Okay it's getting horribly real now and I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. How did this happen so fast? The Obama's are leaving the White House and I am just not ready to accept it.
Am I the only one who can't watch the farewell speech without wiping away tears?!
President Obama and First Lady Michelle have been a key part of my adult life and saying goodbye is totes emosh. I mean for me they went above and beyond turning the American Presidency into something I was interested in. That I cared about. They made politics real to me. They made me take notice and i'm not even American.
Love this!
Throughout the five and a half years that we have been writing this blog Obama has been President and involved in some major decisions that have had an impact on our lives. Search 'Obama' in the search bar and there are over 47 mentions of him in our posts (type Cameron or any other Prime Minister in and the results are less than 5).
When we were doing our 'What's Happening Hot Stuff' rounds ups we frequently reported on the up's and downs of USA politics and the impact decisions were having on us personally. Would Obama come out in support of gay marriage? Would gay marriage be allowed? Would our marriage be legal? Fast forward a couple of years and those questions seem like distant memories. Thankfully. And even though our marriage wasn't legal at the time (because some charmer called Butch Otter put up £1 million dollars to stop gay marriage in Idaho in the month we got married) so many people we know have been able to marry legally. Thanks Obama.
We also consoled ourselves with the letter he and Michelle very kindly wrote us a congratulations letter on the occasion.
And that wasn't the first time he wrote to us. The first letter is here.
Obama's support of gay marriage promoted us to write an entire What We Love Wednesday post dedicated to him. Do you remember his first statements on how he felt? Here's one: According to ABC News, Mr Obama said: ”I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
Can you imagine a similar thing coming out of the mouth of the current President Elect?
Oh and the joy and relief when Obama got his 2nd term - do you remember that election? We stayed up to 4.30am and unlike like the recent election I stayed up from excitement instead of fear. Not only was Obama back where he belonged but the highest number of women were voted into senate, an openly gay senator was elected and pot was legalised in two states.
We aren't just fans of Barack Obama though, we have and continue to love Michelle. Her first feature on the blog was in our Powerful Women we admire post and then she got her own follow up 'What We Love Wednesday' post about how awesome she is. Since writing that post our respect for her has increased ten-fold (her last Democratic Convention Speech - amazing). In face we are pro her running for President in 4 years. Her articulate, poignant, meaningful speeches are inspirational. Not just in what is said but in delivery. Michelle has poise like no other and while Beyonce may be Queen-B i'd take Michelle Obama as President any day.
Here's a highlight reel that Sky released that made me smile:
What will we do without them?! I guess it was going to be a pretty tough act to follow whoever took over it's just made worse by the fact that the worst (2nd worst? Is Pence worse?!) person is now president. What a legacy though, in two terms, and against the odds, Obama:
He'll certainly take some beating as the best president we have in our lifetime.
Deep sigh.....let the cheeto presidency begin.....sob.....weep.....sniffle.....wipe away tears.
This post will be short and sweet for 2 reasons;
1) It is so amazing there is very little to be said
2) We are mid building flat pack furniture
So here's what's so amazing.......remember way back in 2011 Laura wrote to President Obama about repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and he sent a very nice reply? Well if not check it out here: http://sarahpluslaura.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/lauras-letter-from-president-obama.html
Our love of the Obama's has continued through various posts over the years, there was the one about how much we loved Michelle when we did our 'What We Love Wednesdays', it's here: http://sarahpluslaura.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/what-we-love-wednesdays-michelle-obama.html
Oh and we did a 'What we Love Wednesday' on Obama's support of Gay Marriage: http://sarahpluslaura.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/what-we-love-wednesday-president-obama.html
And then a week before the wedding we sent the Obama's a wedding invite and thank you letter for all they have done in support of Equal Marriage. We thought nothing of it and then yesterday, while on Skype to Laura's parents they mentioned that we had a letter from the White House......sorry the WHITE HOUSE!!!!!!
This is a screenshot of the letter:
Laura's Mum thinks it might actually have been signed by them as the ink has gone through the paper! Either way it is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! We were so excited last night we were on cloud 9! How amazing that they took the time to reply and that it was so sweet! Love the Obama's!
When I first moved to England, it was towards the end of Bush's presidency. I quickly noticed that when people met me, and realised I was American, instantly they'd ask me, with judgement, if I voted for Bush (I did not.) - this happened on an almost daily basis. The British public just couldn't wrap their heads around what kind of country could elect that guy... twice. And to be honest, I didn't get it either. So over that year, I separated myself as much as possible from my American-ness (you know, besides the accent) - and the USA became more like that gun-toting, bigoted drunk uncle I don't want to invite to parties in case he embarrasses himself (and me).
