In case you missed it, President-elect Obama didn’t say “Change I can believe in” it was always “We”- so, it’s time for the wee ones, to step up and suggest their ideas.
Of course, it’s at Change.gov
This transition is about selecting a new staff and agenda that will help reclaim the American dream and bring about positive lasting change to this country. In order to do that, we want to hear from you.
Tell us your story and the issues that matter most to you. Share with us your concerns and hopes. – the policies you want to see carried out in the next four years.
“I ask you to believe – not just in my ability to bring about change, but in yours. I know this change is possible…because in this campaign, I have had the privilege to witness what is best in America. I’ve seen it in lines of voters that stretched around schools and churches; in the young people who cast their ballot for the first time, and those not so young folks who got involved again after a very long time. I’ve seen it in the workers who would rather cut back their hours than see their friends lose their jobs; in the neighbors who take a stranger in when the floodwaters rise; in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb. I’ve seen it in the faces of the men and women I’ve met at countless rallies and town halls across the country, men and women who speak of their struggles but also of their hopes and dreams.”
Real leadership begins with getting everyone marching together. It’s time you step up with your ideas. I submitted my idea about unlimited H1B visas for HUBzones [2] and the “Walk to Work Tax credit” [3]– what are you going to do?
The link to Change.gov is right above this.
OK, I went and told my story, which is that I’m disappointed by Proposition 8 in California and by Obama’s not having spoken out more forcefully against it. And I noticed that if you do a search on Change.gov for “gay” you get zero results. So much for change.
I agree David Lauri – they do not and will not ever accept us – and Obama is proof of this so called change.
I have given up on this issue – I am too old and too tired to fight it anymore.
Very interesting, Prop 8 and all the other gay marriage bans across America. Most voting blacks have more in common with the GOP than the Democrats. It is amazing how much race plays into this. Just goes to show how much the GOP messed up with the Southern Strategy and how much it effects America today. Division instead of inclusion, at least along racial lines.
The GLBT community should know by now that marriage isn’t a winning battle. These values are ingrained in a majority of Americans and will not change in my generation. The best bet is to fight around the word “marriage” get the rights but abandon the term marriage it won’t win.
Looks like enough of us queers told our stories on change.gov that they’ve finally deigned to include our issues: http://change.gov/agenda/civil_rights_agenda/
Better to be an afterthought, I guess, than not thought of at all.
And @ J.R.: if civil unions get us federal rights such as Social Security, that’s better than nothing, I’ll admit, but never underestimate what can happen even within a generation. I certainly never thought same sex marriage would be legal anywhere in my lifetime, but I was wrong.
The government should get out of the marriage business altogether.
Marriage should be a religious rite, not a legal contract. By weighing in on marriage, the government is violating the separation church and state.
The state should only recognize civil unions, and those should be equally available to every consenting couple.
After you’ve filled out the paperwork for your civil union, if you want to get married and your church is willing to marry you, great! But if you’re gay and you’re a Catholic, a Mormon, a Baptist or a member of any other gay-bashing religion, your church doesn’t have to marry you. And you can’t sue. They aren’t infringing on your “legal” rights. They’re just enforcing their membership rules. Any religion should have the right to define “marriage” for itself.
If church X won’t marry you, go find a more liberal church that will. That’s what’s so great about religious freedom. You don’t have to attend a church that’s declared a jihad on your sinful ass.
Let the theologians argue amongst themselves about what “marriage” means, and which brand of marriage is favored by god, and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, and who is “saved” vs. who is going to hell.
The government has more important things to do.
@ the ‘burg: I don’t disagree with you at all on this. I just think straight people won’t want to have to give up civil marriage. And ultimately if the government stays in the marriage business, separate is not equal.
As for suing churches, I agree, we shouldn’t sue churches if they won’t marry us. However, if churches want to be in the business of renting out their facilities, they have to rent them out to whoever can pay. That’s what got the Methodist church in New Jersey in trouble, not that they wouldn’t officiate a gay marriage but that they’d rent their facility to straights but not gays. Be restrictive and say members only, but then it’s gotta be members only, not straight non-members too but not gay non-members.
And if people are looking for a church that advocates for equal marriage rights, the United Church of Christ (yes, Obama’s liberal church) does.
@ D.L.:
UCC’s are one option. Unitarian Universalists are another.
And there will be others as time goes on. Some UMs already do same-sex commitment ceremonies.
I agree with you that the idea will take some getting used to, and everyone who is married now will have to be grandfathered in. But it’s the only fair, equitable, constitutional solution to this conundrum.
They’ll just have to get over it. What part of the word “equal” don’t they understand?