obama and LGBT issuesjuliandragoMarch 19 2008, 15:31:17 UTC
it's kind of spotty. obama has claimed that he supports civil unions and not gay marriage, but at the same time voted against both the federal marriage amendment and the defense of marriage act (both attempts to prohibit gay marriage). he's for allowing individual states to determine it for themselves.
he's also sponsored state legislation to include sexual orientation as a form of discrimination, and supports expanding hate crime and workplace discrimination language to include sexual orientation. he also supports gay couple adoption rights and wants to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
obama also received an 89/100 score rating from the human rights campaign, which is pretty favorable. clinton received the same score. obama is pretty much exactly the same as clinton on LGBT issues, with one exception: clinton voted in favor of the defense of marriage act, which would prevent federal recognition of gay marriage, while obama, as i mentioned before, voted against it. that being said, both clinton and obama both support civil unions over recognizing gay marriage. of course, this information is more relevant if you're divided between the democratic candidates, which you may not be.
and i don't really know anything about your politics and such, so if i've said anything here that you were already well aware of, don't take it as lecturing or anything, no condescension intended. just spreadin' the info.
but yea, you're right, he doesn't support gay marriage directly. i think he's still pretty progressive on LGBT issues in general, but (perhaps like you?) i'd still like him to go ahead and push for federal recognition of gay marriage. at the same time, he's as, if not more, progressive than any of the other candidates on the matter (with the exception of nader).
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he's also sponsored state legislation to include sexual orientation as a form of discrimination, and supports expanding hate crime and workplace discrimination language to include sexual orientation. he also supports gay couple adoption rights and wants to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."
obama also received an 89/100 score rating from the human rights campaign, which is pretty favorable. clinton received the same score. obama is pretty much exactly the same as clinton on LGBT issues, with one exception: clinton voted in favor of the defense of marriage act, which would prevent federal recognition of gay marriage, while obama, as i mentioned before, voted against it. that being said, both clinton and obama both support civil unions over recognizing gay marriage. of course, this information is more relevant if you're divided between the democratic candidates, which you may not be.
and i don't really know anything about your politics and such, so if i've said anything here that you were already well aware of, don't take it as lecturing or anything, no condescension intended. just spreadin' the info.
but yea, you're right, he doesn't support gay marriage directly. i think he's still pretty progressive on LGBT issues in general, but (perhaps like you?) i'd still like him to go ahead and push for federal recognition of gay marriage. at the same time, he's as, if not more, progressive than any of the other candidates on the matter (with the exception of nader).
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