Hey Charlie,

Do you mean Don't Ask Don't Tell, or DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)?

I'm not a huge fan of both policies.  I can see that there can be opposing viewpoints on Don't Ask Don't Tell being a good compromise, but DOMA burns me up because I see it as Bill Clinton being bullied by the radical right, and caving in to that bullying for political expediency. 

Thanks for your comment!  I always appreciate the debate.

Cheers,
Mike

Michael, Yes darn it, I did mean dadt. which I saw as a slight move forward then. but I know now gay people deserve full freedom on both marraige and employment / enlistment. Oops!

Well, at least he's 'evolving'. Many politicians never change their positions, even when they are proven to be wrong or even unconstitutional. It remains today so ridiculous and disheartening that so many people will continue to hold on to fear and prejudice without tyring to have an open mind and actually see that their fears and prejudices are completely unfounded.

I am waiting for Obama to finally say that Don't Ask Don't Tell is abolished, and that the DOMA is unconstitutional, especially when same-sex marriages are already recogized in the states.

Good to hear Clinton moving on his original stance (considering that his wife is currently doing more for the LGBT community than the Prez) and I hope he'll go further still and show active support in repealing DOMA. He could also remind Obama that he is losing LGBT support fast with his stalling on DADT. I understand that the administration may be reticent to act too quickly on this issue since Clinton lost a lot of political capital with his early action on the issue of gays in the army. All the same, it is dispiriting at the moment to see Obama and co giving carte blanche to the Hispanics and doing fuck all for our community. We still represent 8 to 10% of the Democrats' electorate so if they want to have as large a majority as possible they better deliver on their campaign promises in THIS term. Many in the community won't be fooled by a bait along the lines "vote for us again in 2012 and we will definitely get round to it in the second term".

Barbara... I don't care if they have fears.  White people still have fears of blackes and those illegal aliens!  Just let us have our full Equal Rights and they can keep their old fears as they want. 

I know gay people who served before DADT and after. They say it was much better tolerated before.... that DADT has only been a harm to all the gays in the service and their compatriots. 
Right now we have NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING our of the Obama Administration.
Closest we have is a fully inclusive ENDA...but will it even be signed by the end of the Year???
Heck, Meghan McCain supports us more than Obama or B Clinton...actually I think H Clinton is more actively on our side.... and we haven't ever heard, but I wouldn't be surprised that M. Obama is more on our side too. Real FAMILY people tend to be.
Glad B. Clinton sees the families.  
That is my idea for Fourth of July...sent it to JTI, PFLAG, HRC,Move.On, EQ CA.  Set up Fourth of July Parties for ALL REAL Americans...including Gay families, parents, sibs, friends, coworkers, children..
....and Please include GAY SOLDIERS (well the ones that are fired, cuz they came out under DADT.)
Let America see Gay Families/Friends too.

Well, golly gee, I am sure glad to see that the former president is evolving.  Unfortunately, evolution  takes many thousands of years.  So Billy boy since I am 65, formerly served in the Army for 20 hideous years before DADT, I don't have time to wait for you to frigging "evolve" 8 years after you left office and let us down by signing two horrible bills that set gay rights back.  I don't have time to wait for "oops" apologies from this president either.  I helped elect you President Obama.  How about doing something for my rights?

It's good that former President Clinton is evolving on the necessary LGBT right of same-sex marriage. In addition, although, he's evolved at a slower than I have on same-sex marriage, it's also good to hear the signer of the intolerant DOMA ready to oppose his intolerant past. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' must be repealed because it's an intolerant military policy that does absolutely no good. I highly hope that this be the year in which DOMA and 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' get repealed.

Barney Frank recently gave an update on LGBT-related bills in Congress and some of what he said may be formally announced in the rumoured speech on LGBT rights that the Obama administration is allegedly prepping at the moment:

1) The Matthew Shephard Anti Hate Crime Act bill is stalling in the Senate because the Dems do not have the 60 votes to forestall a filibuster by the Republicans. This may change when Al Franken is finally confirmed as the winner in Minnesota but the current situation is that the Dems behind the Shephard bill are looking at other bills to attach the Hate Crimes Act to so that it gets to Obama's desk. Of all LGBT bills, this is the one that is most likely to be passed this year; in fact, it's probably going to be the only one to be passed this year.

2) Frank said he will introduce the ENDA bill next month but the administration anticipates a bigger struggle even than with the Hate Crimes bill. The sticking point appears to be the inclusion of transgender people in the bill but I applaud Frank and co for insisting on passing a truly inclusive bill. The Senate has already indicated they won't vote on the bill until after the House has passed it. Frank reckons there may be delays due to Congress debates on Sotomayor and health care form.

3) DADT. A bill to repeal it has been introduced in the House and Kennedy is expected to introduce it in the Senate in the next few months. Frank says there are many doubters as to whether they'll get 60 votes. Again, it may have to be attached to another bill to ensure smooth passage.

