Obama Experiments with Gay Rights, Decides It Just Doesn't Feel Right.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign made ambitious and unprecedented promises to the Gay Community, even if his stance on gay marriage slid toward the (regretably discriminatory) middle as his candidacy grew in viability. In the Democratic primaries, Obama insisted that full civil marriage rights should be extended to gay couples. He left the symbolic "marriage" business up to the churches who would be conducting ceremonies, thus striking a balance between the alleviation of a gap in equal rights and the upholding of freedom of religious practice if a church declined to recognize gay marriage as spiritually valid. By the end of his campaign, he openly opposed gay marriage while continuing to support civil unions.

Either way, Obama pledged to seek the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law explicitly defining marriage as heterosexual and allowing states to refuse recognition of gay marriage (and only gay marriage). He also took aim at the U.S. Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of requiring homosexuals to remain quiet about their sexuality in order to serve in the military.

Obama took office without major action on gay rights, which in turn immediately drew criticism from several in the gay community and other gay rights advocates. Still, there are perfectly logical explanations for gay rights finding its to Obama's back burner. Frankly, the economy is more important, having a far greater impact on the lives of far more people. The Obama administration has been incredibly active in attempting to stabilize the economy and, perhaps to a lesser extent, rebuilding a more refined regulatory system. This alone would be enough to give a two-term Obama presidency a legitimate legacy as a domestic specialist.

Obama has also invested himself into turning two largely failed foreign wars into one ongoing successful war and one relatively successful war in the history books, all while attempting to reboot the United States' image abroad and taking leading rolls in foreign policy issues such as the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

Perhaps coincidentally, it is worth noting that political support for the gay rights movement does not have the same timeline or sense of urgency as something like health care. Traditionally, presidents seeking health care reform have had no real choice but to pursue policy in their administrations' infancies, as the first year represented the only opportunity for enough of a mandate and enough political capital to make health care reform feasible. Interestingly, it is entirely likely that Obama will have more support for marriage equality and gay rights in the twilight of his presidency, as gay marriage continues its slow crawl of state-by-state legalization and support continues to swell in national polls.

The Obama camp's defense up to this point has been to simple: He's busy, but he'll get to it. With so much on the White House's plate, it would be difficult to begrudge Obama for releasing a statement to the effect of 'we haven't forgotten about you, but there are some other things that can't wait and we promise to take action as soon as we can.' Such a reassurance might allow gay rights advocates to accept the recent extension of some federal employee partner benefits to gay couples with guarded optimism instead of the sense that they've been thrown a bone and patronized.

But that's not what happened. Obama's Justice Department recently filed a brief supporting the Defense of Marriage act after it was challenged in court by a gay couple in California. The Obama administration filed a similar brief defending Don't Ask, Don't Tell after it too faced a legal challenge. As recently as today, there are reports that the Justice Department continues to insist that Obama plans to overturn it. Obama himself has remained conspicuously silent, neglecting even to provide noteworthy comment when the Washington D.C. city council voted in May to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the country. Many analysts felt that D.C. taking up the issue would be enough to force Obama to weigh in, but it wasn't.

All in all, these moves are incredibly suspicious in the supposed new political age based upon elected officials earning and deserving the benefit of the doubt. Gay rights is still an incredibly divisive issue, yes, and saving it for when the health care push is complete and/or unemployment begins to shrink is certainly a reasonable political policy decision. Quietly throwing the weight of the executive branch behind upholding anti-gay laws in court is something entirely different, however, especially in the wake of Obama's campaign promises. Consequently, it is quickly becoming impossible for gay rights advocates to suspend enough disbelief to accept the Obama administration's claims of sympathy even as the White House abstains from any wide-reaching policy moves in support of equality for the LGBT community (failing even to significantly capitalize on this year's gay-marriage legalization spree in several northeastern states), and actively impedes the movement's efforts in the courtroom.

Whereas activists had been waiting for (and expecting) Obama to wade into the issue and take charge, many are now left openly wondering whether or not they have lost a powerful ally. The inconsistencies are enough to cause many to question whether or not the President has ever been their ally at all.

A silver lining may be that gay rights advocates are having no problem continuing the movement despite Obama's absence. This week, the Attorney General of Massachusetts, the first U.S. state to legalize gay marriage in 2003, sued the federal government to overturn part of the Defense of Marriage Act. Likewise, a group of servicemen and women is mobilizing a tour in opposition of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and military leaders are now openly discussing the issue. The legal challenge to California's Proposition 8 are also far from over.

After all, the LGBT rights movement is no stranger to operating in an environment in which the Oval Office is less than supportive.