Obama and the Arc of the Rainbow

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/article/167933/obama-and-arc-rainbow

When President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage, he did more than just “evolve” into a new position. He lent his moral authority to the century-long struggle for gay rights.
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Since the “homosexual” became a distinct and recognizable category in the late nineteenth century, almost every institution of Western society has sought to eradicate, punish, repress and exclude those men and women who fell under that name. Science deployed its arsenal of clinical instruments—medical experimentation, electroshock therapy, psychoanalysis and the jailhouse of the asylum—to “cure” individuals, and society, of this so-called affliction. From the bully pulpit of the church came down the scarlet letters of sin and shame and, with them, the status of moral pariah. The modern state made homosexuals a criminal class of people—the sex they had punishable as a felony; the signs of their existence subject to censorship; their attempts to gather in public the target of raids, beatings and mass arrests. In Nazi Germany, this state-sponsored pogrom reached murderous heights when, along with millions of Jews, thousands of suspected homosexuals were exterminated in concentration camps. Here in America at around the same time, homosexuals were also considered enemies of the state, lavender menaces spied on by the FBI, blackmailed and charged with sedition. Employers—from corporations to small businesses to schools—considered even the whiff of homosexuality sufficient cause to fire workers. And all of this sent a powerful message to society at large—that it was OK for family members, neighbors, colleagues and strangers to shun homosexuals and, sometimes, to commit acts of violence against them (see Mitt Romney, age 18).

In the face of this almost total injunction rose one of the most remarkable social movements of the twentieth century—the struggle for gay and lesbian liberation and equality. Displaying unimaginable courage, gays and lesbians reclaimed their lives from the doctors, priests, cops and judges who would have kept them unseen and unheard. They came out of the closet, renouncing shame and secrecy. They chose their own names, made their own vibrant culture, formed their own political organizations and, when a plague struck their community, took care of their own while those in power would not even admit that AIDS existed. They forced AIDS onto the national agenda and, along with it, the demand for an end to the criminalization of gay sex and a call for full citizenship, for a place at the table.

With his declaration in support of same-sex marriage, perhaps at some risk to his political fortunes, President Obama threw in his lot with this minority, still despised by many, not so long ago despised by almost all. It was a brave act, yes, but the moral epiphany he reached that day was made possible not just by conversations with gay staffers and his wife and daughters, as the president said in his interview, but by generations of gay and lesbian activists and allies. It was born of a courage nurtured in common—until it was just safe enough for the most powerful man in the world to join the cause.

[William769]

1. Recommended.

[Rowdyboy]

2. And I believe there is some early evidence to suggest an overall increase of support

for gay marriage in the black community after the president's endorsement. It has the potential to be a significant step forward but it would have never happened except for Barack Obama. I appreciate his words.