Exclusion of Gay Families

The schedule for today’s “Easter Egg Roll” at the White House has been altered at the last minute ensuring gay families who camped out overnight to secure early tickets will not encounter First Lady Laura Bush at the opening ceremony. The families had announced their intention to turn up to the children’s event, receiving significant media coverage in the last month.

The Family Pride Coalition, amongst others, have been waiting at the White House gates for up to 24 hours, to ensure they receive tickets, which are issued on a first come-first served basis. Families with gay parents are simply trying to take part in the event like other families, and many are disappointed with the last minute change. [...]

Perino was clearly not prepared to entertain the suggestion that the event was altered to preclude the possibility of an encounter between Laura Bush and the families of gay parents. The Family Pride Coalition has been diplomatic in its response. (source)

I suppose that way back when, black families would have gone through the same thing - being excluded from an event. The same would probably be true of inter-racial couples when they were allowed to marry.

We can all get caught up in the fact that the gay families were excluded from the event after being some of the first in the line to wait for Laura Bush. And Laura Bush can back peddle all she wants on this issue, and I’m sure she will have 101 reasons why it just didn’t work out from a scheduling point of view to include the gay families. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. She is merely a reflection of her husband and his failed administration on the equality of gay citizens.

For this event, we need to move on and accept this. We need to remember that this was after all, for the children that went to the White House. Why make them suffer by making an issue of the small mindedness of small minded people?

This is about the inclusion (or exclusion) of gay families. Truth be known, the administration would rather not even acknowledge the existence of these families. The fact that they were at the event if a first step. And when they finally realize that these families are just like other families and want the same things for their children, people will start to wonder what all the fuss was about.

But don’t hold your breath on that happening any time soon. Remember how long it took the Administration to respond to Hurricane Katrina? And, they could see that coming from space!

In the meantime, I think the event was a great idea. I hope the kids had a blast.