The “Hairspray” star read this gorgeous prose at last night’s Defying Inequality benefit. Excerpt:
Dear President Obama.
While fighting for the abolition of slavery, one politician qualified his stance, “I have never been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.”
That politician was Abraham Lincoln.
Obviously time and experience brought Mr Lincoln to what would have been called the extremist view; that freedom cannot be compromised just to appease the majority.
And so he made a grander gesture reminding us of “…a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal”. Passing a law would change the course of slavery, but those words changed the course of the history.
Mr Obama, I have heard you speak eloquently in favor of inclusion for gays and lesbians. But then you sternly state your opposition to marriage rights. It leaves me wondering if you are straining to be politic or, if like Lincoln, your views still need maturing.
It’s too bad that Mr. Fierstein used the term “sexual preference” in his letter ot President Obama. As a community, we need to reject that term and insist that those who speak on our behalf never use it again. When I saw his use of the term, it neutralized everything else he said before and after.
I agree with Jon regarding the use of “sexual preference”. The letter was also infused with a bit too much patriotism for my taste. It could have also been a bit punchier but despite all this I thought it was a great letter.
I think it’s awesome that Fierstein had the courage to take the highroad by demanding action and encouraging Obama to change his position on marriage equality. With the shit that comes out of the mouths of people like Elton John and Melissa Etheridege what Harvey Fierstein had to say was a breath of fresh air.