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Gay DNC Fundraiser Filled With Frustration: “No One Is Happy With Obama”
President Barack Obama is taking heat from some gays and lesbians for not fulfilling campaign pledges. He’s also taking their cash.
Gay rights activists have complained that Obama has not followed through on his promises to repeal a law banning their open service in the military, to do away with a federal marriage law or to champion their causes from the White House. During his first five months, he’s taken incremental steps that have little real effect and left some people feeling betrayed.
But he still felt comfortable sending Vice President Joe Biden to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday evening with gay and lesbian donors.
“I hope you don’t doubt the president’s commitment,” Biden said during a 20-minute address at the gathering. Assuring donors and other guests that Obama would keep the nation focused on “the unfinished business of true equality for all our people,” the vice president said, “I don’t blame you for your impatience.”
Some gay donors had called for a boycott after Obama’s Justice Department, in a court filing, compared gay marriages to incest.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate time to be raising money. No one is happy now,” said Richard Socarides, who advised President Bill Clinton on gay issues and did not plan to attend the event. “On gay rights, the country is already in the age of Obama, but he’s governing from the Clinton era.”
Obama issued a presidential memorandum that expands some federal benefits to same-sex partners, but not health benefits or pension guarantees. He has allowed State Department employees to include their same-sex partners in certain embassy programs already available to opposite-sex spouses.
But that remains far short of his campaign rhetoric. Article by Philip Elliot for the Huffington Post. For more news and information, click the link below for www.huffingtonpost.com. Huffington Post is one of the most read blogs in the world.
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via Gay DNC Fundraiser Filled With Frustration: “No One Is Happy Now”.
I won’t give a dime to any queer politician who showed up. Talk about a sickening betrayal.