Achy Obejas

NATO: A front for American unilateralism

By: Achy Obejas | May. 15, 2012

May. 15, 2012

Why, if NATO was built to contain Soviet aggression, does the military alliance continue to exist more than 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

No one at the summit is really going to pose that question (other than rhetorically) when NATO leaders meet in Chicago this week. But it’s a good, and frankly scary, question to ask. The irony here is that the conflict that birthed NATO — the Cold War — ended non-violently. But the military alliance that came from it is not only alive and kicking but bigger and badder than ever.

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Though lauded, Obama’s support for gay marriage still a gamble

By: Achy Obejas | May. 11, 2012

May. 11, 2012

Did President Obama come out in favor of same sex marriage on principle, or out of political need? Was his move a smart strategy or a potential death knell?

There are two prominent narratives about the president’s decision to get behind marriage equality. One says it was an ethical matter, and a deliberate strategy. The vice president’s TV declaration of his own comfort level with the issue was not a gaffe, according to this line of thinking, but a trial balloon.

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Applaud Obama’s evolution – then, push him forward

By: Achy Obejas | May. 10, 2012

May. 10, 2012

President Obama finally came out yesterday.

Whether he actually "evolved" is still a question for some, but his pronouncement in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage is without a doubt a historic moment.

It changes nothing as far actual civil rights are concerned. There are still 44 U.S. states in which same-sex marriage isn’t legal. There are a whole swath of southern states where queer people are actually in peril. (The Guardian in the UK did an amazing chart breaking down gay rights in the U.S. which you can see here.)

Think I’m kidding? Consider this: Though Illinois happily put me -- the non-gestational mom -- on my son’s birth certificate along with my birthing spouse, the state of Florida, where most of my family resides, wouldn’t have recognized us as equal parents without us also adopting him (which we have done).

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Obama's gay marriage theater

By: Achy Obejas | May. 8, 2012

May. 8, 2012

Remember when just about everybody in the Obama administration had evolved to support same-sex marriage?

It was a golden time: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had transformed from a civil unions supporter in her own presidential run to a full-blown fan of same sex marriage in New York, even giving legal protection to same sex partners in the foreign service. Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, stepped up in favor following Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan’s declaration that he was “absolutely” for it last fall.

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With arrests, Cuban Cardinal neglects his flock

Achy Obejas | May. 4, 2012

May. 4, 2012

Cuban authorities arrested dissidents Vladimir Calderón and Julio Beltrán on April 28. Their crime? The two men were accused of passing out anti-government flyers and organizing an anti-government march on May 1. Both men were publicly beaten as they were arrested.

If anyone should be held responsible should something happen to Calderón and Beltrán while in custody, I point a finger squarely at Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

The crux of this story lies in Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit to the island. Dissident groups saw an opportunity to have this self-proclaimed man of peace intercede with the government for them, or at the very least acknowledge them. Many Cuban dissident groups are Catholic, including the country’s best known opposition group, The Ladies in White.

Calderon and Beltrán’s group, the Republican Party of Cuba, is small and mostly unknown.

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Identity crisis: Gay foot soldiers of the GOP

By: Achy Obejas | May. 2, 2012

May. 2, 2012

What the hell are these guys thinking?

I’m talking about gay men who end up working for the Republican Party that ultimately betrays them, of course.

The latest victim -- if you can call a powerful, misogynistic heap of crap like this a victim -- is Richard Grenell. Until just days ago, Grenell was the first ever out gay spokesperson for a Republican presidential campaign. (He made headlines for a series of snarky, sexist tweets -- all removed from his Twitter feed now -- aimed at female political and media figures such as Hillary Clinton, Callista Gingrich and Rachel Maddow, whom he urged to “wear a necklace.”)

Grenell’s sexuality was no surprise to anyone in Romney camp. He came to them fully, publicly gay, having previously served as an out United Nations mission spokesperson during the George W.

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Rubio eyes VP slot amidst family history revelations

By: Achy Obejas | Apr. 25, 2012

Apr. 25, 2012

Yet another gem of a story about Flordia U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio’s family history has emerged: It now turns out that his maternal grandfather went through immigration hell in 1963 quite similar to what many undocumented people in the U.S. face. In fact, Rubio’s grandfather -- who had been a legal U.S. resident and then returned to Cuba because he saw possibilities in its new revolution before rushing back in disappointment with an expired residency card -- was scheduled for deportation before he was granted retroactive refugee status.

The information wasn’t revealed by Rubio, who’s out stumping with all-but-certain GOP nominee Mitt Romney in what appears to be a VP try out. Rubio can’t seem to talk forthrightly about himself or his family.

Instead, it comes from Manuel Roig Franzia, the Washington Post reporter who earlier revealed that Rubio’s parents weren’t exiles in the strictest sense of the word, in an excerpt from an unauthorized Rubio biography scheduled for release in mid-June.

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Guns, gun control myths examined in 'New Yorker' article

By: Achy Obejas | Apr. 19, 2012

Apr. 19, 2012

The evolution of the Second Amendment is expertly detailed in a spellbinding New Yorker story, “Battleground America," in the current issue.

Here are some takeaways:

1.“After the passage of the Second Amendment, “People who owned and used long arms to hunt continued to own and use them; the Second Amendment was not commonly understood as having any relevance to the shooting of animals.”

2.“Gun owners may be more supportive of gun-safety regulations than is the leadership of the N.R.A. According to a 2009 Luntz poll, for instance, requiring mandatory background checks on all purchasers at gun shows is favored not only by eighty-five per cent of gun owners who are not members of the N.R.A. but also by sixty-nine per cent of gun owners who are.”

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