Being the Change I Wish to See

Finally, the discriminatory policy that prevents gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and possibly transgendered Americans from serving our country openly in the military was repealed by the Senate today. The House of Representatives passed the repeal bill earlier this week.

Cloture was approved by a margin of 63 yea to 33 nay votes, and the bill immediately advanced. Republicans ended the debate period after a couple of hours (instead of the maximum 30 hours they could have used) and the Senate voted on the final bill. The vote was 65 yea to 31 nay, and DADT is now repealed by a margin of 14 more votes than were required (after the cloture vote succeeded, only 51 votes were needed for repeal).

The President is expected to sign the bill into law early this week.

This is a huge victory for President Obama, a victory that was difficult and for which he spent a large amount of political capital. The Democratic and Progressive base has been quite upset with President Obama lately, especially over his signature on extending all of the Bush tax cuts yesterday. It’s amazing that about 24 hours later he was able to win a big victory and keep one of his most important campaign promises: getting DADT repealed in 2010 using the legislative process.

If repeal had not happened in the Legislative Branch, federal courts, which have already begun ruling that this law is unconstitutional, would have had to take it all the way to the Supreme Court. I’m not sure what would have happened with that process. If Justice Elena Kagan recused herself from the case, repeal of the law would likely have failed because the final vote would have been 4-4, and in that case the 4th vote against repeal would have decided the issue. If Justice Kagan did not have to recuse herself, repeal would have passed. The final vote would have been 5-4 for repeal.

I’m extremely happy that repeal took place in the Legislature where the policy was codified in the first place. Now there is no doubt that repeal is final and that no one can accuse the court of legislating from the bench.

This is a great day for our LGBT military members, for all LGBT Americans, and for Americans as a whole. Civil rights and justice have been upheld by law instead of judicial enforcement of the U.S. Constitution. For once, public opinion was ahead of both the courts and the law on such an important civil rights issue. In so many cases in the past, it has taken the Supreme Court to grant Constitutionally guaranteed civil rights, but not this time.

This vote restored my faith that America can be great and we can do great things. I was truly beginning to believe we weren’t capable of greatness anymore.

We can bask in today’s victory, but we must return to work on LGBT civil rights on Monday. DOMA still has to be repealed, and equal marriage rights and work-place rights still do not belong to all LGBT Americans.

Technorati Tags: Civil Rights and Justice, DADT, DADT repealed, don't ask don't tell policy, gay lesbian bisexual transgender in the military, LGBT civil rights, U.S. military

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This article is part 5 in an 11-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better know as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 4 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda

Video (6 min):

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The U.S. has gotten more timid about demanding human rights around the world over the past 9 years. The Bush 43 administration outright committed human rights violations itself and allowed a significant increase in human rights abuses to go on widely with its isolationist policies.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has been low-key about human rights so far. President Obama made a trip to China and human rights wasn’t a significant part of the agenda. China has improved on human rights issues compared to 50 years ago, but their progress is much slower than it should be.

One reason we may be timid about human rights in China is China owns such a huge chunk of U.S. debt. If they called our debt, they could bankrupt us. It is unlikely they would do that because all their assets in U.S. debt securities would be worthless, and they would lose the country who buys more from them than anyone else on the planet. That would bankrupt them. In that light, we should be less timid about direct human rights talks with China.

Nicholas Kristof is right that the President needs to use his influence around the world, and especially in East Africa where his father was from and where Obama’s own ancestral tribe resides. President Obama has more credibility and influence in East Africa than any president in our history. He should use it on human rights.

Melissa Harris-Lacewell is absolutely right that America sends hypocritical signals about homophobia. We are hypocritical that we treat LGBT people as second class citizens, and then demand Uganda not pass laws to discriminate against them and punish them harshly just for being LGBT.

But, just because America is struggling with the civil rights of a minority group does not mean we support felony criminalization of that minority group or harsh punishment of them. No matter how hypocritical America is about its treatment of its LGBT citizens, being LGBT is not illegal here. Rick Warren and The Family may be strongly anti-gay, but they don’t support such treatment of gays, even if they haven’t said so to Uganda.

The Family’s positions and beliefs have been influential in Uganda for over 20 years. U.S., Canadian and European aid has been going to Uganda and Sub-Saharan Africa longer than that. Yet Ugandan President Musevini is risking that essential aid by signing a bill such as Bill 18: The Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2009 into law. Losing aid will kill thousands of people a day from disease and hunger. If these fringe Americans can use their influence to cause such a human rights catastrophe, they can use their influence to avert it.

Congressman Anthony Weiner is right that the U.S. State Department and Ambassadors must be our official source of American policy positions. That U.S. legislators can take off on a plane and get in to see the leaders of developing countries, who view any visit from a U.S. government official as important, needs to be countered with immediate visits from the State Department to make sure actual U.S. policies are made clear no matter what any legislator says. We know these Evangelicals, Senators and Congressmen are extremist conservative ideologues (fringe-of-the-fringe right-wing nut-jobs). A small country in East Africa doesn’t know that and will take what is said as how all of America stands on any issue.

With the incoming younger generation and attrition of older, much more conservative citizens, LGBT civil rights and social acceptance is improving. It has a long way to go, but it has come a long way in a short time. I discuss the LGBT equality issue in detail in the article U.S. not really about equality.

Race and civil rights in America are similar to LGBT civil rights but much farther along legally and socially. Still, many non-whites experience different levels of discrimination every day. The situation is changing, but it still exists over 40 years after the passage of The Civil Rights Act of 1964. America made a quantum leap forward when we elected Barack Obama as President of the U.S. We’ve come a long way on race, but we still have a long way to go.

Like all sweeping civil rights changes, equal LGBT civil rights will have to come through the federal system and be upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. The tide of history is turning rapidly, and I do not believe it will be many more years before same-sex civil rights are equal with opposite-sex civil rights in America.

The difference between what Uganda wants to do and what happens in the U.S. is the difference between violating human rights and arguing both for and against the civil rights of a minority group. The difference between them is as wide as the ocean between the U.S. and Africa.

The buck stops with the State Department. It is the duty of the State Department to speak for the U.S. and its policies throughout the world. Individual Senators and Congresspersons may interfere in foreign countries to the benefit of their personal beliefs, but the State Department must step up and visit the same leaders within a day to communicate America’s official position.

Part 6 is located at this link.

Technorati Tags: Anthony Weiner, Bart Stupak, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, kill-the-gays bill, LGBT civil rights, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Museveni, Musevini, Nicholas Kristof, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Sam Brownback, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda, US State Department

\\ tags: Anthony Weiner, Bart Stupak, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, kill-the-gays bill, LGBT civil rights, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Museveni, Musevini, Nicholas Kristof, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Sam Brownback, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda, US State Department