Local
Local activists reflect on Obama inauguration
Hope for ‘greater change’ cited for second term
The Washington Blade invited prominent LGBT activists in the D.C. area to share their personal thoughts about President Barack Obama’s second inauguration by answering this question:
“What is the significance of President Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 21, 2013, as you see it, and what are your hopes for his second term as president?”
From left, Martin Garcia, John Klenert and Sterling Washington (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The Latino GLBT History Project looks forward to the historic second inauguration of President Barack Obama, featuring the first-ever Latino and immigrant Inaugural Poet — Gay Cuban American Richard Blanco.
Obama’s re-election is an important turning point for America. Millions went to the polls last November knowing they were going to vote for a leader who believes in marriage equality and ordered his administration not to defend parts of DOMA, issued orders to keep DREAM Act students and foreign partners in bi-national same-sex relationships from being prioritized in deportations, and signed into law the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and hate crimes legislation.
His actions helped move public opinion in support of equality.
This inauguration is special for many of us who have worked hard for our civil rights advances that have materialized with this administration. Mainstream America symbolically endorsed our movement by awarding a second term to a leader who is ready to sign into law Comprehensive Immigration Reform, a fully-inclusive Employee Non Discrimination Act, and the Respect for Marriage Act that invalidates DOMA.
From reauthorizing Ryan White Act to helping low-income HIV/AIDS patients access medication, to filming an “It Gets Better” video to prevent LGBT youth suicide, to hosting LGBT leaders at the White House every Pride Month, to appointing more than 250 LGBT Americans to his administration, this president has rightfully earned a spot in our LGBT history timeline. He and first lady Michelle Obama care about our families. LHP looks forward to the next four years.
David M. Pérez
President
Latino GLBT History Project
This weekend is a time to celebrate! Our country solidly re-elected a marriage-equality-do-ask-do-tell president of color and this is historic and good! Hurrah.
As we look to what Obama’s second term can bring, we look to how the stunning progress on our issues happened during the first term. And the answer is organizing. My hopes for the second term are high because I’m ‘high’ on our community’s sophisticated, disciplined, hard-working, creative, inclusive LGBTQ groups.
Our organizations are at the table – in states, in cities, in election strategy sessions, and in meetings at the White House. We are coalition partners with labor, with public action organizations, with religious organizations. We have a history with working with progressive groups on health care so as the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) gets implemented, we’ll be there representing our community’s needs.
Social Security – we’re there talking about the needs of our elders and the need to protect this successful, critical program. The economy – so important especially to lesbians (on average women still make less than men), and to the trans community, which has an unconscionable unemployment rate – a healthy economy that gives everyone a fair shot at a good job is critical to our community.
We as a community are positioned to have another amazing four years of progress, IF we continue to organize and to build coalitions and alliances.
So, dear queer community, re-up your memberships, join another organization or two or three, give time, give money. Seize. This. Moment.
Barbara Helmick
Lesbian feminist, Democratic activist
The inauguration is a chance to celebrate the re-election of the first black president of the United States. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made while recognizing the serious challenges that lay ahead.
Barack Obama made history by publicly announcing his support for marriage equality, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and appointing a record number of openly LGBT administration officials.
President Obama’s victory, for me, meant that we are one giant step closer to realizing his vision of a more compassionate, generous and tolerant America. It provides us a chance to hold him accountable and gives Obama the opportunity to lead and continue pushing the envelope.
In Obama’s second term, I expect bold, visionary and transformative action.
People of color, women, youth & members of the LGBT community went from being the Rising American Electorate to THE electorate. We are committed to breaking down silos, being more proactive and staying grounded in our collective struggle for justice and equality.
Whether addressing the economy, immigration, gun violence or any other issue, we expect the president to not only be a supporter of our issues and communities, but to be a champion for them.
Gregory A. Cendana
Executive Director
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance-AFL-CIO
The inauguration is a time for LGBT Democrats to celebrate all the hard work they put into re-electing President Barack Obama. It gives us a chance to reflect on the significant impact that the election has on DC, the LGBT community and our entire country.
