Neil Schloesser: After High School

To the Editor:

I do not support President Barak Obama because his recent actions paint him as a bigot. Obama’s administration has appealed two recent judicial victories for the gay community even as Obama says he is committed to gay rights.

A district judge in July ruled that parts of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) were unconstitutional and a judge in October ruled that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was unconstitutional. Obama believes that laws passed by Congress should be repealed by Congress. Obama is saying that he is a man of conviction and that ideals are more important than human suffering. In this instance I disagree.

Obama recently taped a message for the “It gets better” series which is aimed at providing gay teenagers a message of hope that life will get better after high school. 

His message is disingenuous. Even as the leader of the free world is telling people that it is okay to be gay, his actions say something entirely different. His actions tell the gay community that our pain is not worth his ideals.

Obama would rather gamble on a legislative victory that may never arrive than allow the court judgments to stand. Reason would say that if someone defeated your enemy you’d celebrate the victory, not run out to the field of battle and revive your enemy so you can win on your terms. That’s asinine and in the case of gay youth and adults, his commitment to ideals, while usually commendable, may prove to be deadly. 

While Obama says a lot of nice things, his actions still speak louder than his words and that is a problem. Words are nice but actions are what count.

-Neil Schloesser
Fargo