Bishop Gene Robinson and Barack Obama
Friday I discovered President elect Barack Obama has setup a new transition website.
You can find it at http://www.change.gov/.
The site outlines some of the changes the Obama/Biden team are going to address.
Although the words gay, glbt, gay marriage or civil unions do not appear anywhere on the site there is one instance of the term “sexual orientation”.
There were two points in the civil rights section which affect out community and I was pleased to see them and the wording used.
1. They will pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
2. Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.
My next stop was the immigration section. I had hoped to see mention of binationals but sadly, nothing of the kind was available there.
I took the time to use the contact form on the site and send them these thoughts.
I reminded President elect Obama of his words on the campaign trail where he said “as soon as I’m in the white house I will provide the GLBT community civil unions and confer all the same rights of marriage”.
That single statement is why I was not happy seeing nothing about binationals in the immigration section.
So at this point I felt disillusioned.
Yesterday I ran across an enlightening tidbit of news which put a smile on my face again.
Bishop Gene Robinson states; Mr Obama’s campaign team had sought him last year and he had the honor of three private conversations with the future president of the United States last May and June.
Since Bishop Gene Robinson is the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop and Barack Obama was hoping (and now will be) to be the first black US president they had/have a common bond.
If you will remember Bishop Gene Robinson was advised by police to wear a bullet-proof vest during his consecration as Bishop (and he followed their advice).
They discussed what it is like being a high profile leader.
Bishop Robinson said: “At the end of the day you have to decide whether or not you are going to be paralysed by threats and by violent possibilities or whether you just move on and do
what you feel called to do despite the risks.”
Bishop Robinson also states: “The first words out of his mouth were: ‘Well you’re certainly causing a lot of trouble,’ My response to him was: ‘Well that makes two of us.’ ” He said that Mr Obama had indicated his support for equal civil rights for gay and lesbian people and described the election as a “religious experience.”
“. . . He and I would agree about the rightful place of religion vis-a-vis the secular state. That is to say, we don’t impose our religious values on the secular state because God said so. Our faith informs our own values and then we take those values into the civil market place, the civil discourse, and then you argue for them based on the Constitution. You don’t say to someone, you must believe this because this is what God believes.
You can find it at http://www.change.gov/.
The site outlines some of the changes the Obama/Biden team are going to address.
Although the words gay, glbt, gay marriage or civil unions do not appear anywhere on the site there is one instance of the term “sexual orientation”.
There were two points in the civil rights section which affect out community and I was pleased to see them and the wording used.
1. They will pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
2. Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.
My next stop was the immigration section. I had hoped to see mention of binationals but sadly, nothing of the kind was available there.
I took the time to use the contact form on the site and send them these thoughts.
I reminded President elect Obama of his words on the campaign trail where he said “as soon as I’m in the white house I will provide the GLBT community civil unions and confer all the same rights of marriage”.
That single statement is why I was not happy seeing nothing about binationals in the immigration section.
So at this point I felt disillusioned.
Yesterday I ran across an enlightening tidbit of news which put a smile on my face again.
Bishop Gene Robinson states; Mr Obama’s campaign team had sought him last year and he had the honor of three private conversations with the future president of the United States last May and June.Since Bishop Gene Robinson is the first openly gay Episcopal Bishop and Barack Obama was hoping (and now will be) to be the first black US president they had/have a common bond.
If you will remember Bishop Gene Robinson was advised by police to wear a bullet-proof vest during his consecration as Bishop (and he followed their advice).
They discussed what it is like being a high profile leader.
Bishop Robinson said: “At the end of the day you have to decide whether or not you are going to be paralysed by threats and by violent possibilities or whether you just move on and do
what you feel called to do despite the risks.”Bishop Robinson also states: “The first words out of his mouth were: ‘Well you’re certainly causing a lot of trouble,’ My response to him was: ‘Well that makes two of us.’ ” He said that Mr Obama had indicated his support for equal civil rights for gay and lesbian people and described the election as a “religious experience.”
“. . . He and I would agree about the rightful place of religion vis-a-vis the secular state. That is to say, we don’t impose our religious values on the secular state because God said so. Our faith informs our own values and then we take those values into the civil market place, the civil discourse, and then you argue for them based on the Constitution. You don’t say to someone, you must believe this because this is what God believes.
“I think God gives us our values and then we argue for those on the basis of the Constitution and care of our neighbour. And I think the Bush administration got very very close to the line if not going over the line in terms of offering support to religious-based groups who were using their social service arms to proselytise and evangelise which I would say is inappropriate.”
Thank you Bishop Gene Robinson and President Elect Obama for putting a smile on my face.
Comments