Mass. advocates impressed by visit to Obama White House

Among the hundreds of LGBT movers and shakers gathered in the East Wing for President Obama's Stonewall reception were a handful of Bay Staters. The Massachusetts contingent included Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons; Jarrett Barrios, incoming president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and a former state senator; Jennifer Chrisler, president of the Family Equality Council, and her wife, former Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president and former state senator Cheryl Jacques; Tom Barbera, national chair of the SEIU Lavender Caucus; bisexual activist Robyn Ochs; and Stephen Driscoll, board co-chair of National Stonewall Democrats.

Despite the recent public complaints by many LGBT leaders about the Obama administration's lack of movement on his campaign promises to the community, Barrios said the atmosphere in the East Wing was overwhelmingly positive when the president took the stage to address the crowd.

"The man in that room yesterday was candidate Obama again, which hit every note that an advocate for fair treatment and equality of gay and transgender people would want to hear," said Barrios, who spoke to Bay Windows the afternoon following the reception. "The excitement in the room was palpable, his words were excellent, and the symbolic importance wasn't lost on anyone, the symbolic importance of the 40th anniversary of Stonewall."

Barbera said it was an emotionally charged moment to stand in the White House and listen to the president of the United States recount the history of Stonewall as a landmark struggle for equal rights.

"Every time I think of even going there or being there, a tear kind of wells up, because it's an historic moment that any president, whether it was Clinton or Carter, [would talk about our history], but more so this one because he has such an intimate knowledge of our community and he also cares about our community, and it's really evident by his words, he understands our original struggle, he understands our oppression, he understands where we come from," said Barbera. "For me it's kind of tears of joy that a president of this country, and certainly comparing him to our previous president, would talk so intimately and know so much about our community and really understand our community."

Ochs, who attended the event with her wife, Peg Preble, said she had the opportunity to speak briefly with the president and First Lady Michelle Obama when they were passing through the crowd at the end of his speech. She said Preble introduced Ochs to the president as her wife, and both the president and the first lady shook their hands.

"On the way back President Obama stopped and shook my hand and held it and asked me what my name was and where I was from, and it was profoundly moving, very intense," Ochs said. "And I didn't expect that, because I'm not a sentimental person, but they're good. They made us feel important."

Ochs said she was not on the original guest list for the event, but she and her fellow activists at BiNet USA were dissatisfied with the lack of bi representation on the original list. Ochs said BiNet worked with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to get her added to the list, and the White House extended the invitation. She said while there were other bi-identified people in the room, the only other publicly bi-identified attendee was Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown.

Barbera said he does not share the dissatisfaction with Obama's administration that some LGBT advocates have expressed. He believes Obama will focus on LGBT rights later in his administration, but said in the immediate future he supports the president's decision to focus on other issues. He said he delivered a letter to Obama's staff urging the president to bring about meaningful healthcare reform and to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would change regulations around forming unions.

"I know he will do something about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' and I know he does not love DOMA, and I know that hate crimes legislation is one of the things he feels deeply about. But whether those things happen immediately, given everything else happening in the world right now, is less of a concern for me," said Barbera. "I think we have to take our outlook from our brothers and sisters in the black community or the Hispanic community. Civil rights or the fight against oppression is not a six-month job. It's a lifetime job. Sometimes things happen dramatically like with marriage in Massachusetts, and sometimes they happen incrementally. I take the long view."