U.S. President Barack Obama has just shown rare courage by endorsing same-sex marriage, and in an election year at that. While the earth barely moved in Canada — where same-sex marriage became lawful on Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin’s watch in 2005 over Stephen Harper’s objections — Obama’s bold stand has convulsed the U.S. political scene and tipped the debate in favour of human rights.
This is a huge moment for the American civil rights movement, the first time a sitting president has come out for gay and lesbian marriage. Obama will also be remembered as the commander-in-chief who saw to it that gays can serve openly in the military.
The cynics and the purists cavil, of course.
Cynics say that Obama is opportunistically appealing to the plurality of voters who now endorse gay marriage, in the run-up to the Nov. 6 election. Clearly, he hopes to energize his Democratic base and to appeal to independents and younger voters who tend to support it. Tellingly, Obama says denying same-sex marriage rights “doesn’t make sense” to his daughters. But he runs the risk of further alienating Christian evangelicals and some African-Americans and Hispanics. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate, opposes not only gay marriage but also civil unions with similar rights.
Others point out that Obama favours letting the states decide individually whether to allow gay marriage, at a time when most prohibit it. They argue that Obama should go further, and place the federal government’s weight behind any future legal challenge to the state bans, on the grounds that they violate the constitutional right to equal protection under the law. It may yet come to that.
But these quibbles miss the big picture.
There is an epic struggle going on in America and across much of the wider world to affirm the full humanity of gays and lesbians, amid fierce opposition. In the U.S., it has been described as the great battle for civil rights in this era. It is far from won. It matters greatly that a president whose campaign slogan was Hope has weighed in, decisively, on the side of compassion, inclusion and equal rights for all.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Editorial
This is a huge moment for the American civil rights movement, the first time a sitting president has come out for gay and lesbian marriage. Obama will also be remembered as the commander-in-chief who saw to it that gays can serve openly in the military.
The cynics and the purists cavil, of course.
Cynics say that Obama is opportunistically appealing to the plurality of voters who now endorse gay marriage, in the run-up to the Nov. 6 election. Clearly, he hopes to energize his Democratic base and to appeal to independents and younger voters who tend to support it. Tellingly, Obama says denying same-sex marriage rights “doesn’t make sense” to his daughters. But he runs the risk of further alienating Christian evangelicals and some African-Americans and Hispanics. Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate, opposes not only gay marriage but also civil unions with similar rights.
Others point out that Obama favours letting the states decide individually whether to allow gay marriage, at a time when most prohibit it. They argue that Obama should go further, and place the federal government’s weight behind any future legal challenge to the state bans, on the grounds that they violate the constitutional right to equal protection under the law. It may yet come to that.
But these quibbles miss the big picture.
There is an epic struggle going on in America and across much of the wider world to affirm the full humanity of gays and lesbians, amid fierce opposition. In the U.S., it has been described as the great battle for civil rights in this era. It is far from won. It matters greatly that a president whose campaign slogan was Hope has weighed in, decisively, on the side of compassion, inclusion and equal rights for all.
Original Article
Source: Star
Author: Editorial
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