Obama's Interview With The Advocate

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (previously endorsed by me) gave a wide ranging interview with The Advocate that covered most issues of any consequence specific to the GLBT community. Here is an excerpt that I believe should be a ray of hope about his committment to equality:


If you were elected, what do you plan to do for the LGBT community -- what can you reasonably get done?

I reasonably can see “don’t ask, don’t tell” eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law.


You think it’s transgender-inclusive?


I think that’s going to be tough, and I’ve said this before. I have been clear about my interest in including gender identity in legislation, but I’ve also been honest with the groups that I’ve met with that it is a heavy lift through Congress. We’ve got some Democrats who are willing to vote for a non-inclusive bill but we lose them on an inclusive bill, and we just may not be able to generate the votes. I don’t know. And obviously, my goal would be to get the strongest possible bill -- that’s what I’ll be working for.


The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I’m interested in making happen and I think can be done with some opposition, some turbulence, but I think we can get that done.


And finally, an area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union. I think as more states sign civil union bills into law the federal government should be helping to usher in a time when there’s full equality in terms of what that means for federal benefits.


I assume you’re talking about the Defense of Marriage Act.


Absolutely, and I for a very long time have been interested in repeal of DOMA.

This sounds like someone who is comitted to moving forward toward GLBT equality but who is tempered with enough realism to have a notion of what he can actually get done.

Click here to read the entire interview from The Advocate.