At various points in 2009—during gay pride month in June, at the October 11th march on Washington, among others—various media outlets eagerly reported criticism of President Obama by some gay leaders. The September 2009 Advocate ran on its cover a campaign image of a despondent looking Obama; in place of the word “Hope” was the question “Nope?”
GLBT advocates are right to be disappointed by some of the new administration’s policies. The U.S. military continues to purge accused homosexuals under “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” ruining careers and lives. In June 2009, Obama’s Department of Justice issued an offensive memo in support of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (which candidate Obama had denounced). In its defense of DOMA, the DOJ cited Connecticut’s refusal to recognize an incestuous marriage from Italy and claimed that “gay and lesbian couples suffer no greater interference with their ability to obtain recognition of their marriages” than other couples under the 1996 law.
