President Obama lauds gay rights activists and they make obscene gestures and say 'f*** you' to Reagan portrait

Is this where President Obama wants to lead us?  Posting on Facebook photos of ourselves making obscene gestures at portraits of former presidents? 

President Obama praised gay rights activists:  "We'll get there because of every man and woman and activist and ally who is moving us forward by the force of their moral arguments, but more importantly, by the force of their example."

The Weekly Standard reports what their example is:

Last Friday, an attaché of important gay people from Philadelphia made a trip to Washington D.C. as invited guests of President Barack Obama for the White House’s first-ever gay pride reception. . . . some of them took advantage of photo opportunities to give the late President Ronald Reagan the middle finger. 

“It’s not a gesture that I would use in the White House when representing our city and our community,” opines Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal, who opted for a sarcastic thumbs-up pose in front of the portrait of George W. Bush over the more vulgar one demonstrated by his Reagan-loathing peers, Matthew “Matty” Hart, the national director of public engagement at Solutions for Progress, and self-taught photographer turned toast-of-the-town Zoe Strauss. 

But his counterparts couldn’t seem to care less. Hart posted his photo on Facebook with the caption, “F*** Reagan.” Strauss simply posted hers without commentary. After all, the murderous facial expression and double-barreled bird-flipping seem to speak for themselves. Comments ranged from “you forgot to add with a chainsaw” on Hart’s “F*** Reagan” note, to my personal favorite, “star wars … up yours,” on Strauss’s. ... 

“Yeah, f*** Reagan,” reiterates Hart one week after the reception. “Ronald Reagan has blood on his hands. The man was in the WhiteHouse as AIDS exploded, and he was happy to see plenty of gay men and queer people die. He was a murderous fool, and I have no problem saying so. Don’t invite me back. I don’t care.”

This is "moving us forward"?  Does Obama seriously want to lead from behind these people?  


Is what they mean when they say, "It gets better"?