Thursday, May 9, 2013

Obama - ‘Changed Everything’ - Gay-Rights Backers See Progress in Year Since President Obama Backed Gay Marriage - 5/9/13


     
A year ago this week, President Obama folded himself into a chair in the White House Cabinet Room to make an announcement that had no impact on federal law or policy -- but one that was filled with emotional meaning for the president and many of his strongest supporters.
"I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," the president told ABC News' Robin Roberts in an interview last May 9...
...The president was completing a self-described personal "evolution" on gay marriage that was hardly surprising, particularly under the immediate public pressure provided courtesy of his own vice president.
Yet the announcement managed to course through politics and society in ways that were impossible to fathom at the time. A year later, the politics of the issue have flipped almost completely, to the point where supporters of same-sex marriage are playing offense, not defense.
Beyond the electoral battlefield, the president's decision ushered in a year of lightning-fast movement on gay rights, with the impact felt in realms including the Boy Scouts, professional sports, and the Supreme Court...
Read more:


Last year:


Obama: ‘I Think Same-Sex Couples Should Be Able to Get Married’- 5/09/12 ABC

 President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.
In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this decision, based on conversations with his staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and his wife and daughters.
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday...
Read more:



Barack Obama is 1st sitting U.S. president to support gay marriage – 5/9/12
…Acknowledging that his support for same-sex marriage may rankle religious conservatives, Obama said he thinks about his faith in part through the prism of the Golden Rule — treating others the way you would want to be treated.
"That's what we try to impart to our kids and that's what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I'll be as a as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I'll be as president," Obama said…

Barack Obama speaks out and declares support for same-sex marriage – 5/9/12
President speaks about issue in deeply personal terms, and affirms his unequivocal support for same-sex couples to marry...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/09/barack-obama-supports-gay-marriage


President Obama Supports Same-Sex Marriage - The White House - 5/10/12
…during an interview with ABC News, President Obama said, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.
…He’s sat around his kitchen table with Sasha and Malia, who have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. As the President said during the interview, “it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently.  It doesn’t make sense to them. And frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change of perspective -- not wanting to somehow explain to your child why somebody should be treated differently when it comes to eyes of the law.”
In the end, the President said, he believes it's important to "treat others the way you would want to be treated. “We need to recognize that people are going to have differing views on marriage and those views, even if we disagree strongly, should be respected…

Obama's family influenced his gay marriage shift, aides say - 5/10/12
WASHINGTON -- As he weighed a shift in his public position on gay marriage, perhaps no one had as much influence on President Obama than his wife, Michelle.
"This is something that, you know, we've talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do," Obama told ABC's Robin Roberts Wednesday.
Even as Obama's position was in a state of evolution,White House advisers say the first lady went out of her way to invite gay, lesbian, transgendered and bisexual couples to the events she sponsored for military families.
Around the West Wing, there are several gay staffers, and at least one in a committed relationship and raising children. And the Obama daughters have friends with same-sex parents, whom the first family has gotten to know.
"There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we're talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn't make sense to them and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective," Obama said...


Obama becomes first U.S. president to support gay marriage - 5/10/12


Biden on Gay Marriage: ‘Who Do You Love? - 5/06/12
“Who do you love? Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love?” Biden said, “And that’s what people are finding out what all marriages at their root are about.”


Obama shakes hands with Ricky Martin, Manhattan fund-raiser – 51512

Ricky Martin Host Obama Fundraiser in New York City – 51412

Obama Supports Gay Marriage - Andrew Sullivan – “…when I watched the interview, the tears came flooding down. I was utterly unprepared for how psychologically transformative the moment would be. To have the president of the United States affirm my humanity — and the humanity of all gay Americans — was, unexpectedly, a watershed.” – 5/14/12 Chicago Tribune

Obama Showed Moral Leadership With Gay Marriage Support – 5/14/12

Obama calls for marriage equality, says 'I want everyone treated fairly' – 5/14/12
…"We admire his courage, like the courage he showed last week in affirming his belief in marriage equality," [Ricky] Martin, who announced two years ago that he is gay, said on stage, prior to introducing Obama. "That is the kind of courage we expect from our president and that is why we support him."
       
