President Barack Obama opened the White House to hundreds of gay activists Monday, promising them that by the time he leaves office they would "have pretty good feelings" about his administration.
During an event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of what gay activists consider the launch of their political movement – several nights of violent riots in and around a New York gay bar – Obama rattled off several policies he plans to implement to please his homosexual constituency.
"I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises my administration keeps," he said. "We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over … you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."
Among those promises the president is pursuing, he said: Overturning the federal Defense of Marriage Act, passing a law to mandate health-care and other benefits to homosexual domestic partners, repealing "don't ask, don't tell" and even "rescinding the discriminatory ban on entry to the United States based on HIV status."
Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family Action's senior vice president of government and public policy, noted Obama also talked about passing a "hate-crimes" bill.
"That bill, which we've been battling for years successfully, has sinister language in it," Minnery explained. "This time, there will be language in the final form that has implications for pastors who want to preach on passages that deal with homosexuality, such as Romans 1."
It is conceivable, Minnery explained, that pastors could become parties to criminal prosecution if someone who has heard a pastor's message then goes out and commits a crime.
"Obviously, we are not in favor of anybody committing a violent crime against anybody for any reason," he said. "But if it's a crime against a homosexual, an attorney could trace the inducement for the crime back to a sermon, then a pastor might be implicated in that crime.
"That is sinister. That directly violates the First Amendment. Churches ought to be free to preach the Gospel."
Many pundits saw Monday's White House fete as Obama's effort to placate critics in the gay community who have expressed frustration – more loudly in recent weeks -- that he's not acted quickly enough to implement pro-gay policies. The president tried to cool those concerns.
"There are unjust laws to overturn and unfair practices to step," he said. "And though we've made progress, there are still citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes, who fail to see your families like their families.
"It's not for me to tell you to be patient," he added, "any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a century ago."
Ironically, no less a civil rights icon – and unabashed liberal – as Jesse Jackson has said there is no comparison between blacks' struggle for equality and the agenda being pursued by homosexual activists, famously saying in 2004 that "gays were never called three-fifths human in the Constitution."
Jeff Johnston, gender issues analyst for Focus on the Family, said there's another important distinction.
"Homosexuality is not at all like an ethnic or racial issue -- no one is 'born gay,' and men and women with same-sex attractions can change," Johnston explained. "My own story of coming out of homosexuality is similar to hundreds and thousands of other men and women. We've been successful in reorienting our behavior, attractions and identity."
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about how unwanted same-sex attractions can be overcome by visiting the Love Won Out Web site.
To read the entire text of President Obama's speech, visit the White House Web site.
You can also watch today's Focus Action Update, in which Tom Minnery and Stuart Shepard discuss in detail President Obama's speech to gay activists.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family Action is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
