A promise that is growing fainter

A promise that is growing fainter

I have been watching President Obama, was expecting and hoping he would deliver on Gay issues and yet here we are many months in and discrimination by police and the armed forces continues unabated.

I read that in Texas today a gay man was brutally assaulted by police in what was called a routine liquor board bar inspection. The Texas Liquor inspectors make many inspections of bars to ensure there is no one underage or any overtly drunk patrons. From reports out of Texas this is usually a quiet affair and after a short talk with the bar tender they proceed to check some patrons id's. Its an orderly affair.

It appears not to be the case when they inspected a new gay bar. Police handcuffed many patrons and brutally assaulted one of them. The man is now in hospital with a blood clot to his brain.

Further a bright young man, a member of the National Guard out of New York, who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan faced a hearing of the guard today, where a decision was made to discharge him because he said he was gay. He has violated the Don't Ask, Don't Tell rule.

Obama says trust me, I will get Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed. He will work to get the Defense of Marriage Act repealed. Obama is running up against a rough stretch. Congressmen are elected every two years. If he does not act now, he will likely wait until after the 2010 congressional elections. I can see it now, after the 2010 elections Obama will be campaigning for his on re-election in 2011. I am sure he won't want to hand a gay issue over to the Republicans then.

Gays will be on the back burner again, sacrificed for political expediency. I hope I am wrong. Obama has a lot on his plate, surely there is room at the table for gays!