But then, there was Obama (and, of course the wonderful Hillary). A beacon of hope, of change - imagine having a president who knew where other countries were, who wasn't constantly making the USA a laughingstock - and who wanted to better the lives of all people, not just middle class and wealthy white people?
The whole campaign was so inspiring and positive. By the time Obama was elected, I think it's fair to say the entire continent of Europe was pretty much in love with him (including me, and most people in the USA under the age of 40).
And honestly, he hasn't disappointed me. Absolutely, some promises that were made weren't completely kept, but the President did the very best he could with the absolute mess left from 8 years of Bush. He had attempted to make healthcare more affordable, created jobs, protected women's rights, and 'evolved' on the issue of gay rights. He did a LOT in his first four years.
Over his term, I became increasingly proud to be American - something I honestly did not feel often growing up. I loved my bigoted gun toting drunk uncle USA as much as I didn't want to, but over the last four years that picture of it changed - I've seen strides made for all sorts of wonderful improvements, from the repeal of DADT to Obamacare, from reversing the rise in unemployment to cutting taxes for the middle class, from stopping Bin Laden to ending the war in Iraq, from making college more affordable to signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act, from the return of the auto industry to becoming the first President to support marriage equality.
Why all he back story, you ask? Turns out I am very long winded when it comes to Obama. But I can honestly say that now, and for the last few years, I am proud to be an American. I'm proud of our progress, I'm proud of our recovery (though slow) from the economic crisis, and I'm proud of the acceptance and tolerance shown by most people I know in my really Right-wing state of my relationship with Sarah. And it's amazing.
So, for the last month I've been a nervous wreck. Romney would have taken all this progress and crumpled it up, threw it out the window. A Romney presidency would have shown the world that we don't care about our women, our poor, our racial minorities, our LGBTs. It would have sent the message that men who think babies resulting from rape are 'God's will' and that women's bodies 'shut down' when they are 'legitimately' raped *shakes head*. And that the USA will vote for someone despite them telling lies at every turn. So it's fair to say I was shit scared. The blood would drain from my face every time someone would ask me about the election. Could I go back to a life of being disappointed in my country?
So when my mum wrote on my Facebook wall at 4:30am this morning and my phone vibrated -
We couldn't believe our eyes. The nightmare was over!! OBAMA HAD WON!!!!!! We jumped out of bed, danced around together, and cried. It was just the most incredible news.
And it just got better and better.
Not only was President Barack Obama re-elected, but it was a GIANT election for women's rights and LGBT rights.
There are now 21 women in the Senate - the highest number there have ever been.
Do you remember the 'legitimate god's will rape' guys? They lost their seats... to women.
The first ever openly gay Senator was elected. And she is a woman. And she is awesome.
Her House of Reps seat was taken by an openly gay man - making this the first time a gay person has succeeded a gay person in government.
3 more states legalised gay marriage - for the first time, by popular vote - Maryland, Maine and Washington (we love Washington!)
Minnesota also helped the cause by voting against a proposition that would define marriage in their constitution as between a man and woman.
2 states legalised marijuana for recreational use (Washington again and Colorado)
I mean.... how much cooler can the USA get??? We've gone from crazy drunk uncle to awesome protective big brother.
Just Obama. Chilling on a unicorn. Spreading equality. BAMF.
Sarah and I have been very emotional today, partially because of how extremely early we got up this morning, but mostly because of what Obama's win means to us (and to a lot of you dear readers!). President Obama has promised to legalise gay marriage federally. This would mean that Sarah and I could potentially move back to Idaho or Washington, to realise my dream of raising kids in the Pacific Northwest with the one I love the most. It means, more pressingly, that whether it's legal or not at the time, when Sarah and I get married in the next few years in Idaho, it will be with the support of our President and our country. And because of the support from the government, vendors, family, friends - everyone is more likely to be open, accepting and supportive of our love and relationship.
The President being re-elected means that gay children will grow up knowing that in fact, it really does get better, and kids who might have been bullies with another influence, might instead not pick on the gay kids. It means that little girls can grow up to be anything they dream of being, without worrying about having to leave early to cook dinner for their husband and children (unless that's their choosing, of course!) The whole country will continue on this path to being a leading nation once again.
