Obama's GLBT speech is well received and getting praise.

[960]

Great. At what point do we stop accepting beautiful worded speeches and demand tangible leadership and actions?

I think I'm already there.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Lt. Choi and Lt. Col. F. are still being put on trial and mustered out. nt

[GodlessBiker]

2. The speech contained a lot of what I wanted to hear. I'm not so impatient...

as to not give him the benefit of some time, but I wanted to hear him say something, anything at all, and he did.

The DOMA brief thing still sticks in my craw, however, especially in light of the fact that he is doing a Bushie and issuing signing statements so that he does not have to enforce other laws which Congress passed.

[Clio the Leo]

3. Do you have any thoughts on why this didn't get any attention yesterday....

And then at the end of last week, we got an action that was more than just symbolic.

The Obama administration has taken the first step toward lifting the ban on HIV positive foreign citizens from entering the United States. The administration’s Office of Management and Budget posted a notice on Friday indicating that the department of Health and Human Services should begin the work to reverse its regulation which disallows HIV positive foreigners from entering the US.

Congress passed the policy change last year, and though the bill was signed by President Bush, it has not been implemented at this point.

The implementation likely has wide-ranging effects on both travel and immigration policy. Under the current law, foreign citizens who are HIV positive canont travel to the United States and immigrants can be subject to HIV testing, and deportation if they’re found to be HIV positive. The exact changes to be made in curent regulation will be determined by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the bill passed by Congress grants broad authority to overturn the ban completely.

http://www.365gay.com/blog/lowenstein-hiv-travelers-to-be-allowed-in-the-us/

I realize this is not one of the two BIG issues on the table, but I doubt that HIV victims who will be able to visit their loved-ones in the US would consider this just being thrown a bone.

For all the mention I'd heard made of the matter here in recent weeks, I was surprised that it got virtually no discussion.

[tishaLA]

6. worldwide, HIV infection effects more non-LGBTs than LGBTs

so I'm not sure why it merited special attention from an LGBT audience.

[Clio the Leo]

9. Tell that to the blogger....

.... then tell it to this one....

http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid93814.asp

and this one

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=25938

and the posters here who have been critical of the President on LGBT issues and wanted to see the matter acted upon.

[tishaLA]

13. to quote two responses to the Advocate article:

Comment:

This is NOT a gay issue. This is a human rights issue. HIV affects people all over the world with a variety of orientations & life stories. The HIV affects families & individuals of all types throughout the world both who wish to visit the United States or immigrate. The current waiver system & branding of HIV positive adults by marking their passports is an issue that we should all be interested in seeing changed. It affects the safety, privacy & basic freedoms of many people who might visit or immigrate to the United States including activists, scientists, professionals & just regular human beings!

Comment:

InExile. Exactly how is this just a positive step towards the gay community? As I understand it the A.I.D.S. pandemic is a world health issue that is not affiliated any single sexual or racial minority or majority. While we have sufferd many tragic lossed from it and where the first be vocal advocates inthe search for a cure for this pandemic the LGBT rights and A.I.D.S. activism movents are two individual and vital movents in this world. If President Obama was reallly trying to make overtures to LGBT community by simply singing A.I.D.S. legislation into law he has just implicitly all LGBT people with this pandemic, then i beleive that this ia a worse than you have imagined. It is both a kick in the teeth, it is punch to the stomach.Our Presient is either naive, thoughtless or stupid.

[Dawgs]

4. Inviting the GLBT community to the WH to explain his intentions is "action".

I know it's not exactly what we want, but to pretend that this is just some speech is not fair.

[msongs]

5. beware false profits nt

[Cha]

7. I'm aware of

you.

[MADem]

11. Msongs is a "profit?"

[Arkana]

10. That's "prophets".

Bernie Madoff's clients were the ones who had to beware of "false profits".

[Cali_Democrat]

17. Are you implying that Obama is a false prophet?

Because if you think he's a false prophet, maybe you're on the wrong website.

[Cha]

8. We have leadership and a lot of action..

So you think Hillary would be doing a better job..is that where you're going with this?

[Captain Hilts]

12. I really don't think anything would be any different with HRC as prez, to be frank.

Though she might be more rock 'em, sock 'em on healthcare, that would not guarantee a different result.

But I think she has long since given up on having the hard right like her, so she might be a bit bolder on gay issues than he is at this point.

[Cha]

15. And, I think Obama

is working the Gay Issues to make them rock solid..it takes awhile to get them in place.

I realize I'm coming from a much different place in looking at this than you are.

Edit~ I don't think Obama gives a shit what the hard assholes think of him..not really.

[Captain Hilts]

16. You very well might be right. No argument here. nt

[960]

18. We have 1 president. I am discussing him.

Would I have rather had Hillary? Yes.
But I am discussing what the current president can and should do.

[ecstatic]

14. 2012 nt

[Phx_Dem]

19. Except on AmericaBlog, where John Aravosis is still an angry little man.

And now he's pissed at the gays who attended the event at the White House and are now praising the President's words. Instead of taking any measure of comfort in the fact that Obama has been working with Congress about repealing DADT and his continued and heartfelt promises, he's even more angry. This sorta of shows that John just likes to be angry.

:puke: