Watching the Arc Bend Toward Justice

When I heard Keith Olbermann announce Barack Hussein Obama as our next president , I wept.  Frankly, I did not think I would see a black man as president in my lifetime.  During the silly season, I would shush any friend who had the temerity to talk about what “President Obama” would do once he took office.  I had a deep-seated fear that he wouldn’t be elected for whatever reason (white fear, rigged elections, assassination, etc.), and I refused to let anyone jinx the situation.  I watched the race compulsively, devouring every scrap of news I could find on the webs.  Obama was MY candidate, damn it, and I actually felt invested in the outcome (partly because the absolute nightmare vision of McCain/Palin ‘leading’ the country was looming nigh).  And so, when Keith Olbermann called it, I wept.  I can’t describe the mixture of elation, joy, pride, and sheer relief I felt that night.

I didn’t get much time to savor it, however, because on the heels of the news that Obama had wagon the election was the news that California had passed Proposition 8, the law to ban same-sex marriage.  And,  I cried again, but for a different reason.  I cried because inequality, hatred, fear, and discrimination had won the day with the passing of that odious bill.  How could the citizens of California do this, I wondered?

In the days to follow, there was much recrimination–lots of it nasty.  Lots of intraparty fighting (sound familiar?) with plenty of finger-pointing going on.  It was black people’s fault!  It was gay people’s fault for not pushing back hard enough against it!  It was the Mormon Church’s fault!  It was the fault of the sly way the proposition was written.  The anger was palpable, but underneath it all was the intolerable pain that the proposition passing brought to  a section of Democrats (mostly) who could not celebrate the historical election of Obama without simultaneously grieving over discrimination becoming legal.

Then, President-Elect Obama picked Rick Warren to give the inaugural prayer.  Putting aside my feelings about having prayer be a part of the inauguration (against it), I was not happy that Obama chose such a homo-hater to lead the prayer (though Warren did end up falling flat on his face).  Some straight Democrats could not see why this was really hurtful, especially after the Proposition 8 fiasco.   They said it was a minor thing, which is very easy to say about a situation that does not affect you personally.  Then, I read a quote from Obama that said he believed marriage was between a man and a woman (despite being for SSM before being elected president), and I started to wonder about Obama’s commitment to equal rights for queer folk.  Oh, by the way, I am bi.  I will use queer because I like it (and all i’s varying means.  I am queer in so many ways).  I prefer it to LGBT, so there you go.  Anyway, I watched Obama’s dealings on queer issues, and I was less than pleased.  I could intellectually understand why he as the Executive of the USA had to push W’s arguments as to the repellent nature of homosexuality, but it didn’t sit right with me.  And, I was starting to get bummed out because DADT repeal wasn’t on the table.   I didn’t want Obama to issue an Executive Order (EO) in order to overturn DADT, but I did want him to issue an EO as a stop-gap measure to stop the investigations of teh gays and the consequential drumming out of them.  But, there was no movement at all, and I was getting discouraged.

During the healthcare reform, I kept reading, “It’s not time for DADT repeal.  Healthcare reform is more important.”  It was frustrating because there is never an opportune time to push for equality.  And, to me, repealing DADT was more important than ensuring SSM because DADT affects people’s careers and makes them have to lie in a way that is totally demoralizing to the spirit.  I wanted this to get done, and I wanted it to get done now, damn it.  Over at my blog, I wrote about my frustrations concerning the whole healthcare v. repealing DADT ‘controversy’, as it were.  Yet, I wholly supported the healthcare reform bill, so I STFU about DADT repeal while keeping an eye out for any evidence that it was moving forward.