4) The Domestic Partnership Benefits bill was introduced last week and Frank thinks it has a chance of passing but they currently have no timeline for its passage.

5) UAFA will not be passed this session as a standalone bill. The thought seems to be that it has a much better chance as part of CIR (Comprehensive Immigration Reform). Whether CIR passes will depend on the lobbying power of the Hispanic Community and us LGBTers have to ensure we're part of this omnibus reform. The harsh reality is that foreign partners like myself may not be able to join their loved ones until sometime in 2011 at the very earliest. So please hang in there!

6) Edwin, they will not touch DOMA anytime soon. It's almost guaranteed that there will be no federal action on DOMA in Obama's first term. The tipping point hasn't been reached yet, and the Prez simply will not be risking political capital on this issue. They're already stalling on the repeal of DADT. If anything, DOMA is more controversial still. The repeal of DOMA is only likely if significantly more states (let's say we had a total number of 10-15 states having gay marriage) achieve marriage equality before or by the time the 2012 election comes around; if the Dems win a two-third majority or close to, or if the SCOTUS looks at the lawsuit filed by Boies and Olson and declares Prop 8 and, by extension, DOMA unconstitutional. Again, it will take years before the case reaches the SCOTUS. Either way, don't expect any action on DOMA before the next election.

Re point 2 I meant to say health care reform (oops).

"its good he is evolving."

I have one thing to say about this.

"Many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices." -William James

If Clinton really was "evolving" he would be looking at all the empirical evidence that proves that mistreating us is severely destructive to society: because it upholds the ideology of privilege and gender roles, that sexual orientation is as much of a choice as gender, eye, or skin color, and that LGBT people are exactly the same as heterosexual people.

However with his words he is only looking at the facade of who we are, not the real evidence. Also if he really was looking at the families, then why the hell does he holds such destructive views when he should be seeing the effect of them on those families???

All he is doing is lying to the public to get more attention. He is just as prejudice as he once was. If he wasn't he would be determine to apologise for allowing those two bills to pass. He still has not done so. Even better he said this line of malarkey in Canada, a country that supports marriage equality. It makes you wonder why the US is the laughing stock of the world right now when it comes to human rights. Not only do animals have more rights than LGBT adults, but our politicians are either too ignorant or to afraid to stand up for its tax paying citizens who are denied their equal rights.

Finally Clinton is observing families to see if we are worthy of equality. What... we have to prove our lives have worth to this asshole to give them meaning? I don't think so, and for every LGBT out there let my quote ring true. "No One should have to prove or explain their lives to give them meaning; to be treated with dignity and respect, and to have the same basic rights and freedoms as any one else."

"Frankly, it's evolving" as he sees more committed gay couples raising kids....

To the point that as more and more LGBT people are out about who they are int heir everyday life and let people know why they need the rights and protections of civil marriage, the more minds can be changed.  It is imperitive that people see the real people these anti-gay marriage lawas are affecting.  It's not about in your face confrontations. It's about education and reality and telling the truth. I am commited to that end.

Susan Berland
http://susanberland.yolasite.com

My spouse and I are childfree. Does that mean we are less deserving of rights than LGBTQ people with children. If that is Bill Clinton's yardstick, then he can put it where the sun don't shine. We are worthy of decent treatment and our civil rights simply because we exist, not because we may have children.

This is not to defend Bill Clinton.  I will say this, though -- without DOMA, we likely would have had a US constitutional amendment on the books.  Sometimes good comes out of the bad and bad comes out of the good.   

Thank goodness Clinton is coming around!!  That's excellent news.   :D

And on that note, off topic slightly, I hate the word "tolerance."  It implies that the personal romantic lives of other people are society's business.   Unless that life harms someone (rape, incest, molestation, non consentual activity of any type, child maltreatment, abuse of persons or animals or other's property, w/e) -- which can happen regardless of gender -- then it's absolutely NONE of anyone's business what people do in the privacy of their intimate lives.

It's not society's job to "tolerate" LGBT people, it's society's job to live and let live so long as no harm is done in the process, IMO.

Dick Cheney's recent statement of support for same-sex marriage should make it easier for both Bill and Hillary Clinton as well as Obama and all the other yellow-belly (on this issue) liberals to verbalize their whole-hearted support for it. But they will have to figure out a way to do it that does not feed right into Cheney's disingenuous stand. Cheney couldn't even use the word "marriage" when talking about his "support." His pronouncement is obviously a shrewd political maneuver ordered by the backroom Repugnican strategists now in charge of the party to force Obama to respond to this hot-button issue among their homophobic base. Cheney might have had some credibility (a word rarely to be used with that name) if he said the same thing when he was presidentis-in-locus. Notice that he waited till he was out of office with nothing to lose before choking on his words of "support." For a little more perspective you are invited to visit my blog at http://nattererer.blogspot.com/.