Gay edits to White House web site
Washington Blade, May 1, 2009
The official White House web site was recently updated and the much-lauded section on civil rights and LGBT rights severely edited.
A White House spokesperson told the Blade today that the site edits do not reflect any policy changes.
“As with most web sites, periodic changes are made to whitehouse.gov, and recently we overhauled the issues section to concisely reflect the president’s broad agenda and we’ll continue to update those pages, but the president’s commitment to LGBT issues hasn¹t changed at all,” the spokesperson said. “So … anyone who’s saying that it’s a change in position is wrong.”
That’s reassuring and I’m all for brevity. But one change to the site has me concerned. The language related to repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” represents a departure from the earlier iteration of the site.
The previous version of the language read, “Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.”
The site now states: “He supports changing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security.”
“Changing” the policy and “repealing” it are not necessarily the same thing. I hope this is just semantics and doesn’t represent a new reluctance to fulfill the promise of a full repeal.
The full text related to LGBT issues now reads: “President Obama also continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He supports changing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in a sensible way that strengthens our armed forces and our national security, and also believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Just one minute after taking office in January, the White House site was updated and Obama’s LGBT promises were spelled out in greater detail.
On civil unions, the site read: “Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.”
On marriage: “Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples. “
On adoption: “Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.”
There was also language reflecting support for hate crimes legislation and for ENDA.