Electing then re-electing our nation’s first black president is historic itself, especially as we pay tribute to Martin Luther King’s dream of justice. To add to that a president who unquestionably supports LGBT equality marks a path toward a future that brings us all a little closer to Martin Luther King’s vision.
Personally, re-electing President Obama, sending six LGB identified lawmakers to Congress and electing our first United States senator, Tammy Baldwin, fills me with joy and hope for our country. It shows that conversations about our lives are much more meaningful than smear attacks by corporate Super PACs.
While Barack Obama is the most pro-equality president in history, there is still much to be done by this administration and Congress. President Obama’s second term gives voters and our community a chance to push us even further toward equality. We must hold the president accountable and encourage him to champion our issues like comprehensive immigration reform, and lead this country with the passion and vigor we first saw from him in 2008.
Martin Garcia
President
Gertrude Stein Democratic Club
What is so significant about this inauguration? In our nation’s history, certain second-term presidents confirm that a major cultural shift or realignment of the electorate has occurred — Jefferson, Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Reagan and now Barack Obama can be added to that list as America transitions to a majority minority populace. (I am not saying that President Obama is in the same league as those mentioned. It is far too early to see how history judges him.)
There are three areas of second-term hopes: international, national and local. In the foreign arena, in no particular order: details of the Middle East wars, the Arab Spring, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other countries will need a steady long term, non-Fox approach to our mutual security. In the Far East, our Pacific attentions with China’s continued rise in military, space and economic strength and the challenges on how to deal successfully with a mad North Korea will keep both State and Defense Departments busy. In our own hemisphere, it is long overdue that we admit our 50-year approach to Cuba needs some serious rethinking.
National wishes include the successful implementation of the health care program, slow and steady economic growth, a national voter registration program, an immigration program that both parties can agree to without building embarrassing walls against our Mexican neighbors, acceptable gun control programs that keep both hunters and school children safe, ENDA passage, more than just one openly LGBT ambassador and/or Cabinet member and federal judges at all levels, DADT transgender inclusion, and a carefully managed DOD downsizing.
Locally, hope that the president will finally speak up about the lack of true congressional D.C. representation. We must noisily demand what is only our American birthright: representation in our legislative body. While dining out at our restaurants is certainly appreciated, it’s time for the White House to speak out forcefully on this unsettled civil rights issue.
So, good luck, Mr. President! May the next two to three years bring the successes that all Americans want and deserve.
John Klenert
Gay Democratic and D.C. voting rights advocate
It is very fitting that President Obama’s second inauguration falls on the national holiday celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Besides his historic place as the nation’s first African-American commander-in-chief, President Obama is also the most pro-LGBT individual thus far to hold the nation’s highest office. I see clear correlations between the philosophy of Dr. King and President Obama’s commitment to fairness and equality for all Americans.
My hopes for his second term are that the nation will continue on the road to economic recovery, that the unemployment rate continues to fall, that the debt ceiling is raised enough to keep the nation from defaulting on its obligations, and that effective environmental and gun control measures are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. I would also like to see an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.
Likewise, seeing the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Domestic Partnership Benefits & Obligations Act become the law of the land is high on my list. With the possibility of at least one Supreme Court justice retiring in the next four years, I hope the president can appoint another LGBT-supportive justice to the high court.
Sterling Washington
Director
Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs
Virginia
Gay Va. couple hopeful voters will enshrine marriage equality in state constitution
Early voting has already begun in the state
A referendum on whether to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitutional amendment is on the ballot this year.
If voters approve Question 2, it will codify the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling in 2015 that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country — gays and lesbians have been able to legally marry in Virginia since Oct. 6, 2014.
Rob Bookbinder and James Fisher are a married couple who live in Arlington.
They have been together for 38 years — Bookbinder and Fisher married in 2014.
“We think this is a critical vote to remove this discriminatory language from the constitution and to ensure that going forward, no matter what happens, the state of Virginia will ensure marriage equality,” Fisher told the Washington Blade. “It is it is really difficult and upsetting to think that our current state constitution would prohibit same-sex marriage, even though the federal government overrides that now. There’s no saying what may happen in the future.”
