God & Country

As Obama Extends Federal Benefits to Gay Partners, Poll Suggests Broad Support

June 17, 2009 RSS Feed Print

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

Will most Americans support President Obama's executive order extending certain benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees? Probably, according to a Gallup Poll released last month.

The poll found that, while most Americans oppose gay marriage, 67 percent say "gay and lesbian domestic partners should have access to health insurance and other employee benefits."

The one difference between the Gallup question and Obama's move is that American taxpayers will be footing the bill for the extended federal benefits.

It seems that marriage is the one major gay rights issue where religious conservatives still have the majority of the country on their side. According to Gallup, 69 percent of Americans favor gays openly serving in the military, 73 percent support inheritance rights for gay and lesbian domestic partners, and 67 percent support expanding hate crime legislation to protect gays.

Tags:
Gallup,
Barack Obama,
gay rights

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It just absolutely floors me how so many seem to sincerely believe that Equal Rights for Gays is simply about money and benefits and that somehow the cost of benefits is going to be taken from their pocket.

And the bizarre assumption by some, too many, that Gays are sex crazed and certain to be involved with incest and pedophilia. How absurd.

Maybe I'm wrong seeing as how I'm straight but I don't see the issue that way at all.

I cannot imagine how painful it must be for Gay partners to be barred from the bedside of their dying loved one because society, with the backing of the legal system, refuses to recognize their relationship.

I cannot imagine how painful it must be to know that the country you love and wish to serve doesn't mind letting you become cannon fodder as long as you agree to live a lie and to accept that your country, your government, your society finds it perfectly acceptable to deny you your right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I cannot imagine how painful it must be to know that others find it perfectly acceptable to deny you the right to love the person of your choice, to deny you the right to build a loving family, to deny you the right to openly celebrate your love and happiness as a family as other families are allowed to do.

I cannot imagine how painful it must be to have to hide who you are and the one you love from those in a position at your business to deny you advancement opportunities and at times to even deny your continued employment should it become known that you are who you are.

And for those who would deny extending Hate Crime legislation to provide protection to members of the Gay community, I have two words for you. Paul Broussard. You can easily find information regarding the tragedy of his death.

Dee of AR 12:02PM June 28, 2009

Wait wait wait... so you're claiming that straight people are terrorists to gay people. That somehow it is the straight person's fault for a gay person to be unable to physically reproduce. That because, perhaps, as a real minority, there is always the chance of extinction, that is the fault of everyone else? That somehow that constitutes a purposeful assualt on a community that can only have children through needles and adoption? I mean, race minorities have an obvious genetic material that is passed from one generation to the next. The not-so-obvious mechanisms behind the condition of being gay may or may not be genetically transmitted, but if they are, its certainly a losing battle. Or is that your point? That because there exists such a condition, it should florish? Should that be the rule for every condition?

So... you want to make a comparison to a culture that cries that it is not being accepted? Well... seems like most muslims outside the US chant "death to america", yet they send their families here. To that I say: get out. if you don't like it, leave. the same argument could be made here. there are established sets of rules. many states have banned gay marriages. there are plenty of other plots of land on the earth, if you don't like the culture, you know where the door is. i really don't think you gain acceptance by calling everyone that doesn't understand the condition of being gay a terrorist.

Brian of CA 9:12PM June 19, 2009

It seems to me, that to murder another person's spirit; to attack another person's family for simply existing, and to destroy their security and their freedom is a slower and more painful death than many other kinds of terrorist attacks. But that is the perpetual state of our existence in the USA. We, the GLBT community, have been under unrelenting terrorist attacks for nearly the last four hundred years in this country -- from colonial days to the present.

There has never been a shortage of people in the US who desire to destroy GLBT citizens. Some want to do it quickly with direct violence against one or a few of us at a time. While others, like James Dobson and millions of other assassins like him, exploit mindless fears and then pervert the law into their weapons of mass destruction -- thereby reaping a higher body count of ruined lives.

Who is really more dangerous?

Sadly, I don't think the so-called “news” media could give a crap either. At the most, the coverage of the mass murder of gays might just receive perhaps a few words in the moving scroll at the bottom of the tv screen during a newscast.

The captions might read:

"Dozens of homosexuals die in ricin attack…FBI may investigate…Congress to look into deaths perhaps next term after addressing the Economy... (JUST IN)... Brittany Spears accidentally suffocates pet poodle in handbag…Congress to hold hearings on Animal Abuse…New laws are expected to require breathing holes in large purses for pets; millions nationwide voice their concern...(Update)... Another twelve die in ricin attack in homosexual bars; FBI now says it is a local matter…With no federal Hate Crime law protecting homosexuals, Congress says its hands are tied...(Update)… Due to a flood of public outrage, Congress meets in emergency session and passes new laws to require breathing holes in large handbags for small pets…”

It is nothing to joke about, but that is exactly how most people in America treat our lives -- either as a big joke or some dangerous vermin infestation to be stomped out. But I believe the third kind of reaction to us is even more pernicious -- that is, Obama’s attitude: “Ignore them and maybe they will just go away.”

…You get the picture.

(C) Bud Evans

My blog is: rainfish2000 (dot) blogspot (dot) com

Bud Evans of KS 11:15AM June 19, 2009

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Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

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