February 05, 2008

'Hillary' makes her own gay case

Posted by: Chris

From time to time I've taken a look at exactly how Hillary Clinton's gay supporters have made their case for gay support. Usually they de-emphasize gay-specific issues, primarily because she cannot match Barack Obama's support for full repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and focus on larger issues that any supporter might name in backing Clinton.

Now Our Chart, the lesbian website run by prominent Hillary backer Hillary Rosen, the candidate makes her own case. Well, the blog post carries Hillary Clinton's name, though all who believe she actually wrote it need to have their head examined. But still, it makes for interesting reading:

Let me tell you what I have been telling voters across America. I am fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of LGBT Americans. For seven long years, the Bush Administration has tried to divide us - only seeing people who matter to them. It's been a government of the few, by the few, and for the few. And no community has been more invisible to this administration than the LGBT community.

I will change that. The best evidence of what I will do as President is what I have already done.

I am proud of my record as First Lady, as a U.S. Senator and as a candidate for President in working toward the fair and equal treatment of LGBT Americans.

What follows is a list of her "accomplishments," most of which are symbolic gestures like marching in Gay Pride parades. (I am annoyed each time Hillary or her backers claims she marched as First Lady in a Gay Pride parade because she didn't in the first seven years she had the opportunity. It was only her last year, when she was running for the New York Senate seat, that she joined New York City's parade.)

She also trumpets that she "worked closely with LBGT community to develop a smart strategy that defeated the Federal Marriage Amendment" in 2006, but as noted previously, the "smart strategy" was to completely avoid discussing the lives and hopes and claim for equality of the people who were targeted by the amendment and instead attacking President Bush. Considering that everyone involved already knew before the vote that the amendment would fail, as it did in 2004, this "smart strategy" was a huge wasted opportunity.

Of course, OurChart's Hilary Rosen was the architect of that "smart strategy," through an interim role she was playing at the timewith the Human Rights Campaign. And since it's most likely that Hilary with one "l" wrote the blog post in question for Hillary with two "l's," the description was inevitable.

Hillary (whichever one) goes on to promise a "fully inclusive" Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which we've already seen is a recipe for failure for even this most basic gay rights legislation.

Tags: gay, Hillary Clinton