Obama Gay Marriage Endorsement Is 'Political Bravery' – By Rachel Maddow -  (VIDEO) – 5/10/12
          Rachel Maddow reacted to President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage, calling Wednesday a "historic day in civil rights in this country."
          On her MSNBC show Wednesday night, Maddow said it was "icing" on Obama's previous record on gay rights. During her Thursday morning appearance on NBC's "Today" show, Maddow called Obama's endorsement "political bravery" as she was unclear what the electoral impact will be... Read/watch more:

Obama declaration "icing on the cake" of gay rights legacy - The Rachel Maddow Show (May 9th, 2012)
Video: Photo   twitter.com/maddow

Transcript: Excerpts -
          …The Barack Obama administration has been very, very, very pro-gay rights. They have pursued at every level policies to improve the lives of gay Americans and to further gay rights.
          …repealing "don`t ask, don`t tell."
          …expanding federal benefits for the same-sex partners of people who work in the executive branch.
          …signing the Hate Crimes Act into law.
          …clearing the way for hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples…
          … It`s expanding the census, even, to make sure that people in same-sex relationships get counted.
          …directing U.S. agencies who work with foreign countries to ensure that our humanitarian and diplomatic efforts abroad take into accounts the rights of gay and lesbian people in those other countries.
          …supporting states that are trying to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples…
          …refusing to defend… the Defense of Marriage Act.
If you are in favor of gay rights, the Barack Obama administration has been great on the issue of gay rights…
          …ultimately, what presidents do is they wield political power. And even before today [publically supporting gay marriage], that legacy of the first term of the Barack Obama presidency was already clear.
          Today, he added to that...
          …he took this extra step today...something extra…This was above and beyond.
          And it is not without risk. And now having said these words publicly that no president has ever said before, now we get to see how this changes the country.
Read complete transcript:

Andrew Sullivan on Obama's Support of Gay Marriage – 5/09/12 – NPR – Transcript
…One interview doesn't make a difference. And then I watched the interview and the tears flooded. There is something about hearing your president affirm your humanity that you don't know what effect it has until you hear it. And I think of all those gay Americans over the centuries who never heard that, never believed it could happen. And I have to say I'm immensely proud of this president for doing what he did… Read/listen more: http://www.npr.org/2012/05/09/152367863/andrew-sullivan-on-obamas-support-of-gay-marriage 

Obama Lets Go Of Fear - By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast 5/09/12
I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn't know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes.
So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side…
      …The interview changes no laws; it has no tangible effect. But it reaffirms for me the integrity of this man we are immensely lucky to have in the White House. Obama's journey on this has been like that of many other Americans, when faced with the actual reality of gay lives and gay relationships… Read more: Photo



President Obama's Emancipation Proclamation – 9/22/12 |First U.S. President to come out in support of same-sex marriage
…By becoming the first U.S. President to come out in support of same-sex marriage, President Obama has boldly illuminated bone-deep and often ugly differences of opinion dividing Americans, and exposed them to open civil discussion. Comparisons to Abraham Lincoln and his stand on slavery a century and a half ago are ample and inescapable.
          Both presidents, incumbents from Illinois facing difficult reelections, were forced to confront a crisis cleaving the nation along uncomfortably similar political and geographic boundaries: North vs. South, federal vs. state, equal vs. unequal. Harsh, often brutal and vulgar criticism, often having little to do with issues, was heaped upon both heads, with vicious lies and distortions about their private lives and beliefs running rampant. Photo
Both men, from all accounts pensive by nature, apparently agonized over the slow, difficult conclusions they came to -- decisions overdue to many and rash to others, unwelcome to an unyielding third constituency and inconsequential only to a benumbed, indifferent fourth. President Obama described his position as "evolving" toward espousing same-sex marriage, while allowing, "I've always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally." Lincoln stated his decision was part of a "personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."…
As landmark civil rights proceedings go, the two historic drafted documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation, made the third, unwritten one, President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, possible. The president has in effect "edited" and enhanced Jefferson's classic dictum to avow, unequivocally, all men and women are created equal. As such, his pronouncement may be the last major civil rights action of our time. Photo

Ray Errol Fox is an Oscar-nominated documentarian and journalist/writer. He regularly posts on his on his wide-ranging blog, SON OF THE CUCUMBER KING.
Jacopo della Quercia is a history writer researching the Lincoln and Taft presidencies for an upcoming book.
Read complete article:


President Barack Obama's acceptance speech on Thursday night drew the largest television audience of this year's political conventions and ranked as the biggest political moment ever on social media site Twitter – 9/07/12

Transcript: President Obama's Convention Speech – 9/06/12



Amistad Africans – Supreme Court Trial 1841 - President John Quincy Adam Addresses the Supreme Court
…The truth, in truth, has been driven from this case like a slave, flogged from court to court, wretched and destitute…
Yea, this is no mere property case, gentlemen. I put it to you thus: This is the most important case ever to come before this court. Because what it, in fact, concerns is the very nature of man…
…This is a publication of the Office of the President. It's called the Executive Review, and I'm sure you all read it. At least I'm sure the President hopes you all read it. This is a recent issue, and there's an article in here written by a "keen mind of the South," who is my former Vice President, John Calhoun, perhaps -- Could it be? -- who asserts that:

"There has never existed a civilized society in which one segment did not thrive upon the labor of another. As far back as one chooses to look -- to ancient times, to biblical times -- history bears this out. In Eden, where only two were created, even there one was pronounced subordinate to the other. Slavery has always been with us and is neither sinful nor immoral. Rather, as war and antagonism are the natural states of man, so, too, slavery, as natural as it is inevitable."

