How (not) to be an Ally - Obama and Gay Marriage

Sometimes, to be an ally of a community that lacks, civil rights, you must be willing to accept personal consequences. You'd think that Barack Obama would understand that very well, but I'm not feeling it with his stance against gay marriage. This self-described fierce proponent for equality rights for gays and lesbians openly opposes gay marriage because of his religious beliefs. Mr. Obama, I'm sorry, but if you believe in full equality for a group of people, you can't go halfway.

Compare Mr. Obama's stance to Paul Martin's. Paul Martin was the Prime Minister of Canada who introduced the bill that legalized gay marriage throughout Canada. He did this despite being Catholic and facing threats of excommunication from Catholic leaders in Canada. Here is what he said about the issue of voting for gay marrage despite his religious beliefs:

"Religious leaders have strong views both for and against this legislation. They should express them. Certainly, many of us in this House, myself included, have a strong faith, and we value that faith and its influence on the decisions we make. But all of us have been elected to serve here as Parliamentarians. And as public legislators, we are responsible for serving all Canadians and protecting the rights of all Canadians.

We will be influenced by our faith but we also have an obligation to take the widest perspective -- to recognize that one of the great strengths of Canada is its respect for the rights of each and every individual, to understand that we must not shrink from the need to reaffirm the rights and responsibilities of Canadians in an evolving society."

This, Mr. Obama, is how to be an ally to the gay and lesbian community. We cannot support civil rights while allowing our personal religious beliefs to determine how far we're willing to take equality. I know it's a difficult choice to make, and that there are consequences for supporting civil rights. Mr. Martin faced possible excommunication from his own church, and a number of Catholic priests and bishops in Canada stated that they would refuse holy communion to Mr. Martin. He still did the right thing, because he truly believes in civil rights.

Here's Paul Martin's full speech in favour of his bill. It's an excellent speech.