Are You Listening, Mr. President?

Hope you had a real good night, Mr. President: "Obama, the alleged "fierce advocate" for LGBT rights, is scheduled to attend a Democratic Party fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton tonight, one day after White House spokesman Robert Gibbs refused to offer any official response to the Supreme Court's decision to uphold Proposition 8 in California. A Courage Campaign-organized demonstration was scheduled to take place in front of the Beverly Hilton. The group writes: 'Let's take this opportunity to show our President our support for his daring promise to our community and to highlight the growing movement towards FULL FEDERAL EQUALITY.'"

LETTER TO OUR PRESIDENT
HARVEY FIERSTEIN/Huffington Post
America needs to hear you say, "We will no longer tolerate the oppression of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. They are our family. They are we and we are they." The nation needs to hear you say, "We must prove ourselves worthy of the title Americans; protectors of the weak, standard bearers of freedom, and guarantors of equal rights for all." History will record the day you say, "From this day forward no amendment, statute or law that seeks to deny full rights of citizenship on the basis of sexual preference will be tolerated. Hatred and bigotry are here forth banished to the dark recesses of small minds. Let the Pledge of Allegiance light our way to tomorrow as "...one nation, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all." We need a hero, and you have been elected.

THE BIG GAY CHIP ON MY SHOULDER
ROB THOMAS/Huffington Post
A civil union has to do with death. It's essentially a document that gives you lower taxes and the right to let your faux spouse collect your insurance when you pass away. A marriage is about life. It's about a commitment. And this argument is about allowing people to have the right to make that commitment, even if it doesn't make sense to you. Anything else falls under the category of "separate but equal" and we know how that works out.
The support of legalizing gay marriage is in no way meant to change the ideals of the section of Christians who believe that homosexuality is a sin. But we should refuse to let other people's ideals shape the way we live our lives. Each of us has a short ride on this earth and as long as we stay in our lane, and don't affect someone else's ride, we should be allowed to drive as we see fit.

THE BIGOTRY OF HOPE
DAVID PAUL APPELL/Huffington Post
You'd think if anyone would appreciate that civil rights are civil rights, it's black Americans. That's what makes the support of some among them of such bigotry and intolerance appalling: their spectacular obliviousness to oppression—as long as it doesn't apply to them. In other words, once we've overcome, the rest of you can go screw yourselves, in fact, maybe we'll even help screw you. Because yes, we can.

OBAMA'S FLIP-FLOP: HE WAS FOR IT BEFORE HE WAS AGAINST IT
GABRIEL ROTELLO/Huffington Post
The Windy City Times dug through its archives and discovered two candidate surveys conducted in 1996, when Obama was running for the Illinois state senate. In the first, Obama responded to a question by writing "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." In the second, Obama was asked if he supported a document called The Marriage Resolution, which states "RESOLVED, the state should not interfere with same-gender couples who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of civil marriage." Obama wrote his response by hand: "I would support such a resolution." As we know, Obama went on to run for higher office, and went on to oppose gay marriage. He's not alone. Most progressive Democrats running for higher office run away from gay marriage. This despite polls showing that 40% of all Americans, 50% of Democrats and 69% of self-described liberals favor legalizing same-sex marriage, numbers that have trended upwards year by year.
A new study by the group Freedom to Marry came out just days earlier, and it decisively shows what happens to politicians brave enough to openly support and vote for gay marriage. They win re-election. And if they decide to run for higher office, they win that too.