The Cute, It Burns

Apparently, a ten year old girl wrote President Obama last week to thank him for his position in favor of gay marriage (aka marriage equality).

You see, the girl, Sophia Bailey Klugh, has two dads. But Sophia mentioned something else in her letter. Some kids at school make fun of her because she has two days, and she says “it hurts my feelings.” She then asks the President what she should do about it.

Well, President Obama wrote the girl back. It’s very cute. HuffPo has Obama’s letter, so I’ll let you go over there to read it, but this part was great:

A good rule is to treat others the way you hope they will treat you. Remind your friends at school about this rule if they say something that hurts your feelings.

This comes on the heel of the President issuing a statement supporting the pro-gay side of four marriage ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota.

Romney vs. Obama on Gay Rights: No Contest

Mitt Romney has also spoken out about gay parents. He doesn’t like them, doesn’t “care” about them, and doesn’t want to even give their kids birth certificates.

It’s clear that the President decided a while ago to “seize the gay” (carpe gay-um?) as part of his re-election strategy – that was clear from the Democratic Convention in early September. Prior to the convention, the Democrats approved a marriage equality plank to their platform. At the convention, they showed a marriage equality video, Zach Wahls spoke about his two moms, and Michelle Obama mentioned gay marriage in her keynote, in a big way.

About the Michelle Obama mention, I wrote at the time about why it’s such a big deal:

Last night, during her keynote address at the Democratic Convention, First Lady Michelle Obama, in so many words, endorsed marriage equality: If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire…if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores…if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote…if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time…if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream…and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love…then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream. Let me walk you through this. In her speech, Mrs. Obama listed six significant moments in America history: 1. The War for the Independence. 2. Mass immigration. 3. Women’s Suffrage. 4. The Depression. 5. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech. 6. DADT and Marriage Equality (I think the “be who they are” reference is DADT). I mean, holy cow folks.

You’re Not Voting for Your Boyfriend

I get that some progressives are conflicted about what to do at the ballot box tomorrow. And I understand their angst. I was conflicted the first few years of the Obama administration, because the President wasn’t doing what I wanted, what he had promised, on issue that I cared about (gay civil rights). But in the end, after much cajoling, admittedly, he came through, in a big way.

Now some would say, yeah but you had to beat him up to get him to push the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and to come out in favor of marriage equality. Yeah. And so? As I’ve written many a time, I didn’t vote to elect a boyfriend. I voted for Barack Obama because I wanted certain things that I knew I wouldn’t get with John McCain, and I knew I had a chance of getting them with Barack Obama. And I got them.

It’s not about what’s in his heart. I don’t care what’s in any politician’s heart. That’s actually a very Republican argument, worrying about how a politician actually “feels” about you. And it’s actually a self-loathing Republican argument, the gay Republicans use it all the time: “Sure, he wants to ban us in the US Constitution, but he HAS to do that to appease the crazies in his own party – in his heart, he really likes us!”

To his heart I say phooey. His heart is going to enable me to marry, keep a job, and provide for my kids (had I any). His legislative and administrative actions will.

There’s some quote I remember, from twenty years ago when I read it for the first time, about a suffragette, I think, saying something to the effect of: “I don’t want you to like me; I simply want you to take your boot off my throat.”

I don’t vote for politicians to like me. I vote for them to advance my personal political agenda. Yeah, it took some work, but in the end President Obama did what I wanted him to do, what I voted for him to do. As for Mitt Romney, the number of flips flops, the number of lies, not just on gay rights, but on every issue, are now nearing Olympic record territory.

With Obama, there’s hope for something better.

With Romney, you’re not getting anything you want. Period.

That’s why I’m voting to re-elect the President, without any qualms.