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Clinton responds to unexpected questions on gay issues at Netroots Nation
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Bill Clinton was delivering the keynote address at the Netroots Nation 2009 gathering last Thursday night when a blogger/activist, Bill Lane, interrupted him, asking him to call for a repeal of DOMA and DADT.
Mr. Lane wrote a piece for the Huffington Post explaining why he felt compelled to press the former President on the two discriminatory laws enacted on his watch:
(Excerpt) What happened that was really important, however, is that President Clinton did address the issues that I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have without my forcing the conversation. Of course, he started with a strident defense of how DOMA and DADT went down on his watch. But, I already knew that story. It was the present that I cared about, not the past.
Thankfully, he got around to the present. He made the strongest objection to DADT he has ever made to the best of my knowledge. He clearly called for the policy being changed. On DOMA, he spent much less time, but lamented its passage and doing a half-hearted kind of call for repeal, "I don't like the DOMA".
It's not spectacular, but it's progress.Too often, we don't challenge people to admit mistakes. Too often we hold idols up to a place they don't deserve. Like I said, I love Bill Clinton, but we all make mistakes and live in a less than perfect world. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for the perfect.
In today's world, a former President that has now said he supports marriage equality should find it easy to say without equivocation that he supports repealing two discriminatory laws that he felt he had no choice but to sign into law. He didn't do that, but he needs to.
I just wanted to make sure he talked about two issues that mean a great deal to me and many others. I didn't know it at the time, but Lt. Dan Choi was in the audience. I wouldn't have yelled from the audience and interrupted if we weren't being held as a captive audience.
But at the end of the day, I'll take the heckler title if you want to give it to me. The yelling at me is okay too. Heck, I'll even take the initial comment from the President that likened me to a health care town hall protester. None of it matters because a little bit of progress was made. President Clinton even came around later in his speech saying he was glad "that young man challenged me tonight".
There is hope for our heralded former President to make those unequivocal statements that I was hoping for. Even more importantly, I hope that my fellow progressive movement activists will never sit in a captive audience and talk down to one another when we are all working hard to advance progressive issues.
Personally, I understand why Mr. Lane spoke up. Often the material presented by important public figures in keynote speeches serves to advance the applicable political party’s current focus. That is why Mr. Clinton was focusing on health care. However, the two laws in question were passed during his administration. Given that the denial of rights to the gay community seems to be the centerpiece of the Republican social agenda, the ongoing impact of these laws and the social debate over gay rights is a legitimate and relevant talking point.
In the U.S., we are obsessed, enamored and in awe of our public figures. There are people who know more details about their favorite movie star than they know about their closest friend. However, when we remain silent about our concerns, raptly ingesting whatever is offered, we insure that the ‘conversation’ that politicians have with their constituents, or public figures have with the masses, is a one way monologue.
Whereas there is a certain amount of respect that should be given former heads of states, I think the tendency to censure, based on holding an individual in high regard, is a natural human trait that impedes communication. Engagement encourages debate, discourse and dialogue.
President Clinton is a very clever man. I don’t think either Clinton has an issue with the gay community, but politics is a game of give and take. Unfortunately it is often progress on gay issues that is given up in lieu of support for other pieces of legislation. Politics can be an ugly business. Both Clinton’s know that business well.
If Bill can handle attacks by the Republican Party for 16+ years, then I am sure he can handle unexpected questions at a convention for Progressives. Though Clinton compared Lane to the Republican town hall protestors during his initial response, he later commented in an interview that he was glad that Lane had given him an opportunity to address the issue.
President Obama faces the same political progress vs. social progress dilemma regarding gay issues today. Though he has said that he intends to address DOMA and DADT, he is currently pushing his health care initiative, managing two wars and trying to fix an economy on TARP life support and pain killers. Given the current political and economic climate, I anticipate many more years of our country arguing about gay issues rather than acting on gay issues. In the interim, I hope Lane's interruption inspires others to have the chutzpah to ask the important questions when given the opportunity.
E: meanderingmuse@comcast.net
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