we re fighting against. i don t even think the government quite gets it. walking in your shoes on a dai daily basis. this is not something that s new. it s been happening. but it s just bringing light to what s been happening. it s bringing it to the forefront and that s why it s so much conversations. that s why so many rallies and protests because people are now realizing, if you look at those footage in new york, it s not just african-americans. it s everybody. it s not just about african-american rights. it s about human rights. no parent should bury a child. thank you very much for talking. i appreciate it. thank you. thank you for your story. thank you. lot to talk about. joining me, cnn legal analyst sunny hostin, harry hout and
benefits to same-sex married couples when a federal court is involved, when a federal prison is involved, in bankruptcy courts, which are federal. here is part of what he said. as now nothing less than our country s founding commitment to the notion of equal protection under the law was at stake, and so the justice department s role in confronting discrimination must be as aggressive today as it was in robert kennedy s time. as attorney general, i will never let this department be simply a bistaystander during t important moment in history. we will act. so what he s done here is compare the civil rights movement to the gay rights movement. which is a big deal. it s a huge deal, and one of the reasons i wanted to bring it up because this has not been popular in the african-american community. well, you know what? when the president started coming out on it, you saw some movement in the african-american community moving around this but
delegation. what was the message there? and was it the wrong message? could you have sent a delegation that included gays to make the point for gay freedoms and gay rights and still put a higher level there to kind of gesture to putin or was it the right thing to do? i think the united states is in a tricky position because we should want these games to succeed, we should want russia to be portrayed culturally, historically in a positive light. we shouldn t begrudge them as john says, but on the other hand this is politics and the olympic games have become political. it was a real message from president obama when he didn t send michelle obama or vice president biden or didn t go himself because he s gone to other sporting competitions, and the problem is that washington is really frustrated with moscow. because on all the issues you mentioned, these are critical issues, the russians are blocking. it s a government under putin s leadership that doesn t propose
go back six or seven years, the old school civil rights leaders did not see this connection, did not want to make this connection. that has been softening. i think the president and his administration goes a long way in showing it s suolvening. i think this president will be looked at gay rights how l.b.j. was looked at around african-american rights. talking to folks at the justice department that covered, our folks saying this is also about a holder legacy. i would agree. i would agree that holder has stayed on after there s books about eric holder saying he was trying to leave years ago and actually having been convinced to stay by president obama, he is building a legacy and becoming very active. president obama though really needs to turn the base of the party out in this midterm
majority. but in the base of the party that kind of talk is not necessarily for now. let me tell you something, 18 months ago, 20 months ago, the president of the united states was in a different position. black pastors were in a different position, and they have moved slowly. so this is again, i go back to saying the most rapidly changing social issue of our lifetime and it may be that by 2016 this is much less of a point than it is today. it s amazing how much gay rights and marriage equality has changed in the last 12 to 18 months. i agree. but the tea party base republican primary voters switch dramatically on this, i will be shokds. there s a lot more republicans changing on this than meets the naked eye. they may not be out there because there s no reason to take the political hit if there s no legislation in front of them but there will be a question about 16, whether or not the nominee in the nominating process there will be a big question about whether or not th