We thought we'd pick up on something that made the front pages here in the UK and obviously it made the news states-side....Michelle Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC)! It gave us even more reason to base this week's What We Love Wednesday on the woman herself.
For those of you who have read our Powerful Women post you will see that the First Lady has been featured in our blog before, and for very good reasons!
But this post is to say THANK YOU, Michelle, for such an inspirational speech. We have long admired Mrs. Obama, who is just as able to speaking positively, touchingly and inspiring those who take the time to listen as her husband. We took 28 minutes out of our evening to watch the full speech, because it's worth it.
It is no secret that when Laura votes using an absentee ballot later this year, she will be voting for Obama! We have struggled with the Republican's campaigns - their anti-gay, pro-gun, pro-life at conception, 'your body stops genuine rape babies', wealthy 1%, out-of-touch tripe that has been filling our internet streams and being mocked on the social networks we follow. We don't understand how women can publicly or privately support Republicans, whether they support Obama or not, there is no logical reason we can see to support their campaign.
On the other-hand, listening to Michelle speak so passionately about every American having the same opportunities no matter who they are, where they're from, what they look like or who they love, how can you not applaud?! Here in the UK we are discussing gay-marriage, in Scotland they are moving towards it; in fact, all over Europe the laws are changing for the better - is it not the right time for America to do the same?
When Michelle talks about Barack still being the man she fell in love with 23 years ago, you can't fail to be touched. The Obama we see in the media is a projection of his party, but we are damn sure if we met him we'd really like him!
Michelle is so genuine, and has a way of speaking that engages you so that you find yourself agreeing with her - Laura and I both said 'so true' out loud numerous times in her speech! If you haven't got time to watch the whole speech check out these highlights!!!
We first voiced our liking for Michelle after watching her dancing with kids in a school field for her get fit campaign 'Lets move' - if you prefer to see the campaign in action see it here, with Beyonce:
We loved her taking on Ellen in a press-up competition and talking to Jon Stewart on the Daily Show (LOVE that show by the way!!!), when she was on Letterman, and hung out with the ladies on The View!
Instead of spending $$$ on lots of designer clothes and brands, Michelle wears a lot of H&M and high street brands - she is a REAL woman, with a budget, and seems to understand that there are more important things to spend he money on than labels - especially when you're in government.
But why else do we LOVE Michelle Obama? Well while other First Ladies (excusing Hilary Clinton) generally sit around not saying much, this Lady does the opposite - she has an opinion and she brings it 100% - just check this out.....
Ultimately, the First Lady is so damn good at EVERYTHING - including skipping rope, apparently!
And we LOVE her for it!!!
Thanks Michelle, for being such a positive role model - for kids, for women, mums, and everyone else. Thanks for being such a strong character, and for coming out in support of marriage equality.
Please remember to vote, as every vote does count - if you are living out of your home county, like Laura is, apply online for an absentee ballot form!!
Bring on another term of Barack and Michelle Obama!!
We know that we've been quite slack since Laura has started looking for a job - but we hope you'll bear with us, because most of our time is looking at job sites!! Much less exciting than writing to you!!
However, just an update on the job-o situation-o, Laura has had a good few interviews this week (3 today alone, no lie!!) so hopefully something good will come through for her soon! Feeling hopeful and happy especially after we had a lovely Nandos-filled evening in one of our favourite areas in London!! What a view:
St. Pauls at sunset!!
Following on from our WWLW about President Obama the other week, Laura's amazing Mum scanned in and sent us a copy of the email Laura received from good ole' Barack last year!! So now we'll share it with you!!
Here's what Laura wrote to El Presidente - yes it is mildly dramatic, but so are the challenges we face as an international gay couple!!
'President Barack Obama
1600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington.
DC. 20500
Dear Mr.
President:
First of all, I wanted to wish you and your family a Merry
Christmas and Happy Holidays.
My name is Laura. I
went to the UK
in 2007 with the intention of gaining work and life experience; traveling the globe
before I settled into the ‘real world’ back in Idaho.
As in most cases, I was taken by surprise and just over one year into my
trip, I fell in love. My partner, a
British citizen, is amazing- lovely, kind, funny, so intelligent, and the
perfect opposite of me in many wonderful ways. I could not imagine anyone else fitting me so perfectly,
and we have plans to start a great life together. We spent the last year traveling Australia and New Zealand,
and spending every waking moment with each other. Now, we are looking to move
back to my hometown of Boise,
Idaho: to buy a house, work,
raise children, live, love, and laugh. It sounds like the perfect love story. There
is only one problem with our little fairytale.
