Obama’s support for gay marriage disappointing

Thursday, 17 May 2012 21:39 The Citizen, Tanzania.

Mobhare Matinyi, Washington DC For the first time in their history Americans have a president who openly supports same-sex marriage. Yes, on May 10 President Barack Obama sent out an e-mail announcing that he has decided to support gay marriage. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Obama gave his reasons. He said: “I've always believed that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. The denial of marriage equality to loving, same-sex couples, means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens.”  I happened to be one of the people who received Obama’s e-mail, which isn’t a big deal since Obama’s communication machine doesn’t play around. What pushed me to read was the one-word subject title: “Marriage.” The message read: “Friend -- Today, I was asked a direct question and gave a direct answer: I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.” He was referring to his interview on ABC News a day earlier.  I don’t know how many people were disappointed by this presidential revelation, but I am sure many were, and church services on the following Sunday, May 13, proved that. Americans expressed their feelings so bitterly, especially in the so-called black churches and evangelical churches as well. There was an uproar and a large number of preachers didn’t hide it – they were disappointed. Catholics weren’t silent either. The world-renowned magazine, Newsweek, even rebuked Obama by calling him the “first gay president”, dismissing the fact that America has had a gay president before, James Buchanan, from 1857 to 1861 and possibly more. Buchanan never married in his life.  But don’t be deceived. On the other side many Americans were happy too, especially those from the liberal communities such as entertainers, some academicians, and a number of young urbanites. Supporters of same-sex marriage are many in the United States even though most of them aren’t gay or lesbian. They just want to support it thinking it’s cool.  For anyone who was carefully following Obama, last week’s announcement wasn’t a surprise at all as he has been preparing himself to do so for a while. As president, Obama refused to order the Justice Department to defend the federal Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA), which the Congress passed in 1996 overwhelmingly. The act defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman.  One can even trace back to 1996 when Obama was running for the Illinois Senate when he declared his support for same-sex marriage, but in 2008 he played smart politics to get presidential votes and stated: “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman,” and went on to add that marriage is a sacred union.  Recently, Obama ended the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy, thus, giving gays and lesbians a right to operate openly within the military, contrary to what other administrations stood for. This was a man on a mission, and he has accomplished it although that is not going to make the whole nation a gay nation. A couple of days ago when some people opposed California’s Amendment 8 to ban same-sex marriage, Obama’s administration supported them, and it clearly has no business supporting the state of North Carolina in its decision to enact a law to ban same-sex marriage making it the 32nd state to do so. There are 50 states in the US, but only six and the capital Washington DC issue same-sex marriage licences and at least two more will soon join the club, while 12 states allow legal unions for same-sex couples that offer varying subsets of marriage rights. What is next for America? States will continue to do whatever they want, but I don’t think the federal government will succeed in legalising same-sex marriage now as that would amount to interfering with states, but Swahili people say: “A long journey starts with a single step.”  Some critics are asking what will stop people from demanding polygamy in America or marrying children, or for that matter marriage between human beings and animals! All three are illegal under US law but even same-sex marriage was once upon a time illegal in the whole country; so it is just a matter of time before people demand the unthinkable. Could Obama’s stance affect his re-election? Yes, of course. Some people have declared that since they are die-hard Democrats, meaning they cannot vote for a Republican, they will just stay home on election day.  Obama wouldn’t have got votes from the right wing anyway, but some people in the left wing will surely deny him their votes, and some in the middle will vote for the Republican candidate if other factors allow.  Obama may have accomplished his mission, and even made some people happy, but honestly, he has disappointed many Americans and non-Americans too. Now Americans will have to take it or leave it!