Jewish LGBT Activist on Obama’s Support for “Civil and Political Rights of All Americans”

Ariela Fleisig — July 7, 2011 – 12:04 pm | Barack Obama | Civil Rights Comments (0) Add a comment

Jewish LGBT activist David Shneer wrote a Forward article yesterday about how he “fell in love again” with President Barack Obama, and why the Jewish community should support the President.

In describing his experience at the Obamas’ third Annual LGBT Pride Party, Shneer wrote:

I was also reminded of the reasons that American Jews should support Obama: not only because he holds Jewish American Heritage Month parties at the White House, but also because he advocates forcefully for the civil and political rights of all Americans, something that every American Jew should get behind.

He explained:

It was humbling to be reminded that all Americans are deserving of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. It was important to hear Obama talk about how the granting of equal rights for LGBT Americans is an important part of his domestic and foreign agenda. And it was inspiring for me to have my passion reignited for a politician about whom I had become ambivalent. When I hear the voice in my own head wondering why Obama isn’t speaking out in support of New York’s granting of marriage rights and pushing Congress to bring a legislative end to DOMA, I remind myself that the perfect is the enemy of the good.

Shneer reiterated what the President had done for the LGBT community:

That afternoon, he outlined for a skeptical crowd what his administration had accomplished in its two-plus years: ending the HIV travel ban, forcing all hospitals that accept Medicare to treat gay or lesbian partners just like straight partners, passing a federal anti-hate crimes bill and, more recently, taking on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in the military. In his words: ‘I told you I was against the Defense - so-called ‘Defense’ - of Marriage Act. I’ve long supported efforts to pass a repeal through Congress. And until we reach that day, my administration is no longer defending DOMA in the courts. The law is discriminatory. It violates the Constitution. It’s time for us to bring it to an end.’

Click here to read Shneer’s full article.

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