My partner’s name is Sarah.
Sarah and I both graduated school, we both work, pay taxes,
and are upstanding citizens in our respective countries. So how is it that, when we get married, I
won’t be able to bring my beautiful wife back home with me? The thought is very upsetting. We haven’t done anything wrong, and the
Defense of Marriage Act feels like a punishment for an uncommitted crime.
Mr. President, on behalf of the thousands of Americans like
me who just want to bring their loved ones home, I implore you to please repeal
the Defense of Marriage Act. The time to proceed is now, as you’ve just been
triumphant in overturning ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. We believe you can help us put an end to the
injustice and prejudice we experience daily.
After all, we are not asking for ‘more’ or ‘better’ rights
than anyone else; we simply want equal rights.
I am looking forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Laura Elizabeth'
And here's his reply - still can't believe I got a letter from the President of the USA!!
And now this man is the first President to back gay marriage!!
Hope you've enjoyed our Presidential blog post! :)
Welcome to this week's WWLW - this week we have gone for something that is all over the news currently- President Obama coming out in support of gay Marriage!
Barack Obama has announced in an interview with ABC News
that he thinks gay couples should have the same legal right to marry as
heterosexual couples. In an interview with Robin Roberts, he said that his
views have ‘evolved’ over the past few years, based on conversations with staff
members, gay and lesbian service members, and people in his own family.
According to ABC News, Mr Obama said: ”I have to tell you
that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family
and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly
committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising
kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or
sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even
now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit
themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me
personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex
couples should be able to get married.”
He added that this was a personal opinion, but he would
still leave the decision to individual states. “It’s interesting, some of this
is also generational,” he said. “You know when I go to college campuses,
sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies
on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to
same sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation that they believe in
equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha,
they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times
where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re
talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t
dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently.
It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts
a change in perspective.”
Mr Obama had faced mounting pressure to state his own
position on the issue, which he had previously described as ‘evolving,’ as both
his vice president, Joe Biden, and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, came
out in support of equal marriage.
This week on ABC's The View Tuesday (15 May), Obama said of DOMA, the
legal prohibition on federal recognition of same-sex marriages: 'Congress is
clearly on notice that I think it's a bad idea.' Obama's appearance on The View
was taped on Monday, the same day he appeared at a $5000-a-head LGBT fundraiser
at the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea. Regardless of gender, race or sexual
orientation, Obama said 'everybody deserves a shot.' 'It's been said this
election is going to be about values. I absolutely agree. It's about the
economic values we have, about the values I believe will make America so
special: everybody gets fair shot, everybody gets their fair share, everybody
plays by the same set of rules,' Obama said, citing the repeal of DOMA as one
example. 'The good news is, I think the American people are on our side. ''We
have never gone wrong when we have expanded rights and to everybody,' he also
said. 'That doesn't weaken families, that strengthens families.' (we love that bit)
But the question is now 'So what?' - as time goes by we're sure this will fill pages in papers and on blogs but this was the latest article we read in Curve magazine HERE.
In the interview with The View, Obama stressed that while obviously gay marriage and equality are big issues, the election will be won based on issues of education and healthcare. In an ideal world, of course that is true, but come on Barack - this is America. We are a great country, but we oversimplify - everything is so black and white to us. Let's not forget that in the Democratic primaries of 2008, for the majority of Americans, Hilary vs. Obama wasn't about their policies - it was 'will you vote for the woman or the black guy?' While obviously there are plenty of politically-minded, well informed Americans out there, there are definitely more of the 'black and white' type, who will vote on two major issues - gay marriage and women's rights. That's the stuff that gets people's blood pumping, more than education and healthcare, which, while important issues, they have always been important issues, and will continue to be through the next howevermany elections. They don't tend to change dramatically like the more social issues.
Invading the private lives and civil rights of those who are different than you, and taking away the women's right to choose what to do with her body? Especially with such a polar opponent such as (likely) Romney (is anyone else even left in the running?) making these issues prominent, we think they will be how the election is decided. So it is a wise move for Obama to come out in support of gay marriage at this time. He has been in the middle for too long, and now that he has finally taken a stand, we applaud him. Sure, he may lose some voters, but he is more likely to inspire people and get them to the polls with a strong stance on an issue mostly everyone has an opinion about. Inspire - its what he did in 2008, and it's time for him to do it again.