Not much happened.  Then, boom!  In August of this year, Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.  Heads on the right immediately ‘asploded, and Judge Walker came under personal attack for his decision.  Activist judge!  was the cry.  He’s a ‘well-known homosexual’ (whatever that means) was another.  The SCOTUS will never uphold it!  Blah blah blah.  Whatever.  It was all white noise to me.  I focused on the important thing–the proposition had been overturned.  I savored it.  I cried.  I was elated.  To me, this was the first bend, the first (not-so-tiny) step toward queer equality that has been a long time in coming.   Aside, this is a funny video that came out right after Prop. 8 passed.  It was the only thing that could make me laugh at the passage.  Anyway, the proposition was overturned, and there was much rejoicing in queer land.  And, there were reports about how gay marriage was becoming more accepted in society.  This Pew Research Forum article is fascinating to read as it breaks down the demographics of who is for and who is against SSM.  And, since Asians are never included in these studies, I will claim that seventy-three percent of my brethren and sisterhood support it (not even close, I fear).  To summarize, younger people support it more than older people do, women do more than men do, Democrats more than Republicans, the nonreligious over the religious (though, if I’m reading the graphs right, the Jewish people support of SSM is 76%.  That’s astonishing to me).   No really surprising news, but it’s heartening to see the upwards trend, nonetheless.

In the same article, they cite public support for queers serving openly in the military at 60% in August of this year.  Just a few days ago, a Washington Post-ABC News Poll revealed that 77% of respondents supported queers serving openly in the military.  That’s a 17% jump in four months.  The arc, bending yet again–only not so slowly this time.

Still, with the Republicans holding the START Treaty hostage by threatening to kill it if Reid dared to bring a vote on the DREAM Act and DADT repeal, I fully thought DADT repeal was dead in the waters.  Oh, sure, some of the ‘moderate’ Republicans (note, you are not a moderate if you vote lockstep with your party) made noises about voting for cloture, but we’ve done this song and dance before.  I talked about it with my politically-savvy friends, and most of us thought the Republicans were playing their usual games again.  ”Sure, we’ll do this if you do that, but then we won’t.  Suckers.”   To my surprise, cloture passed 63-33.  I was wildly pleased, and I posted it on my FB status.  I had a friend ask me if I thought it was a done deal, then, and I said (and yes, I’m quoting myself.  I do it often.  Get used to it), “No. I’m just pathetically excited that in the fucked-up world of the Senate, it actually gets to come to vote. Yes, hard times, I take the crumbs.”  I had heard the actual vote would be today, so I went off to tai chi class, blithely assuming nothing else would happen.   Was I ever wrong.  Not only did the Senate vote on it, they passed the motherfucking bill, 65-31.  I was shocked, delighted, and just fucking relieved.  I teared up because I really didn’t think it was going to happen this term (not after the Republicans won back the majority in the House).  I couldn’t even be snarky about it yesterday because I was too damn happy.*

Before President Obama was elected, I never thought I live to see a black man as president.  Before his term started and well into the first year, I despaired that Prop. 8 would remain forever and that I would never see the day when queers could marry or openly serve in the military.  Hell, I had my doubts about the latter right up to the Senate vote yesterday.  It’s easy to get discouraged and depressed following American politics.  It’s easy to wonder if things are ever going to change for the better.  In these days of electronic media trying to get eyeballs by pushing relentlessly at any ‘controversy’ (and ginning them up if they aren’t already there), it’s easy to think everything sucks.

Much of it does.  But, for me, watching the evolution on the thinking of the American people on the issues of queer rights and how government is slowly and agonizingly righting egregious wrongs even if they don’t agree that the wrongs are wrong has been good for my cranky old soul.  We are in the midst of a huge mindshift (in many ways), and I take comfort in it.   I am moved as I watch the moral arc of history continue to bend toward justice.

P.S.  Big shout-out to President Obama, Nancy SMASH!, Harry Reid, and, yes, Joe Lieberman for getting ‘er did.  And, big ups to Steny Hoyer and Patrick Murphy for introducing the stand-alone bill that made repeal possible.  And, grudging thanks to the Republicans who broke rank and did the right thing.  There is enough thanks to go around.

*Haters harshed my high, but as this is running long and because I am trying to focus on the positive for once, I will save it for another post.  And, my loathing of John McCain.  That will have to wait as well.