It won't be nearly as controversial as Time magazine's breastfeeding cover, but Newsweek's May 21 issue declares Barack Obama the country's "first gay president."
The accompanying cover story was written by Andrew Sullivan, the popular--and openly gay--political blogger. The magazine even gives the commander-in-chief a rainbow halo.
Obama, Sullivan writes, "had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family." The full cover story is not yet online, but in a blog post published earlier this week, Sullivan wrote that Obama's support of gay marriage brought him to tears:
I do not know how orchestrated this was; and I do not know how calculated it is. What I know is that, absorbing the news, I was uncharacteristically at a loss for words for a while, didn't know what to write, and, like many Dish readers, there are tears in my eyes.
So let me simply say: I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human garbage because they loved another human being.
I think of Frank Kameny. I think of the gay parents who now feel their president is behind their sacrifices and their love for their children.
The interview changes no laws; it has no tangible effect. But it reaffirms for me the integrity of this man we are immensely lucky to have in the White House. Obama's journey on this has been like that of many other Americans, when faced with the actual reality of gay lives and gay relationships. Yes, there was politics in a lot of it. But not all of it. I was in the room long before the 2008 primaries when Obama spoke to the mother of a gay son about marriage equality. He said he was for equality, but not marriage.
Five years later, he sees--as we all see--that you cannot have one without the other. But even then, you knew he saw that woman's son as his equal as a citizen. It was a moment--way off the record at the time--that clinched my support for him.
Today Obama did more than make a logical step. He let go of fear. He is clearly prepared to let the political chips fall as they may. That's why we elected him.
The New Yorker, which is also out with a cover story on gay marriage, took a bit more subtle approach with its May 21 issue.
"It's a celebratory moment for our country, and that's what I tried to capture," Bob Staake, the artist behind the New Yorker cover, said. "I don't especially like those rainbow colors, but they are what they are—I had to use them."
He added: "I wanted to celebrate the bravery of the President's statement—a statement long overdue, but all the more appreciated in this political year. We are on the right side of history."
MTW-Ten minutes later…
Obama calls pastors to explain gay marriage support; black churches ‘conflicted’
By Dylan Stableford | The Ticket
After making his historic remarks on same-sex unions last week, President Barack Obama led a conference call with black church pastors to explain his support for gay marriage, the New York Times reports. The call, which was held with "eight or so African-American ministers," occurred about two hours after the president's interview with ABC's Robin Roberts.
Obama explained to them that he struggled with the decision, pastors on the call told the paper, but several voiced their disapproval.
"They were wrestling with their ability to get over his theological position," the Rev. Delman Coates, a Maryland pastor who was on the call, told the Times.
The conference call was part of a quiet effort by the president to control potential political damage caused by his support of same-sex marriage.
According to the Times, Obama phoned "at least one [the Rev. Joel C. Hunter] of the five spiritual leaders he calls regularly for religious guidance, and his aides contacted other religious figures who have been supportive in the past."
Hunter, the pastor of a conservative megachurch, said he wasn't surprised Obama didn't ask him advice before the ABC interview because "I would have tried to talk him out of it."
At services on Sunday, black churches were conflicted about President Obama's support of gay marriage, according to USA Today: Some churches were silent on the issue. At others, pastors spoke against the president's decision Wednesday—but kindly of the man himself. A few blasted the president and his decision. A minority spoke in favor of the decision and expressed understanding of the president's change of heart.
Bishop Timothy Clark, head of the First Church of God, a large African-American church with a television ministry in Columbus, Ohio, was perhaps most typical. He felt compelled to address the president's comments at a Wednesday evening service and again Sunday morning. He was responding to an outpouring of calls, e-mails and text messages from members of his congregation after the president's remarks.
What did he hear from churchgoers? "No church or group is monolithic. Some were powerfully agitated and disappointed. Others were curious. 'Why now? To what end?' Others were hurt. And others, to be honest, told me it's not an issue and they don't have a problem with it."
What did the bishop tell his congregation? He opposes gay marriage. It is not just a social issue, he said, but a religious one for those who follow the Bible. "The spiritual issue is ground in the word of God." That said, "I believe the statement the president made and his decision was made in good faith. I am sure because the president is a good man. I know his decision was made after much thought and consideration and, I'm sure, even prayer."
MTW- I do not care who is going to go along with his desperation for votes. I oppose this, as I would not want them to desecrate the sanctity of marriage. Give them the rights as a unified couple should be given, that is it. Obama is no Christian, and the ones whom have decided it is “ok” for this gay marriage business are those same fake Christians I have known my entire life going to Church. I find it unacceptable that they allow same sex adoptions already. Maybe someone should have nipped that one in the bud to spare us this latest travesty. I sincerely hope I have offended as many people as possible. This sorry ass excuse for a president has so many people SO happy that he is Black, they will follow him into the pit of hell. Anyone offended yet; because I have a lot more. The color of a man’s skin is irrelevant. It is the content of his character that is important here, and Mr. Obama has the character of the Anti-Christ. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012! P.S. Were any of the Pastors not Black or not African-American? I do find this labeling a bunch of crap, as well. Americans are Americans.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy
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