Ladies and gentlemen, Laura's soapbox.
Laura wrote a letter to President Obama last year, about his stance on gay marriage and the heartbreak of DOMA - and actually received a really nice reply from him, so we are proud that we have a letter from the first President to support gay marriage openly in office. We'll put the letters up for you guys at some point!
Anyway, good job, President Obama. We are really proud of you.
What a week - or maybe that should be weekend - we have had personally- we started off in Birmingham on Friday where we met up with the wonderful ladies at http://2bridesto2mummies.blogspot.co.uk/ and spent the day at Cadbury's World - we'll have a post about that later in the week! And then we've just come back from Windsor where we celebrated Megan (from Wegan's) 25th Birthday!
Before diving into the news we came across this video that gave us a few bits of info regarding sexual orientation that we didn't know and thought we'd share:
The rest of the world has had an interesting week too, so to cover it all in one post we thought we'd give you the links so you can read as much or as little as you like - and of course we will give our thoughts on the contents!
In London it has been confirmed that Boris will have another 4 years as Mayor - it's controversial but we're happy it's not Ken - he's creepy! The outcome was announced as voters across the UK took to the polls and results swung back in Labour favour. The change in support had some papers speculating that David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, will retreat over equal marriage - according to this article (HERE) that's not the case - thankfully!
Stateside, US Vice President Joe Biden, an outspoken, lovable 'Uncle' figure (in Laura's opinion) came out in support of gay marriage. This short video clip on 'Meet the Press' shows him explaining a point that we very much support - that gay marriage is a simple proposition - it's about 'who you love and will you be loyal to the person you love?'.
It also brings up how 'social attitudes are changing' and making it more normal to be gay - he references Will and Grace starting the change, and it is amazing how many top shows now have lead gay characters - our favourite is still Brittany & Santana in Glee as we see ourselves in the characters.
JC Penny is once again hitting headlines because of One-Million-Moms. Are we the only ones who see the irony here?!?! Every time One-Million-Moms comes out against a campaign, it helps promote it - this time they want us to dislike an advert with lesbian Mums with a child. We covered the group's disapproval of Ellen back in February, check it out HERE.
Colorado has also moved a step closer to supporting civil unions- the Washington Post explains what's happening. The proposed measure would not allow couples to marry but it would entitle them to the same rights. Republican Don Beezley explain why he came out in support of the bill “For me, it really came down to that basic issue of fairness and doing the right thing.”
Shocking news - 'man up' - beat the gay out of your kids- that's the suggestion of a pastor in North Carolina! If you haven't already read the article it's here BUT be warned the contents are AWFUL! The overriding point is that the pastor thinks that children should 'conform to gender norms' and if they don't they should be FORCED to! One quote that highlights this is “when your daughter starts acting to Butch you reign her in. And you say, “Oh, no, sweetheart. You can play sports. Play them to the glory of God. But sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You are going to dress yourself up.”! Terrible, just terrible!
A Texas rapper makes a gay is OK music video - you may have seen this on our facebook page earlier in the week, but listening to it again we thought it was worth including in in this post:
Annoying - Denmark gay bar ban straight people kissing - because that's the way to get gay people accepted - NOT! Read about it here. We understand that gay bars are environments for gay people to feel safe and they shouldn't be turned into straight bars BUT surely this kind of attitude would mean that straight bars can ban us from kissing and then we start the cycle of 'the same but different' that we are trying to break. When we are out we want to be just like everyone else - we don't want to just hang out with just gay people!
As you may know, we got our 'What's Happening, Hot Stuff??' title from 16 Candles, a film about a girl coming of age, featuring the lovely Molly Ringwold - and lo and behold, in the news this week the actress, now 44, is going to have a lesbian fling with a new female character on ABC Family's The Secret Life of the American Teenager, according to gaystarnews.
Right, well, that's it for this week - we're sure there has been far more happening but these are the things that caught our attention!
Welcome to this week’s WHHS – for us, this week has been a
mix of extremely early mornings, April showers and random house guests but elsewhere
in the world there has been plenty going on.
We mentioned last week that Stonewall was using London buses
to promote their Equal Marriage campaign with adverts saying ‘some people are
gay, get over it!’ and as the campaign is coming to an end, religious groups
decided to launch their version, a ‘Not gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over
it!’ banner around London for two weeks starting on Monday. A press notice from
Anglican Mainstream and the Core Issues Trust said Stonewall’s bus campaign
“implies the false idea that there is indisputable scientific evidence that
people are ‘born gay’, and that they have no choice but to affirm their
homosexual feelings”. Hmm – what’s the polite way of saying ‘WTF’? That is the case: people are born gay- get over it! Thankfully the ads have been banned.
