The now-infamous DOMA brief filed by the Holder Justice Department in the Smelt case placed Attorney General Eric Holder — and, depending on your source, President Obama — in a bad light to LGBT people. News that the Justice Department had turned down earlier meetings to meet with LGBT legal organizations’ representatives didn’t help.
A.G. Holder
But, as I’ve discussed often, I believe that the Smelt brief was a turning point in the Administration’s awareness of the impact of small moves on the political response of LGBT activists. Today, at the NAACP’s Centennial Convention, Holder spoke to the NAACP about his view of civil rights in the 21st Century when he gave the Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr. Memorial Lecture.
The first black Attorney General, serving under the first black President, speaking to the nation’s long-standing civil rights standard-bearer organization, under whose auspices Thurgood Marshall advanced the litigation strategy of the civil rights movement, stood today for a view of the civil rights movement in which LGBT people stand as an unquestioned part of that movement.
Holder said:
In the century since Springfield, our nation has achieved unprecedented changes – in its laws and in the hearts of its people. Every American should take justifiable pride in that fact. But we must resist the temptation to conclude that our nation has fulfilled its promise of full equality based on one moment or on one election. We know better than that. The effort to harmonize our laws with our best ideals is not yet done. We still have work to do. And some of that work will be done by the Justice Department that I am so honored to lead.
We must keep working to bring those who commit bias-motivated crimes to justice. Last month I testified before the Senate in support of “The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.” And, in fact, more than 11 years ago, when I was Deputy Attorney General, I testified before Congress that similar legislation was necessary. Eleven years is too long to wait for the tools necessary to protect all Americans from the most heinous forms of bias-motivated violence. I urge all Americans to stand with the President and with the Department of Justice in support of this important legislation.
Yes, it is only a discussion of hate crimes prevention legislation — and Holder didn’t talk more specifically about LGBT equality issues — but this wasn’t a general luncheon or even a broad-based civil rights luncheon. This was a luncheon dedicated to one of the NAACP’s most celebrated leaders at a convention celebrating the centennial of the NAACP. A.G. Holder made the statement at that event and in that important historical context that advancing LGBT equality is a prominent part of “[t]he effort to harmonize our laws with our best ideals.” (This is all the more relevant in light of Pam Spaulding’s post and Melissa Harris-Lacewell’s piece today about the struggles we still face in pressing for equality within the traditional civil rights community.)
So, as we press each day for the Obama Administration to do more to advance LGBT equality, I think it is likewise important that we acknowledge the smart steps that they take to make advance LGBT equality a clear, unquestioned part of civil rights discussions.
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Chris Geidner is a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who writes at Law Dork, is the senior political writer at Metro Weekly and has written for The Atlantic Online, Advocate.com, Salon and other publications. An extended biography can be found
It’s fine as far as it goes. BUT notice that he didn’t mention the words gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. I wonder how many of the people there even know what the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act is. What is it with these straight people; does even mentioning the word “gay” contaminate you?
You think the people at the NAACP convention don’t know who Matthew Shepard is? He didn’t mention the “disability” part of the bill either. What do you read into that?
I’m not surprised at Holder’s stance as he’s shown he is very serious about the law and legal principles in general.Which I think can sometimes be a mixed blessing with Obama too. Obama even with his popular election has continued to show restraint to many people’s disappointment.
Holder exhibits much of the hesitancy for celebration that I myself have had in regards to discussions of race, sexual orientation and other social issues magically being solved with one election. The Shepard Act is something that should certainly be based to augment the current Civil Rights enforcement… But I think its entirely misleading to use the term “prevention” in both the name of the Act and in describing it, as it allows for prosecution and not actual prevention.
It it an important first step in reminding all citizens that they enjoy the same protection within the law.
I’ve always had issues with modern hate-crimes discussions in terms of the social divisions created and those same divisions which it does not address through more important action such as education and awareness campaigns.As well as issues of Federal encroachment upon local law enforcement.
Skipping such a discussion though, I am cognizant that it is necessary, but the most important thing we can do once its passed is to remain vigilant as the election of Obama has not erased racism, so too will such laws be enough to stem the tide of discrimination or hate towards the LGBT community. The road to meet our ideals is a long and ever present struggle.