The speech that won't have gone far enough for some was infinitely more than I could ever have asked for or imagined from a sitting United States President.

Let me count the ways:

Speaking to the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner.

Promising to sign the Hate Crimes Bill coming to his desk.

And to end Don't Ask Don't Tell.

And to repeal DOMA.

And to support a fully inclusive ENDA.

And no, we didn't get full support for marriage equality out of him. Odds are we won't. And we're going to get it anyway. Marriage Equality.

So here it is. On the record. I'm hopeful. I'm encouraged. I believe change is not only going to happen, I see it happening. And tonight that is something to celebrate. (That and the Dodgers sweeping the NLWest.)

George Regas -- the rector emeritus at All Saints Church, Pasadena -- famously called us to set audacious goals and celebrate incremental victories.

We have audacious goals we have not yet reached. And tonight was an incremental victory. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Susan Russell

I'm not sure why we should not hold Obama unaccountable for not being George W. Bush.

There are plenty of folks in the LGBT community who do not agree with Susan Russell.

John Aravosis writes, I'm sitting at a fundraiser for the No on 1 effort in Maine (that Obama didn't even bother to mention), and we were all just speechless (actually, hardly speechless - and I thought yelling at the TV was long since over). Obama repeated his campaign promises. That was it. What's particularly disturbing is how President Obama contradicts himself, and his own administration, when talking to a gay crowd. The president claimed that he's for treating gay couples just like married couples. Then why is he against letting gay couples marry? The president claimed that it doesn't matter if we're at war and working on health care and lots of other important issues, we must forget ahead on gay civil rights. Then why is Obama's own administration putting out the talking point that they can't move ahead on gay rights until the wars are over, until health care is over, until Obama has less on his plate?
http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/wheres-beef.html

Related: "I didn't tell, it didn't matter" in today's Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/09/AR2009100902570.html

Count me among those who were underwhelmed. It is lovely that he said that he will repeal DADT - he said the same thing during the campaign. However, there was no time line mentioned. (Joe Solmonese @ the Human Rights Campaign seems to think we should give Obama until 2017.) Therefore, I'll believe it when I see it.

It's great that he supports a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). It's ironic that, as Commander-in-Chief, he continues to discharge military personnel simply because they are gay - an action that could be halted with an executive order today. So, which is it? Does he really believe it is wrong to fire people from their jobs simply because of their sexual orientation or not? If he does, why hasn't he acted on this belief?

Speaking of belief, apparently Obama doesn't believe in marriage equality. Ok, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. But does he believe in putting up the rights of minorities to a popular vote? His statements on gay marriage were used against us in the Prop 8 campaign. Potentially, they could be used against us again in Maine. His silence on the referendums in Maine & Washington was reprehensible.

As someone who is directly affected by the President's inaction, I believe that the time for speeches, amazing or not, is past. The time for action is now.

This President will soon have to demonstrate that he can do more than make pretty speeches or else he will not be reelected. That he, a former law professor, says he believes in "separate and equal" for same-sex couples is scary. He will not expend any political capital for LGBTs but would prefer that others do the work for him. He is not against LGBTs so much as unwilling to stand up for principles of equality and fairness.

I doubt he would choose to have his wife not recognized as his spouse by the federal government. And I doubt he would say that it would be good for them to wait years, even decades, before he and the First Lady were recognized as a family unit.

Gary Paul Gilbert

Remember the anti-gay singer Donnie McClurkin employed by candidate Obama? Remember anti-gay preacher Rick Warren doing the Invocation at the Inauguation? Remember Obama rebuking Prop8 supporters who cited him against same-sex marriage? (Oh, wait, he didn't, did he?) Remember Obama celebrating Bayard Rustin's contributions to civil rights before the HRC crowd? (No, sorry, that was Julian Bond at the March on Washington Sunday afternoon.)

Furthermore, gay critics report that Obama's HRC speech wasn't distributed to the media and as of this afternoon hadn't been posted on the White House website. And the dinner itself isn't mentioned on his official schedule. Hard to believe that Obama is a homophobe, but he sure tiptoes around people who are.

I fear that we may not be thinking much of DADT and DOMA in a few months, since Obama has anointed the same financial crowd that produced the banking crisis to continue enriching and empowering their friends. Bill Moyers's guests touched on that in this week's Journal:

BILL MOYERS: Why have we not had the reform that we all knew was being was needed and being demanded a year ago?
SIMON JOHNSON: I think the short term opportunity was missed. There was an opportunity that the Obama Administration had. President Obama campaigned on a message of change. I voted for him. I supported him. And I believed in this message. And I thought that the time for change, for the financial sector, was absolutely upon us. This was abundantly apparent by the inauguration in January of this year. And Rahm Emanuel, the President's Chief of Staff has a saying. He's widely known for saying, 'Never let a good crisis go to waste'. Well, the crisis is over, Bill. The crisis in the financial sector, not for people who own homes, but the crisis for the big banks is substantially over. And it was completely wasted. The Administration refused to break the power of the big banks, when they had the opportunity, earlier this year. And the regulatory reforms they are now pursuing will turn out to be, in my opinion, and I do follow this day to day, you know. These reforms will turn out to be essentially meaningless.

Murdoch Matthew
husband of Gary

The reliable Pam Spaulding has details on the soft-pedaling of the HRC speech:

I wasn't the only one wondering why the President's keynote address during the HRC Dinner wasn't released to the media prior to the speech (embargoed). This is unusual because most major addresses are sent out before so journalists can have accurate quotes in their articles, which are usually written during the delivery. The White House will sometimes re-issue the transcript (as delivered) as well. None of that happened yesterday. I received my copy of it at 11:40 AM ET on Sunday, after just about all of the Sunday talk shows have aired. Make what you want about that.

Thanks to C-Span and MSNBC, folks can watch the speech -- so it's not completely out of public view, and the White House did distribute the "pool reporting" on Obama's 25 minutes at the HRC Dinner. . . . But nothing yet on the White House web page -- and nothing in my in-box about Barack Obama's commitment to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and his commitment to pass an exclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which were high points of his remarks. This is meant to be a friendly critique -- but while the gay community at the HRC dinner was enormously enthusiastic, we don't want the important remarks the President gave hidden so as not to make the weekend news cycle.

Murdoch Matthew
husband of Gary

NYT draws attention to the rally in Washington in contradistinction to the black tie event where Obama spoke.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/us/politics/12protest.html?_r=2

1. "The rally was primarily the undertaking of a new generation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocates who have grown disillusioned with the movement’s leadership."

2. "The president did not lay out a timetable to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, voice support for any of the battles going on at state levels to allow same-sex couples more recognition under the law nor mention the march.

“He knows this march is happening, and he can’t even acknowledge it?” said Robin McGehee, 36, a co-director of the march. Ms. McGehee took issue with people she believes are giving the president a pass."

3. "“I think he has a lot on his plate,” said Rachael McIntosh, 25, of Worcester, Mass. “But I’d hoped we’d be a priority.” Ms. McIntosh raised a sign that read “Nobel Peace Prize. Earn It!”"

4. "Representative Barney Frank called the march “emotional satisfaction” for its organizers and said of their intention to pressure the Obama administration, “The only thing they’re going to put pressure on is the grass.”"