Socarides: Obama MIA on LGBT Rights

Richard Socarides, former LGBT adviser to President Bill Clinton, describes President Barack Obama as “missing in action” on gay rights in a Friday op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.

Socarides laments the administration’s foot-dragging, and in some cases outright opposition, on issues including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and marriage equality, especially when considered in light of support from conservatives including Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, and Ted Olson, cocounsel in the federal lawsuit against Proposition 8 in California.

“Mr. Obama entered office with greater immediate challenges confronting him than most,” writes Socarides. “But after eight years of benign neglect (at best) from Washington, and a campaign in which Mr. Obama promised to be our champion, gay Americans had good reason to expect more from this president, and now are understandably frustrated.”

Read the full op-ed here.