President Obama Meeting With BLGT Leaders (Image Credit): Alex Wong / Getty Images

Last month at New York Pride, I heard there was a pretty big protest against President Obama by some Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender (BLGT) activists. There were some at other pride celebrations too. Also, people like Dan Choi have been going on TV saying Obama needs to make a full executive order to get rid of DADT, even though it’s officially been lifted (because it’s constantly being appealed and conservatives are trying to reinstate it). When website Founder and Producer Adrienne Williams went with other BLGT activists to the White House a couple of weeks ago, the president gave a speech and listed all of the things he has done for the GLBT community. You can see them here, and they are considerable. I wasn’t even aware of many of them—most BLGT outlets don’t publicize them except for the major stuff, like DADT.

As one can see by the list, no president has ever done so much for the BLGT community, and if reelected, I’m sure he will do even more. Others have promised, but they didn’t deliver like this. Now of course I, like every other BLGT person, wish that more could happen faster. It would be great if the president could just wave a magic wand and give us everything we want and deserve instantly. But guess what folks, that isn’t going to happen, it can’t happen, because he’s got other things to worry about: like wars, a limited budget (that the conservatives are constantly making smaller), keeping all the different political sides of this country balanced, and of course intense religious opposition from the right wing to anything that is done for the BLGT community, as well as the rise of the Tea Party and racist threats. I heard somewhere that he’s gotten more threats already than any president in history. Given the racist nature of many of the verbal attacks on him coming from the right wing, unfortunately I believe it. And yet he’s still managed to give us more than anyone else. This isn’t to say that he’s perfect (no one is) or that he hasn’t made mistakes. But overall, we’ve done pretty well under this administration. This content is for members only.