Now, gentlemen, I must say I differ with the keen minds of the South, and with our president, who apparently shares their views, offering that the natural state of mankind is instead -- and I know this is a controversial idea -- is freedom. Is freedom. And the proof is the length to which a man, woman, or child will go to regain it, once taken. He will break loose his chains, He will decimate his enemies. He will try and try and try against all odds, against all prejudices, to get home.

… Yet, if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, "The Declaration of Independence?" What of its conceits? "All men...created equal," "inalienable rights," "life," "liberty," and so on and so forth? What on earth are we to do with this? Photo

…James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams: We've long resisted asking you for guidance. Perhaps we have feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality which we so, so revere is not entirely our own. Perhaps we've feared an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we've come to understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we've been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding that who we are is who we were.

We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, our-selves. Give us the courage to do what is right. And if it means civil war, then let it come. And when it does, may it be, finally, the last battle of the American Revolution. Photo

That's all I have to say, 
John Quincy Adams

[Patrick Henry, American Revolution “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH”] 

AMISTAD - 1997 movie, Spielberg Photo

Amistad (1997) - American Rhetoric: Movie Speech – Video: 

AMISTAD - 1997 movie, Spielberg    

Amistad Case 1839 - Library of Congress




"We can't afford to have
two kinds of citizens,
We must have
equal citizenship for anybody in our country."

Eleanor Roosevelt






Related Links:

Gay 1990s Studies - Pope John Paul II’s group of THEOLOGIANS and SCIENTISTS studying homosexuality – for better understanding and fuller acceptance – ended with Benedict XVI 2005

Do I reject my gay brother? Bishop Gumbleton - Homophobia - "Always Our Children" PBS 1999


Gay Catholic Priest – Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - Charged by the Vatican for “Coming Out” March 1997 - For the Protection of Children – 15 years later & President Obama’s letter of appreciation - 2012



                                          2012 - GAY MARRIAGE
Truth, openness, wins election  vs. Deceit, secrecy, resigns papacy
Related news media & research links:


Benedict XVI & Bush 2003 against GAY MARRIAGE - Help Wins USA Presidential Election 2004 - A Well-informed Conscience - protects RELIGIOUS FREEDOM and NOT Tyranny in Religion 91212


Ratzinger, Reagan, Hunthausen and Gay Rights - 4/19/05
...Ratzinger's moves to undermine American bishops who sought to find a place in the church for gays and lesbians such as Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, who was also a leading critic of the Reagan administration's support for military juntas and death squads in Latin America... 

Conflict in the Catholic Hierarchy: A Study of Coping Strategies in the Hunthausen Affair, with Preferential Attention to Discursive Strategies - by Timothy Peter Schilling - 2003 

Sexual Repression and Pornography



Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition



Ecclesiastes 1:5 (New International Version)
5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
Ecclesiastes 1:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. 

1 Chronicles 16:30 (New International Version)
30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
1 Chronicles 16:30 (New American Standard Bible)
30 Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. 

Psalm 93:1 (New International Version)
1 The LORD reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the LORD is robed in majesty
and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Psalm 93:1 (New American Standard Bible)
1 The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. Photo 

Psalm 96:10 (New International Version)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns."
The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.
Psalm 96:10 (New American Standard Bible)
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity." Photo

Psalm 104:5 (New International Version)
5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.
Psalm 104:5 (New American Standard Bible)
5 He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever.




Being Homosexual: Gay Men and Their Development
By Richard Isay, M.D., 1989, 2009

Chapter 2, Childhood and Early Homosexual Identity





My “coming out” story 

Fr. Marty Kurylowicz 

May 21, 2009 








Injustice anywhere is a
threat to
Justice everywhere
Martin Luther King

The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
Martin Luther King Jr.




What you cannot do is accept injustice.
From Hitler – or anyone.
You must make the injustice visible
– be prepared to die like a
 soldier to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi


Kids Are Being Hurt!!!




“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, 
well considered and yet fervent public conviction that 
the most deadly of all 
possible sins 
is the mutilation of 
a child’s spirit.” 






…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6




Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.


Kids Are Being Hurt!!!













at

No comments:

Post a Comment