Obama to address leading LGBT group

The gay community hasn't been impressed with the president so far; a new speech might not help

Published October 5, 2009 6:40PM (EDT)

The LGBT community has been pretty disillusioned with President Obama, enough so that discontent turned into open revolt this summer. The administration made an attempt at placating its erstwhile allies, and though it wasn't really successful, the issue of disaffected members of the gay community protesting Obama has at least quieted down.

Now, the president's engaging in some more outreach to gay activists. He'll be giving the keynote address at the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner this weekend. HRC is one of the leading LGBT rights groups out there -- it hosted the "gay debate" for the Democratic candidates during the presidential campaign.

Obviously, there'll be plenty of LGBT political types who'll be happy to see the president acknowledging their concerns this way. But the speech could backfire; it's already leading some people to question Obama's commitment to acting on their behalf rather than just telling them he will.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

MORE FROM Alex Koppelman


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