Petrelis Files

Indians Get a Summit With Obama;
Gays Got a Nice Speech

(President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, on August 12, hosted Medal of Freedom recipient Joseph Medicine Crow during a reception for recipients at the White House. Photo courtesy Pete Souza/White House.)

Time sure flies when the White House is not delivering on Barack Obama's grand and fierce promises to gay Americans. It was a month ago when I wrote about Native Americans traveling to Washington for a meeting with the President's staff, and pointed out that gays have had no similar sit-downs with the White House.

And why was that meeting taking place? Had to do with a candidate, now in office, keeping his word:

A gathering of tribal nations, which was promised by Obama during his campaign for president to be a yearly occurrence, is expected to take place sometime this fall, but the exact date has not yet been decided, Inouye said.

Word is out today that Obama has set a date for the first Indian summit. Imagine that, a politician keeping his commitment to a major American constituency, while also making and sticking to a timeline. Would be great if Obama delivered the same engagement to gay America, but I don't believe Joe Solmonese of HRC is demanding it.

From this morning's Indian Country Today story:

White House officials chose Columbus Day to announce a first-of-its-kind conference to be held with leaders from all federally recognized tribes. President Barack Obama will host a White House Tribal Nations Conference Nov. 5 from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

“Indian country has been waiting for well over a decade for a meeting of this caliber with the President of the United States,” said Joe A. Garcia, National Congress of American Indians president.

Leaders of all 564 federally recognized tribes will be invited, an announcement said, adding that they will be given the opportunity to interact directly with the president and other top administration officials.

Each federally recognized tribe can send one representative.

Is it too late for the Gay American Tribe be federally recognized and allowed to send a rep to the summit? Wait a minute. If that happens, the likely rep we'd send would be Solmonese, a weak advocate. Back to the story:

“I look forward to hearing directly from the leaders in Indian country about what my administration can do to not only meet their needs, but help improve their lives and the lives of their peoples,” Obama said. [...]

The gathering is intended to be part of the president’s outreach to all American people, according to the White House.

Hey, White House advisers, when do gay Americans get such outreach from the President? Has HRC put in writing and shared with the community that receive equal outreach? If they have, lemme know about it, please.

The invitations note that the historic meeting will not be held in the White House, but at the nearby Sidney R. Yates Auditorium of the Department of the Interior.

[White House spokesperson Shin] Inouye said that all the tribal leaders could not fit in the White House. [...]

He said that a timeline, topics to be covered, and any policy announcements were not yet ready to be shared, but they are in the preparation stage.

Damn, there's that timeline word again in relation to Obama and a minority group, but it has nothing to do with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens.

By the way, plans are in the works to stream some of the summit:

In an effort to allow more tribal leaders and members to view the historic event, the Department of Interior is working with MyTribeTV, an Indian-owned business in Seattle, Wash., to provide online coverage of the conference.

I'll watch it, and only dream that such an event might one day happen for the gay community.