Current London Mayor – Boris Johnson said: “London is one of
the most tolerant cities in the world and intolerant of intolerance. It is
clearly offensive to suggest that being gay is an illness that someone recovers
from and I am not prepared to have that suggestion driven around London on our
buses.” Yay Boris.
Elsewhere in the world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has
reportedly banned gays and tomboys from its schools citing efforts to tackle
the two ‘phenomena’s’. A report on Emirates 24/7 this morning says the Commission
for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been called on to ensure
implementation of new orders on homosexuality and girls who adopt masculine
appearances. The newspaper quotes the ‘Sharq’ Arabic language paper on the
announcement: “Instructions have been issued to all public schools and
universities to ban the entry of gays and tom boys and to intensify their
efforts to fight this phenomenon, which has been promoted by some websites.” Neither
paper states who issued the instruction but Emirates 24/7 said the students
would be able to attend school only if they “stopped such practices”. Saudi
Arabia operates a system of Shari’ah law and punishes homosexuality with
sentences of corporal and capital punishment. It’s not a country on our to-do
list, that’s for sure! It’s amazing how the UK can be working to tackle
homophobia in schools while Saudi Arabia is doing its best to incite it.
In Pink News this week they reported that ‘American LGBT
activists have reacted angrily to President Obama’s decision not to sign an
executive order that would have outlawed workplace discrimination on the
grounds of sexuality and gender identity. Tico Almeida, president of the group
Freedom to Work, thought that many felt betrayed by this decision. “I believe
this is a political calculation,” he said, having learned about the decision
during a meeting with White House officials on Wednesday. “It’s not about the
substance,” he added.’
Jay Carney, White House spokesperson, said that political
motives were “absolutely not” the reason behind the president’s moves. ”We’re
deeply committed to working hand-in-hand with partners in the LGBT community on
a number of fronts to build the case for employment non-discrimination
policies,” Mr Carney said.
Gay and transgender rights activists have also said that the
bill has popular support, pointing to a poll by the thinktank, Center for
American Progress, which showed that three in four voters supported protections
against discrimination for LGBT people. Besides, they add, both the Department
of Labour and of Justice had given the green signal for the White House to act.
“He has not been able
to provide a single valid reason for why he is now refusing to sign the
executive order protecting LGBT workers,” Mr Lewis said in a statement. “It has
become increasingly clear that this decision is based on cowardice rather than
principled leadership.”
Mr Almeida, however, did add that Mr Obama “has done more
for LGBT equality than any other president in United States history and more
than the prior presidents combined.” Although the order may not be signed now,
the administration has left sufficient room for the decision to be reversed, he
said.
Following this President Barack Obama has used Twitter to
point to his gay and lesbian record. Yesterday, 20 April, his team created a
list called 'Progress for the LGBT Community.' 'Together, we've fought for
equal rights for LGBT Americans--and the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't
Tell" is just one example of the progress we've achieved since President
Obama took office,' the page announces. After that brief introduction, a
rainbow coloured timeline notes gay and lesbian specific milestones. The first
is from June 2009, when Obama ordered that the same-sex partners of federal
employees be eligible for benefits. The last highlight is from last month; the
Veterans Health Administration started to pay attention to transgendered
veterans. This guide was published immediately after LGBT advocacy groups
voiced disappointment that Obama did not sign an executive order banning LGBT
workplace discrimination. Well we guess that means Obama doesn’t mind showing
his support!
Obama’s reaction makes sense; in current polls, Obama will
need as many LGBT voters as possible because the upcoming November election
will be extremely close. The Pew Research Center recently noted the incumbent
'holds a slim 49% to 45% advantage' over assumed Republican nominee Mitt Romney
after Rick Santorum conceded! – yay!
In other USA news, a number of large-city mayors in the US
have formed a coalition with the hope to achieve same-sex marriage equality.
The group have come together with a view to increasing the pressure on
President Barack Obama and to achieve full support of equal marriage rights
nationwide. Organised by Freedom to Marry, a group campaigning for country-wide
acceptance of gay marriage, their aim is simple - to end to ‘federal marriage
discrimination.’
The group released a statement: “By joining the group,
mayors hope to expand public and political support for ending the exclusion of
same-sex couples from marriage.”
