Slog News & Arts

Line Out

Music & Nightlife

« Pre-Spinning Texas and Ohio | Comments... »

Monday, March 3, 2008

Video of Obama on Gay Rights in Beaumont, Texas

posted by on March 3 at 10:20 AM

I wrote about this on Friday. Here’s the video…

RSS icon Comments

1

Amen!

Posted by Deacon Seattle | March 3, 2008 10:29 AM
2

Doing what is right, not necessarily what is popular? What a concept. Go Obama go!

Posted by sprizee | March 3, 2008 10:38 AM
3

What was the question, exactly?

His comment was a good general comment.

In this clip at least, the crowd did not seem to fall silent at the mention of gay equality, as reported originally. He did single out the church and African-Americans.

Still, what was the question?

Posted by chicagogaydude | March 3, 2008 10:41 AM
4

I really hope Mr. Obama is our next president.

Posted by Mike | March 3, 2008 10:42 AM
5

Now there's a straight shooter.

Posted by Greg | March 3, 2008 10:43 AM
6


#3 that was my reaction as well. A good, forthright answer, but I think the context had been a little oversold.

Posted by Ken | March 3, 2008 11:10 AM
7

Two hours after the post and "this video is no longer available"? Pretty lame-ass.

Posted by Waldo | March 3, 2008 11:13 AM
8

Dan and co.

In your article on Friday, you brought up Ken Hutcherson. Not to get too far off track here, but I just thought I'd point out that the whole debacle at Mount Si High School is still going strong. Teachers have been punished, the district has apologized to Hutcherson, and now there is a task force to get teachers fired, disban the GSA, and cancel the upcoming Day of Silence.

If you feel like coming out and heckling some bigots, the next board meeting is this Thursday (7pm at the District Office in Snoqualmie...only 25ish minutes from Seattle!). At the last meeting there were around 200 people, including Hutcherson himself. A few of my teachers spoke as did a couple of classmates...the other side made a strong showing as well.

This next board meeting is really important for us to have some numbers.

mtsiparents.blogspot.com for more info as to what's been going on. Hope to see some people there.

...Oh...and woo-hoo Obama!

Posted by MSHS senior | March 3, 2008 11:33 AM
9

I think he plagiarized Charles Barkley.

Posted by DOUG. | March 3, 2008 11:53 AM
10

For those of us who work in fish-bowls, any chance of getting a transcript?

Posted by me | March 3, 2008 12:15 PM
11

can you imagine the reaction McCain would get if he talked that shit at CPAC?

I hope this country has grown up enough that this will be a positive for Obama instead of a point of attack.

Posted by Mike in MO | March 3, 2008 12:36 PM
12

charles motherfucking barkley. indeed.

Posted by superyeadon | March 3, 2008 12:44 PM
13

D.S.: In your Friday post, you portrayed the crowd as having a seemingly negative reaction to the beginning of his response. Honestly, I don't see it. On Friday, you mentioned that the crowd cheered at first, but then went ominously quiet at the mention of orientation. Maybe it's the sound quality, but it seemed as though the crowd was with him the whole time, just more responsive as his words became stronger (and as he invoked the church). I'm a little worried that a lot of... well, white folks (especially white queers) heard what your post kinda implies: Black people are overwhelmingly homophobic; thank goodness "one of them" is finally challenging "them" on it.
I'm going to guess you weren't the only queer in the crowd.

Posted by pbaitch | March 3, 2008 1:56 PM
14

@pbaitch:

You *seriously* don't see a negative reaction from the crowd? I'd watch that clip again if I were you. I've never seen a bunch of people look more awkward and uncomfortable. Just check out the faces and reactions of the front rows and they speak volumes about how those people feel about LGBT people.

Kudos to Obama for still saying what he did in front of that crowd.

Posted by Gregus | March 3, 2008 2:10 PM
15

I agree: Kudos to Obama. But, would our responses -- and assumptions -- be the same if the crowd appeared mostly white? Or would we be talking about Obama's stance on... whatever it is that he's really articulated a stance on. It seems like whites want to forget that most violence against queer people is inflicted by white people. Anybody know if this claim stands up, proportionately? I'm having trouble finding a good support, but I'll still wager I should be more wary of white men at three AM. And I'll bet that I'm as likely to lose my place in a white home due to sexual orientation, too.

Posted by pbaitch | March 3, 2008 2:34 PM
16

Nothing in life ever really satisfies you, does it?

Posted by NapoleonXIV | March 3, 2008 3:21 PM
17

@ 16: Yeah, that's about right.

Posted by pbaitch | March 3, 2008 3:27 PM
18

@pbaitch:

We would absolutely be having this conversation if the crowd appeared to be mostly white. Black people don't have a patent on homophobia. Any crowd which exhibited this type of reaction when the speaker brings up LGBT issues warrants discussion.

Posted by Gregus | March 3, 2008 3:54 PM
19

Okay, then I need to see a better video of the event. I *seriously* don't see or hear the big dip in enthusiasm DS posted about -- meaning, I don't think the crowd's reaction was too odd. It seems like Obama's crowds are blank slates now, too.

Posted by pbaitch | March 3, 2008 4:26 PM
20

That was beautiful.

Posted by violet_dagrinder | March 3, 2008 4:46 PM
21

@pbaitch and others:

My initial reaction was also that the crowd's lack of reaction didn't mean anything, until I saw this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0L2GEBhd2w

People are standing, clapping, and cheering throughout, and it provides a pretty stark contrast to the video above.

Posted by JumboQuaid | March 3, 2008 10:20 PM
22

Seriously. This deserves watching again, it's so good.

"Blaming gay people for our problems, just like we blame immigrants for our problems or we blame Muslims for our problems - we're not solving problems, all we're doing is dividing each other. That's not the kind of politics I want to practice, all right? All right."

Posted by Greg | March 3, 2008 10:28 PM
23

Hmmm...

Maybe a few in the audience seemed to begrudgingly accept his point..

Possibly could have been a bit louder? Still quite positive.

We live in a pretty pro-LGBT part of the country here in the NW. Do we really need to be reminded of that?

Posted by KeeKee | March 3, 2008 10:49 PM
24

Hmmmm. Not impressed. Suppose he had said he didn't support LGTB rights. Do you think he would still be a viable candidate? And why interject his religion into it? Frankly, Clinton has a record of supporting us. Obama hasn't any record, period.

Posted by Vince | March 4, 2008 7:00 AM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).