Feedback

I received two thoughtful comments on my last post about Obama. Thanks, guys.

And a clarification, Ryan: while I mentioned both the comments that I've read on political stories around the web and the personal comments to me about Obama and DADT in the same post, there's obviously a world of difference between where you (and Marc) are coming from and so many of the "wouldn't know the middle ground if it chewed off both their right and left hands" kind of folks out there with their simpleminded slash and burn (not to mention anonymous) comments.

Whoa, now that was a sentence. :-)

I was talking to a friend the other day--who was also concerned that Obama was letting an Arab language linguist be kicked out of the military for being gay--and I told him I found myself in the strange position of being a gay man and activist who would benefit more from healthcare reform than from DADT being ended. (Yes, I have my own self interest. :-)

Obama has done so much already on so many fronts that matter to me--the economy, the environment, climate change, healthcare, science, etc.--that I find myself being able to feel like I can wait a bit for progress in the gay and lesbian space. Right now I'm feeling myself more centered in the big circle in my hypothetical Venn diagram that is worried about healthcare than in the smaller but no less important circle of gays and lesbians who just wanted to be treated with fairness and equality.

For the first time in a long time, I have some faith and feel some optimism that things will get better.