Staying stateside, a recent USA survey has shown that Equal
marriage is not top among the concerns of voters for the 2012 presidential
elections. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which
carried out the survey on the 4th and the 5th of April, said that only 28 per
cent of those polled considered marriage equality as “very important” in
determining their vote. Rather, what concerned them was the economy, and
relatedly, jobs, which topped the list at 86% and 84% respectively. Health-care
followed closely at 74%.
We think it’s fair to say that the other issues highlighted
should and understandably are a priority. Commenting on these findings, the president of
Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, thought the news was good for LGBT
equality. He noted in a statement: ”Fair-minded people are increasingly aware
that extending rights, benefits, and protections to their LGBT neighbours
strengthens the communities they live and work in. It’s important to remember
that so much of what we’re fighting for — marriage equality, workplace
protections, fair treatment when our loved ones are hospitalised — contributes
to a strengthening of the issues voters care about the most… This latest data
reinforces the fact that supporting LGBT equality is not a divisive wedge
issue.”
In contrast, after the Australian House of Representatives'
inquiry into same-sex marriage, the results show that over 120,000 people voted
in favour of legalising gay and lesbian marriage. From the 218,048 people that
took part in the online survey, 58% of people were in support of full
legalisation, 79% of people said that religious ministers should not have to marry
same-sex couples and 58% wanted overseas same-sex marriages to be recognised in
Australia. Woohoo – looks like once again Australia is tempting us to make it
our permanent home!
Give us the option!
The last piece of news that came to our attention is related
to Glee, if you have read our About Us page you may have noticed we are both
fans, and so the press surrounding the latest episode is not something we want
to see! The episode we are referring to is called ‘Saturday Night Glee-ver’ and
other than having a great Santana moment(s) (see below) it saw Mercedes getting
the chance to ‘do her thing’, the appearance of Unique (the shows first
transgender character) and addressed the issue of what a few of the characters
were planning to do after they graduate. But Bill O’Reilly Fox News personality
thinks this might lead some of the kids watching to experiment with their
gender identity or sexuality. 'If you make the behavior of these people ... if
children hear it, unsupervised children, okay who don’t have parents watching
-- they might go out and experiment with this stuff,' O'Reilly said on
Thursday's (19 April) episode of The O'Reilly Factor! You know because kids
that aren’t gay really just want to be gay! Seriously Bill – we can’t say we
know ANYBODY who would want to ‘become gay’ just because people on tv are.
Bill’s guest Gretchen Carlson, a current host of Fox News
and a winner of Miss America way back in ‘89, joined in by saying she didn't
think watching Glee would 'suddenly make kids transgender,' but she believes
the shows gay characters could lead to 'experimentation. I wholeheartedly
believe, in today’s society, that kids are experimenting with homosexuality. We
see it in celebrities who maybe just do it on the side, and it may be drug-fuelled...I
totally agree with Bill that this causes kids to experiment. And if we didn’t–
why do we have any rules in society then if we don’t try and set some
parameters for our children to live their lives? I just think that this is way
over the top.' Wow, now drugs cause you to trial being gay – hasn’t this been a
week full of educational quotes – NOT!!!
From our knowledge, Fox News is a Republican slanted news
station that is not known for their un-biased reporting! Plus Gretchen’s nanny
was former Republican presidential hopeful, and all round crazy person,
Michelle Bachman- who we know hates gays and everyone that not ‘just like her’-
so really Gretchen had no hope!
Following the popularity and widespread reporting of the ‘It Gets Better’ video made by Mormon students at Brigham Young University (check it out here), several parents and friends of gay mormons have joined forces to add another video to the project. The video will be formally released during a national conference for LGBT Mormons in Washington DC today, and aims to confront the homophobic image associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
And congratulations to Adele who has just unveiled as a new 'gay icon' in a survey by Gaydar Radio and replaces Kylie! Yay!
Have a great week, we hope you've enjoyed the updates!
There has been SO much news relating to the cruise liner sinking off the coast of the Tuscan island Giglio killing 13 people and we hope that the boat's Captain gets the punishment he deserves for abandoning his ship with people still aboard. While the news is both terrible and shocking, the actions of the village people where the distressed survivors arrived on land show that acts of kindness still happen everywhere - they just don't get as much press!
It turns out that there is actually an entire week dedicated to Random Acts of Kindness - February 13th - 19th http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/! Our landlord's sister actually did us a great RAK yesterday - we had left our parking lot gate key in Sarah's car that was being fixed (so we had another one with us) and as we jumped around in front of the gate trying to make it open (as you need a permit to park on the road) very late at night, she spotted us (as she lives in the next block), got out of bed and let us park in her space. We were SO grateful.
