Yes We Can!

We STILL Can !

https://www.obama.org/visit/

Updated On: 6/16/26 at 04:57 PM

I love the photo at the top of this article. Our four former Presidents and First Ladies standing together in unity. Great Americans, all.

https://www.axios.com/2026/06/18/obama-presidential-center-bush-clinton-biden-bono-colbert-springsteen

Speaking of U.S. Presidents....

On July 4th, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library will open in Medora, North Dakota. "CBS News Sunday Morning" will devote a segment to the Library on its June 21st broadcast.

https://www.trlibrary.com/

kdogg36 said: "Highland Guy said: "I love the photo at the top of this article. Our four former Presidents and First Ladies standing together in unity. Great Americans, all."

George W. Bush is by no stretch of the imagination a "great American." Proof: he was the leader of a hateful movement to write anti-LGBT bigotry into state and federal constitutions. I could list more things, but that should be plenty."

Bill Clinton signed Defense of Marriage Act into law.

Zeppie2022 said: "Bill Clinton signed Defense of Marriage Act into law."

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell," too. I'm pretty sure I've commented before about how much I hate him for those completely gratuitous choices.

Likewise John Kerry, running in 2024, who said that he personally would vote for a hypothetical constitutional amendment to undo marriage equality in his home state of Massachusetts (the only one that had it at the time).

And Obama went from supporting marriage equality before his rise to prominence, to opposing it during his first term, to supporting it when it was clear it would help him in 2012. Hard to be anything but cynical about that.

One significant difference between those guys and Bush: they've unambiguously repudiated their earlier opposition to marriage equality. That doesn't lead me to forgive them, but it's something.

You're right that all of these people deserve condemnation, but Bush is by far the worst of the bunch.

Highland Guy said: "President Clinton gave the Queer Communities within the Armed Services the hope that someday we would be able to serve openly and proudly. And that day came."

Having any history of being in the military is completely irrelevant to the lack of logic in a suggestion that DADT enabled "Queer Communities within the Armed Services the hope that someday we would be able to serve openly and proudly."

DADT is rooted in silence and literal ignorance. It's in the name: DON'T ask - DON'T tell. That's the complete antithesis of serving "openly and proudly".

I am grateful for, and I sincerely thank you for your service, but I don't need to share the honor of service that you have experienced in order to understand how DADT insisted that LGBTQ+ service men and women remain in the closet, and that no one should ever acknowledge, or speak about it.

Current service men and women can feel more comfortable in the military because of the repeal of DADT in December of 2010 (after required silence for over 17 years!) and the July 6, 2011 ruling from a federal appeals court that barred further enforcement of the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members.

Updated On: 6/19/26 at 01:43 PM

Highland Guy said: "Were you in the military?"

No, and in fact I would have been slightly too young at the time, but please understand that I'm judging his blessing of both DADT and DOMA (and admittedly more the latter) as it impacted me as a young gay man who could have used some moral encouragement from the president's choices, but only saw his submission to bigots.

As far as DADT goes, Clinton had promised to open up the military to gay people, full stop. His acceptance of DADT was widely, and rightly, seen as a betrayal at the time, including by my best friend from high school, who served in the Navy starting a couple of years later. (He just retired and I'm sure I'd very much enjoy witnessing a debate between the two of you about it!)

My use of the term "gratuitous" is inspired mostly by his signature on DOMA. He could have vetoed the bill and let Congress override it, which would have sent a powerful message of support for our community. Or he could have simply allowed it to pass into law without his signature, sending a quieter message that would still have been meaningful. But instead he gave it his official endorsement with his signature, and I will forever hate him for that.

Updated On: 6/19/26 at 02:31 PM