Gay rights activist Tico Almeida, the
founder and president of Freedom to Work, believes the election left
no doubt that gay Americans are “wedge issues no more.”
Appearing on cabler Current's
Viewpoint, Almeida told host Eliot Spitzer that Republicans'
refusal to make political hay out of President Barack Obama's support
for LGBT rights leaves little doubt that the issue has lost is
political edge.
“This year's election was a real
turning point for LGBT Americans and for our movement, for fairness
and for justice under the law,” Almeida said. “And I think
President Obama has proven once and for all that elected officials
can take a strong stance in favor of LGBT fairness and not fear any
real backlash from the voters. I'm not just talking about his
marriage equality position, which is historic. Throughout the course
of the first part of the Obama administration his agencies put
through dozens and dozens of changes. Things like hospital
visitations for gay couples, things like no discrimination in
housing. Despite these wonderful advances, there was no backlash.
Republicans didn't use this as a wedge issue. They didn't run ads on
it, didn't bring it up at the debates. There was silence. And that
means that we as gay Americans, we are wedges issues no more.”
Almeida added that he's confident that
Obama will sign an executive order which would ban federal
contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation and
gender identity. The president refused to sign such an order in the
spring. (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)