• pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    He didn’t really do anything for gay rights either. He didn’t even support gay marriage until his second term. Gay marriage only became law because of the Supreme Court.

    • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Imagine the privilege of someone unable to tell the difference between casual indifference and outright hostility.

      • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        OK, well what the hell are you talking about? Who, “stripped gay people of their rights?” Because in my lifetime, there have been two major changes in gay rights. One was DOMA, which rejected gay marriage, and was passed by a Republican congress and signed by Bill Clinton. The other was the Obergefell v. Hodges, where a conservative leaning Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. So why is this your litmus test? Why does being ambivalent on gay rights for half his Presidency mean Obama can’t be a, “conservative asshole?”

          • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            You just argued that Obama wasn’t a conservative based entirely on the fact that he had a, “casual indifference,” towards gay rights, but sure, I’m the idiot.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Yeah. That’s centrist, especially for 20 years ago. Republicans literally want to kill all gays. That’s conservative.

              • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                OK, we’ll just set the hyperbole aside for a second, 'cause I really want an answer on this…why is gay rights your only barometer for what a conservative is? Like, if I want to lower taxes on the wealthy, cut social programs, increase military spending and ban abortion, but I don’t have any problem with gay people, does that mean I’m not a conservative?

                • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  I just picked the first topic that came into my head. There’s really a thousand different examples where Democrats are good or neutral but Republicans are mustache twirling evil.

                  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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                    8 months ago

                    OK, here’s the thing; the Republicans are generally mustache twirling bad guys, but the Democrats are rarely good or neutral, especially at the federal level. They have nice rhetoric, but they never live up to it. Clinton gutted welfare, expanded mass incarceration, and ended Glass-Steagall (which directly led to the 2008 housing market crash). Obama abandoned universal healthcare, reneged on his promise to bailout homeowners, and created the largest domestic spying program in human history. Again, even in the topic you came up with, Democrats did literally nothing to advance gay rights, it was the Supreme Court.

                    It’s very tempting to boil politics down to a binary, good/evil choice, especially now that at least half of the Republican party is openly supporting facism, but you can’t just assume the Democrats are the good guys. If their voters don’t hold them accountable for their broken promises and inaction, the country will continue to slide into this right-wing hellscape we’re all facing.