Bookbinder said it was important for him and Fisher to get married “to gain social equality.”
“I was surprised how good it felt, how important it was to begin to say, ‘my husband rather than my partner,'” Bookbinder said.
Bookbinder then explained why it feels good to be married.
“Is it a legal partner, a business partner, a tennis partner, you know, or a romantic partner? But when you say my husband James, everyone knows exactly what you mean and confers an equal status with everyone else who’s married, and we were both surprised at how good it felt and how equal it felt to suddenly be married and be able to state that you were married and discuss your husband rather than your partner, and I would hate to lose that,” he said.
Bookbinder and Fisher said they are hopeful that voters will approve the amendment, noting Virginia has become more progressive over the years.
“I think people have, with the Supreme Court decision, people have seen that a same-sex marriage is just a marriage,” stated Fisher. “It’s just two people who love each other, and I think more and more people have attended a same-sex marriage, someone in their family or a friend, and the experience of what this is, firsthand experience, is so important in shaping people’s opinions, and I think the period of time that we’ve had since the Obergefell decision has given a lot of voters that experience, which I think is really important and powerful.”
The couple also said the push to enshrine marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution is in response to the Trump-Vance administration.
“And I think due to President Trump doing all the horrible things he’s done to so many groups, including LGBTQ, especially trans people, that Virginians are kind of pushed to be even more progressive to protect those who need protection, which would include the LGBTQ community in terms of marriage equality, so I’m confident it will pass,” said Fisher.
Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, sent the Blade a statement about early voting on Question 2 that has already begun.
“With early voting now underway, our focus is making sure every Virginian knows Question 2 is on their ballot,” said Rahaman. “The outdated ban on same-sex marriage still in Virginia’s state constitution leaves a gap in protections for the thousands of same-sex couples that call this state home, but after 20 years we have the chance to fix it.”
Log onto www.mobilize.us/vaformarriage to find out more about the campaign in support of Question 2.
By JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | Those legendary heavy-handed pours, spirited karaoke and trivia nights, and groan-worthy wall-to-wall patrons on packed nights are back!
Leon’s will live to see another day.
Baltimore’s oldest gay bar, which opened in the 1950s, closed in July following the death of its owner, Ron Singer.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Leigh Miles Jackson, Ph.D., named executive director of The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker, and Angel Earle, Ph.D. named as chief operating officer, Whitman-Walker Health System.
Upon her appointment Dr. Jackson said, “Under my leadership, I would love for The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker to be known as a trusted, forward-looking research organization that shapes policies, strengthens practices and creates measurable change for the community.” Dr. Jackson spent 12 years with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, leading national initiatives on minority-serving institutions and economic evidence for investments in children, youth and families. Dr. Jackson holds an extensive educational background, including postdoctoral fellowships in developmental Psychology and Neurogenomics from Vanderbilt University, a Ph.D. in molecular and systems pharmacology from Emory University and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Wake Forest University.
Upon her appointment Dr. Earle said, “When we talk about parity and inequities and research, it’s never just about the dollars that are out there. It’s about making sure that we’re cultivating a change that embraces equity at the heart of everything that it does. As the COO for Whitman-Walker Health System I will be working closely to support The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker and the Whitman-Walker Foundation to drive advancement in research and support the strategic goals of all of the Whitman-Walker Heath System entities.”
Dr. Earle is a genetic epidemiologist and senior executive. She brings a background from the London School of Economics and the University of South Carolina, with expertise in global health, corporate strategy and socioeconomic policy. She has co-authored peer-reviewed research on cancer genetics, nephrology biomarkers and reproductive genomes.
Dr. Heather Aaron, CEO of Whitman-Walker Health System said, “both leaders bring research-driven expertise and operational strength to the organization as it continues expanding research, health care access, and health outcomes for residents across the Washington, D.C., region, including the LGBTQ+ community, people living with and at risk for HIV, and communities experiencing persistent health disparities.”
The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker is also expanding its research agenda beyond HIV to address the complex health conditions affecting people living with and at risk for HIV, as well as the broader communities The Institute for Health Research & Policy at Whitman-Walker serves.
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