President Obama still hasn't evolved on marriage yet. You may recall that Obama first told me he was "evolving" on the marriage issue back on October 27, 2010. Well, he's still not there. Mediaite's Tommy Christopher asked Jay Carney about it yesterday:
All is not lost. Yesterday, the President did "proclaim June 2011 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month." But, funny thing (or not), the Proclamation doesn't mention anything about marriage or even civil unions -- it did in previous years. MetroWeekly's Chris Geidner reported on this finding:
There is no mention of relationship recognition, despite the fact that on Feb. 23, Attorney General Eric Holder, announced that the president had determined that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. The Department of Justice subsequently ended its defense of that portion of the law in ongoing court challenges.Huh. That's odd.
By comparison, in the 2010 proclamation, Obama stated, "That is why we must give committed gay couples the same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act."
In the 2009 proclamation, meanwhile, Obama stated, "Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include ... supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples ...."
It's 2011. Evolve already.
The White House -- and the Obama campaign, led by Jim Messina -- should know by now that marriage equality is one of the biggest unresolved issues facing this presidency. The President is behind the curve and getting further behind every day. He knows which way the trendline is moving. He told me that during our October 2010 meeting. The White House and Obama 2012 are making a political calculation here. Of course, HRC didn't help by jumping out with its early endorsement without a commitment on marriage. Messina must have called and yelled at someone over there to make it happen so soon (that's has happened before and apparently had an impact.)
As Mediate's Tommy Christopher noted:
President Obama eloquently tried to reassure bullying victims that it gets better. I agree, and do you know when it gets better, at least a little bit? When the President of the United States finally says that they are equal human beings.Yeah. We're waiting.
NOTE FROM JOHN: It's almost as if the bigots have evolved more on marriage than the President himself.
