Matt Bors for November 17, 2008
Transcript:
Barack Obama: It was a creed written into the California constitution that declared the destiny of gay marriage: NO WE CAN'T. It was whispered by politicians as they pushed upward and needed the votes of bigots: NO WE CAN'T. NO WE CAN'T to justice and equality. NO WE CAN'T take unpopular positions. Gays know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember: I am an obstacle standing in the way of millions of people calling for change. You have been told marriage is between a man and a woman by a chorus of cowards...we will only grow louder. I will ask you to pause for a reality check. I will warn against offering gays in this nation false hope. Because in the Democratic party, there is never anything wrong with deferring to "states' rights." Now the hopes of a lesbian who goes to the courthouse in Connecticut won't be the same as those of a gay man who falls in love on the streets of LA. We will remember there is something happening in America, but I will sit on the sidelines of the next great chapter in the gay rights movement with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: NO WE CAN'T!