ACT On Principles

The following speech  from Charles King, Executive Director of HousingWorks! came across my inbox, amid some criticisms of the Obama Administration for flatlining PEPFAR (International HIV/AIDS Funding).  I found it particularly relevant as we look to make changes in the new year.  Long, but worth the read.  Enjoy!

We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For:  AIDS Advocacy In the Obama Era

Delivered June 24, 2009

Philadelphia, PA

Charles King

I know that I was asked to speak on homelessness as prevention, and I will certainly get to it in my remarks.  But, to be honest, that isn’t what is really on my heart this morning, desperately important as it is.  Instead, have titled this morning’s speech, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for:  AIDS advocacy in the Obama era.”  I have also taken the trouble to write this speech out so that I can clearly articulate my thoughts and not be misunderstood.

The election of Barack Obama as the 45^th President of the United States clearly marks an important moment in the history of this country.  In a nation born with the original sin of slavery and racism written into its very constitution, a nation that took some one hundred years to find its way to emancipation and another hundred years after that to repudiate segregation, a nation in which a Black man is still 20 times more likely to go to jail than a white man and 10 times less likely, if he hasn’t gone to jail, than a white man who is a convict, to be hired for a job, the election of an African American as president is certainly a remarkable moment in history.

Moreover, this election was no mere signifier to be noted in the history books.  First, it was without question a repudiation of the eight prior years of unilateral and foolhardy militarism, unbridled cronyism, lassie fair capitalism, no-nothing nativism and a deliberately divisive use of rightist religious and cultural ideology manifest by the Administration of Bush Junior.  And, without question, it spoke to the desire of most white Americans to move beyond the stain of racism that continues to taint so many of our day to day interactions with suspicion at the very least.  In fact, the historicity of this moment can be seen in the rising extreme rhetoric and rising individually-enacted but nonetheless consequential violence of the religious and political right.  There is a real sense of profound diminishment and even grief among these segments of society who know that they have indeed lost something even if it is too intangible for them to articulate.

But, having said that, I also strongly believe that the significance of the election of Barack Obama can certainly be overstated, and it has been overstated by way too many people who yearn for progressive social change.  Yes, it is true that Obama ran in the Democratic primaries as an anti-war, affirmative social change progressive.  You could go on his campaign web site and chalk up the issues, whether the war in Iraq, women’s rights, civil rights, labor, immigration, health care, urban affairs, LGBT concerns, you name it, he had staked out a progressive posture, generally not too, too radical, but almost always just a hair to the left of Hillary Clinton, if way to the right of Ohio’s Dennis Kucinich.  On AIDS, he called for a national strategy, committed to an increased global fight, and offered a platform that we could have written for him…in fact, if you look at the platform articulated by the Campaign to End AIDS and its AIDS Vote partners, we probably did, and we were thrilled when his campaign plagiarized from us.

And then there was his consistently eloquent talk of change we could believe in…coupled with soaring rhetoric that made the heart sing and yearn to believe….He could have  been a good old Baptist preacher, for God’s sake…only much cooler, much more articulate.  But to tell the truth, 150 days into this administration, it is amply clear that Obama is in fact governing as a moderately conservative Democrat, much in the strain of his predecessor, Bill Clinton.

Click Here for more.

Over the weekend we learned that Congressman Gutierrez’s comprehensive immigration bill would not include LGBT families after much efforts from leading national LGBT organizations. The Roll Call article claims the pushback came from “Hispanic leaders more focused on keeping religious leaders on board with the plan.”

Now we are told we must wait until an amendment is made to the bill (remember when we were told to wait until the end of the year for ENDA?) when it comes before the Judiciary Committee in February of next year, a move supported by Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Polis (D-CO-2).

Here is the problem:  The bill is now out of the hands of Equality Caucus and Hispanic Caucus Member Rep. Gutierrez (D-IL-4) and has been passed to its new sponsor, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Founder Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX-27)—who is not even a cosponsor of ENDA or DADT repeal.

Representative Ortiz says that “some Hispanic lawmakers may be uneasy with the same-sex provision for cultural reasons, and they may need more time to weigh it.  ‘They feel a little uncomfortable. I think that ’s what it is, to be honest with you,‘ he said.”

Why has this bill been turned over to Representative Ortiz, and taken from the more openly LGBT friendly Representative Gutierrez?

And if that has you worried, there is more that has been uncovered:

The majority of Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members are cosponsors of DOMA repeal, 11 out of 21 members to be exact.  There are six Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members who are also members of the Equality Caucus that have cosponsored both DOMA repeal and the Uniting American Families Act.  Among those Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members, that are not Equality Caucus Members four are cosponsors of DOMA repeal and the Uniting American Families Act.  There is even one Congressional Hispanic Caucus Member that cosponsored DOMA repeal, but not the Uniting American Families Act.

Now, when it comes to our own Equality Caucus, the majority of the members are cosponsors for DOMA repeal, but 15 of the 81 still have not cosponsored the legislation.   With regards to immigration equality for our families, 9 of the 81, or 10% of Equality Caucus members have not signed on to Representative Nadler’s LGBT-specific Uniting American Families Act (H.R. 1024) or Representative Honda’s inclusive Reuniting Families Act. (H.R. 2709).  What is the hold up for these 9 members of the Equality Caucus?

Click Here for more.