right; they can decide who has and doesn’t have that right.

It took a Supreme Court ruling to overturn the laws against marriage between whites and people of color. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled, in Loving v. Virginia, that the state’s anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional, laying the basis for the nullification of all race-based marriage legislation in the U.S.

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, the third-ranking House Democrat, and an active organizer during the Civil Rights Movement, compared the debate on same-sex marriage to the debate in his lifetime over interracial marriage. Clyburn said: “I will remind you that in my lifetime, it was illegal in some states — this state, one of them — for Black and white couples to get married. … We have seen [that] many churches that call themselves fundamentalist and Christian teach a theological tolerance of slavery and servitude.” (Washington Post, May 14)

What a contrast to Obama, who made sure to suggest that “many” opposed to same-sex marriage weren’t “coming at it from a mean-spirited perspective.” But the bigots are the ones using it to foment attacks against LGBTQ people.

Clyburn continued: “There are contradictions based in the Scripture that we all have to work our way through, and sometimes it takes the federal government to step into the breach in order to resolve many of these issues. It certainly did that through the courts with the marriage question, and it also did the same thing when it comes to whether people of color have got the same rights that white people have.”

That is coming from a man who was raised as a fundamentalist Christian, who said he had to work through that baggage to arrive at the correct position on same-sex marriage.

The press reported today [May 18] on another statement, which was made by The Rev. Otis Moss III, supporting Obama’s same-sex marriage position. Moss, the head of Obama’s former church, gave it to his congregation during his Sunday [May 13] sermon. It justified the support along several lines. One, he said, is that the question that should be posed is, “Should all Americans have the same civil rights? … There is a difference between rights [spelled r-i-g-h-t-s] and rites [spelled r-i-t-e-s].” (Chicago Tribune, May 17)

Then he stated: “The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the president’s words. Marriage was under attack years ago by men who viewed women as property and children as trophies of sexual prowess.” We might say that’s what the patriarchal system of marriage was set up to do, but it’s still interesting that he put it into that context.

Even more interesting, Moss said: “Marriage is under attack by low wages, high incarceration, unfair tax policy, unemployment and lack of education. Gay and lesbian citizens did not cause the economic crash, foreclosures and attack upon health care. Poor underfunded schools were not created because people desire equal protection under the law. We have much work to do as a community.”

This represents a changing consciousness, even more than Obama’s statement. That last quote is indicative of another shift in consciousness, more than just LGBTQ rights. It’s the consciousness of who the proper enemy is, what the real issues are.

I’d like to end where I began. That’s with the struggle of people on the ground fighting for their own liberation and in solidarity with the liberation of others. The anti-miscegenation laws may have been defeated in the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court had the weight of the whole Civil Rights Movement on its back.

The same thing is true in the winning of every right, from same-sex marriage and beyond. It will be the continued struggles of LGBTQ people and their allies that will win their true and full liberation. n