David Mixner speaks out

Read the whole thing.

Tonight once again we will be forced to sit on the edge of our seats as the voters of Maine get to chose whether we get to be a free people in their state. The concept that a majority of voters in any state can decide if I shall have the same rights of all Americans is repugnant to me. We won't know the results until late in the evening, but there is one result that is overwhelmingly clear to LGBT citizens and their allies: President Obama and his team were zero help in this critical battle and in the last week might actually have hurt us. That is a fact.

Despite repeated pleas for assistance from this community from the start of the campaign, he chose to ignore every opportunity to grant us such relief. At the recent Human Rights Campaign dinner he never said the word "Maine" once. The most we were able to get out of the White House office of communications was that he was opposed to such efforts. Try weaving that into a powerful ad or robo-calling!

However, practicing benign neglect was not the end of it. This past week, Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States in the state of Maine said that this administration had no position on the ballot measure. Read that sentence again carefully. Our nation's chief law enforcement officer and the president's hand picked choice said that the issue was just not that important to this administration! Now don't be fooled by any rhetoric that presidents don't take stands on such issues. Going back as far as President Carter when he opposed Proposition Six, they have taken such stands.

The fierce advocate of whenever and the DNC have pedalled as fast as they can away from GLBT rights. But you know what? Just as in the public option in health care, the American public is much smarter than they think. Real life is not limited by an inside-the-beltway news focus. We know that Obama is ditching GLBT rights. The battle is up to us at the local level. And my wallet, I'm afraid, is going to be directed to fund those fighting local battles for us, battles that make a difference to our lives, rather than high-falutin' flowery speeches that blow away in the wind. Words are cheap.

Meanwhile, Maine turnout is bigger than expected....