If you’re gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual in America, Prop 8 reminded the nation, you can win your rights, then have your rights stripped, to dwell in a new and alternate legal reality of your neighbors devising, depending on who shows up to vote.

That’s 18,000 souls, cast adrift from a polity that refuses to acknowledge them, or throw them a lifeline, or lament their plight.

The most disturbing silence of all is emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue this Pride Month, where our self-described fierce advocate for gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual rights, President Barack Obama, hasn’t said a damn word about the raft of signature GLTB issues before him in his first 100 days.

There they sit, those heady promises of Hope and Change made to the Gay Lesbian Transsexual and Bisexual community, now looking forlorn and languishing after 100 days of complete neglect, like some unpopular kid with cooties on prom night.

Not only is this exasperating, it isn’t smart. Barack Obama possesses a near miraculous eloquence, he knows the power of words to harm and heal; and like all good politicians, he knows the moment to act has arrived. So why doesn’t he?

There are much more formidable tasks before him than repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. There are far thornier issues to tackle than the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. How hard can it be really to strongly and emphatically encourage Congress to grant immigration equality to GLTB couples under the Uniting American Families Act? Couldn’t he have lamented the two-tired America that Prop 8 has conjured?

Some – not everyone - say that Obama’s just another middle-way career politician in the Clinton mold, with all the cynicism that implies. They scratch their heads at our naïveté. The best we can hope for, they say, is a benign head of state, who although he won’t help, also won’t hinder the glacial progress on gay issues.

But I don’t agree. Neither, I think, does Obama himself. Here’s a role redefining, once in a generation leader, and a man with a profound and deep commitment to equality – and I believe he sees himself that way, too. For proof just look at how he carries himself on the world stage. That’s not just swagger, it’s a mission statement.

I have to believe he’s getting anachronistic and piss poor advice from his handlers. I have to believe that he’s ignoring his own strong political instincts for the sake of larger projects like – yanno – rescuing the American economy and ensuring affordable health care for all. Clearly, these are big, momentous challenges. No one’s denying that. But neither is it impossible for a President, in the midst of such challenges, to repeal discrimination where he sees it. One can walk and chew gum, after all.

What’s new, what’s interesting, is that lately the punches from political and religious gay bashing organizations like National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family really haven’t been landing like they used to. In fact, with their over the top theatricality and rosary bead rattling they’ve actually been striking at the very rationale those organizations exist to promote. This is SIGNIFICANT. It means that we’re in a new and unprecedented moment of transformation.

It’s time to act.

If Barack Obama continues to refuse to stand up for the GLTB community and loses our patience and support, by the end of this year he will have forfeited one of the most ardent and activist parts of his base.

Perhaps he thinks he can build a coalition without the GLTB’s, but I wouldn’t rate his chances.

Nor would I underrate our own.