"Beyond Selma-to-Stonewall," (Editorial) in The New York Times, January 28, 2013, at p. A16.
"By including gay rights in the arc of the struggle for civil rights --'the road through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall' -- President Obama linked his presidency to ending anti-gay discrimination and underscored the legal wrong of denying gay people the freedom to marry."
Many of us attending to President Obama's inspiring Inauguration speech were struck by the forthright and brave manner in which Mr. Obama, correctly, embraced the struggle for equal rights of gay and lesbian as well as transexual and transgendered persons. ("Manifesto For the Unfinished American Revolution" and "America's Holocaust.")
Mr. Obama understands that the struggle for equality of our brothers and sisters in these communities today is incorporated into the continuing civil rights struggle because all of our rights are implicated or threatened by the violation of any one person's (or community's) rights. ("Presidential Debates" and "Republicans Unplugged.")
What is at issue in creating lesser or separate legal rights for any despised minority group, or person, is the diminution of everyone's rights as a cost of generalized dehumanization. ("Dehumanization" and "Is there a gay marriage right?" then "John Finnis and Ethical Cognitivism" and "Judith Butler and Gender Theory.")
If the history of the twentieth century has taught us anything, then it must be that dehumanization is a very slippery slope. It becomes progressively easier to encroach on the civil rights of all persons in the state when precedents are created for such encroachments upon the legal protections of disfavored persons in society.
Those we dislike -- or who are different and/or unpopular because of that difference -- are usually first to be denied their rights. ("Freedom For Mumia Abu-Jamal" and "Justice For Mumia Abu-Jamal" then "So Black and So Blue in Prison.")
"Now that Mr. Obama has declared that he believes denying gay people the right to wed is not only unfair and morally wrong but legally unsupportable, the urgent question is how he will translate his words into action. [emphasis added] To start he should have his Solicitor General file a brief in the Proposition 8 case being argued before the Supreme Court in March, saying that California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional."
Mr. Obama has been criticized by opponents for making great speeches while failing to act on his rhetoric. The same critics who do their best to undermine every White House initiative complain that Mr. Obama is not accomplishing much. ("Boehner's Disgrace.")
It must be said in response to this accusation that it is unprecedented for the President of the United States of America to make such an explicit declaration about LGBT rights.
It is likely that Mr. Obama's words will be echoed in international law and conventions on human rights involving many more nations in this effort at equality for everyone. President Obama has ALREADY changed the discussion in America and the world based on this crucial speech.
By shifting the discussion of LGBT rights to the level of Bill of Rights protections, which may be anti-majoritarian without being undemocratic -- since these protections emanate from the Constitution enacted by "We the People" as our most fundamental law -- he makes the protection of individuals' and especially minorities' fundamental rights primary over the "transitory will of majorities" as the Framers intended.
If a majority of voters approved the restoration of slavery for African-Americans, the courts would strike down such a law or mandate in any state, or for the nation, because that propspective law is prohibited by the 13th and 14th Amendments.
Denial of fundamental rights to LGBT persons is likened by many persons (myself included) to denigration of such persons or their reduction to a subhuman status. This goes way beyond the definition of marriage. (Again: "Is there a gay marriage right?")
Mr. Obama has placed concern for the rights of LGBT persons on the same level with the rights of African-Americans, women, and other traditionally disempowered groups or all persons confronted by the power of the state. Even the national government in an age of terrorism must obey the law.
I urge the president to direct the Solicitor General to file an amicus brief in the Proposition 8 case, to seek qualified candidates for the federal judiciary -- including the Supreme Court if a vacancy becomes available -- from the LGBT community (which is OUR community).
I also suggest that we continue to devote resources to the struggle for equal rights of which President Obama is now a global symbol. In Mr. Obama's words:
"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like everyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." (emphasis added!)
