How the Obama Administration Has Worked Behind the Scenes to Advance Marriage Equality

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: How the Obama Administration Has Worked Behind the Scenes to Advance Marriage Equality
Ultimately, it's the courts that will ultimately make marriage equality the law of the land in all 50 states.

The Obama administration has a pretty good record on LGBT issues, but it has also had a sometimes contentious relationship with gay rights activists.

Even in the wake of Obama's “evolution” on marriage last week, some critics seized on his statement that the states should decide whether to offer gay and lesbian Americans equal treatment under the law.

Yet it is only the courts – not the executive or legislative branches – that can require the states to honor same-sex marriages. And actions speak louder than words.

This week, Chris Geidner, senior political editor for the LGBT magazine Metro Weekly, appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour to highlight where the administration has missed opportunities to advance gay civil rights, and to explain how the administration has been working to advance marriage equality nationwide in the courts – out of the glare of the political press. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the interview (you can listen to the whole show here).

Joshua Holland: Chris, we have folks like Rick Santorum running around blathering about how marriage has always been between a man and a woman and all that. Did you know that Professor John Boswell, the late chairman of Yale University’s History Department, discovered in ancient Christian liturgical documents that the church was performing same-sex marriages hundreds and hundreds of years back?

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