We are now on a mission to complete our RAK!
In other news, have you seen the coverage around Sherlock Holmes being gay? Apparently, in the films and the new series, the title role has been portrayed as a gay man! We love the films with Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law, and the BBC series set in 21st Century London. The best bit is they have scenes filmed around SOHO and the characters write a blog!
Great news for Glee fans too - Jane Lynch (love her!) and Matthew Morrison are the latest actors to sign up for a one night play in LA about the Proposition 8 ballot. The play revisits the measure which banned gay marriage in California. The play also stars Jaime Lee Curtis (Freaky Friday & My Girl (Laura has just announced she's never seen this film OMG OMG!)), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family - love him too!) and George Takei (Star Trek). It will be great publicity for the NOH8 campaign!
Every article we read on gay marriage makes the challenges we will potentially face even more real. Thus far we have been lucky enough to not have received any discrimination - in fact most people are fascinated by our relationship and interested to know more. However, a story we read recently really highlighted just how much this isn't the case for everyone. When we joined our gym we got a couple's discount and our personal trainer LOVED asking about us and our relationship - how sad that in Ohio not only did a gay married couple get denied the 'family discount', when they complained to the state they got told 'The state of Ohio does not protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and the state doesn't recognize same-sex unions.' Ouch! Outrageous! This. Must. Change.
Discrimination is awful wherever it happens and it's good to see that if you stir up hatred in the UK you will be punished. A group of Muslims who were caught handing out anti-gay leaflets were the first people convicted under a new law. 'The Public Order Act 1986 was amended by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 to create the offence of intentionally stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.' If found guilty the maximum sentence is 7 years. Sue Hemming of the Special Crimes & Counter Terrorism Division followed this up with this statement 'Everyone has a right to be protected by the law and we regard homophobic crimes, along with all hate crimes, as particularly serious because they undermine people’s right to feel safe. While people are entitled to hold extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious, they are not entitled to distribute those opinions in a threatening manner intending to stir up hatred against gay people.'
A UK backbench revolt against equal marriage has started ahead of the government's consultation in March. The Independent paper reported that Conservative MP David Burrowes (for Enfield-Southgate) says that the debate/consultation should be about 'how we view marriage rather than about homosexual rights, and that there was no public outcry for marriage equality. Many colleagues are worried that it would fundamentally affect how marriage between a man and woman has historically been viewed in this country. There are strong doubts that we need to go down this path. It would open up a can of worms and a legal minefield about freedom, religion and equality legislation. Gay marriage is a debate we don’t need to have at this stage. It is not an issue people are hammering us on the doorstep to do something about.' Erm, where has this guy been living? It's not an issue?! It would open up a can of worms?! Do these people really play a role in the government of a country!?
MP David Burrowes
You may also have read the coverage about whether footballers should 'come out' or remain silent if they are gay. As a football fan (Sarah is a loyal Reading supporter), we can see the pro's and con's. Ultimately no-one should have to hide who they are BUT it is imperative football club managers support players, should they come-out. This is the first challenge to address. One of the UK's more out-spoken players Joey Barton has explained to a BBC3 documentary: “Certain managers will discriminate,” and “these archaic figures think if they had a gay footballer there would be all kinds of shenanigans in the dressing room.” Max Clifford, who has apparently known several gay players too frightened to come out, said: “When they have come to me to protect their identity, they have made it very clear that their career would be finished if they were known to be gay.” Coming out in the world of football has been a topic in the news recently after the Head of the German Football Association promised to support any player who chooses to come out. The documentary on BBC3, about sexuality in sport, shows on the 30th of Jan. It should spark an interesting debate as there are currently no openly gay professional football players in Britain, and only two in the world.
Stateside, in Glee, Rachel's gay Dads have been announced as Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell, and they will be singing a duet in the Valentine's day episode. Exciting! Obama has also been caught singing.... *swoon*
And there were some states this week, including Idaho, who got snow! Boise got six inches, but unfortunately it was all melted a day later!
Until next week
Sarah & Laura xoxo
If you have enjoyed this post check out other WHHS HERE!
Obama's support of gay marriage promoted us to write an entire What We Love Wednesday post dedicated to him. Do you remember his first statements on how he felt? Here's one:
.jpg)
.jpg)
