BREAKING: Obama endorses STATES RIGHTS

[Bolo Boffin]

51. I am sick and tired of anybody trying to tell me that the President has handed me lemons

and I need to make shitaid out of them.

Yesterday was a banner day. The sitting President of the United States endorsed marriage equality in an election year. You and any other poster still raining on this parade are doing MORE damage to your cause than you know.

People are ecstatic over this. Even the gay bloggers I usually avoid for their constant drumbeat of doom (AmericaBlog, Glenn Greenwald, etc.) were unanimous in saying this was a big fucking deal. Greenwald even batted away the temptation to do exactly what you are doing.

And yet within an hour of this breaking, some sainted few were here telling us the proper way to think about this was OMG OBAMA FAILED US AGAIN.

You are right about one thing. You are NOT the spokesperson for an entire group. I'm gay and you sure as hell don't speak for me or any of my friends, gay or straight, nor most of DU. I certainly do thank you for your concern that we all see this as the foul defeat for LGBT Americans you see it as, but I'm not gonna. I got better things to do than attend your sad little party.

Marriage is a state issue. Until we get rid of DOMA, which is happening, the Feds can't get involved. And until we stop losing state battles for marriage equality and start winning them (the way that interracial marriage bans were being overturned right and left before Loving), it's not going to happen. And the way to win state battles is for people like the President to stand up and say I am for marriage equality. But not just him:

I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.

We have to be visible. We have to serve our country with honor. We have to take our place in open society. And every indignity visited upon us, every injustice seen by our family and friends will only hasten the day when we cannot be denied any longer. The President is on our side. I for one am completely knocked over by that and join every other DUer who is celebrating this milestone.