Rand Pl: Thks Print Obama Couldn’t “Get Any Gayer” - Human Rights Campaign

Contents:

• BARACK OBAMA BACKS GAY ADOPTN IN PROCLAMATN
• OBAMA'S SPEECH (TEXT): TRANSCRIPT OF PRINT OBAMA'S SPEECH ABOUT GAY RIGHTS
• OBAMA'S EVOLUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• OBAMA IS 'GAY PRINT,' SHOULD 'COME OUT OF THE CLOSET,' SAYS DAVE DBENMIRE
• HOW OBAMA BEME THE GAY-RIGHTS PRINT
• OBAMA NTU CHIDG RSIA ON GAY RIGHTS
• OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE
• RAND PL: THKS PRINT OBAMA COULDN’T “GET ANY GAYER”

BARACK OBAMA BACKS GAY ADOPTN IN PROCLAMATN

) I want to thank the Human Rights Campaign for vg me to speak and for the work you do every day pursu of equaly on behalf of the lns of people this untry who work hard their jobs and re eply about their fai -- and who are gay, lbian, bisexual, or transgenr. And you're makg a 's the story of the movement for fairns and equaly, and not jt for those who are gay, but for all those our history who've been nied the rights and rponsibili of cizenship -- (applse) -- for all who've been told that the full blsgs and opportuni of this untry were closed to them. It's the story of an epimic that cimated a muny -- and the gay men and women who me to support one another and save one another; who ntue to fight this surge; and who have monstrated before the world that different kds of fai n show the same passn a time of need.

OBAMA'S SPEECH (TEXT): TRANSCRIPT OF PRINT OBAMA'S SPEECH ABOUT GAY RIGHTS

) My expectatn is that when you look back on the years, you will see a time which we put a stop to discrimatn agast gays and lbians -- whether the office or on the battlefield.

Today, the anizatn they found for parents, fai, and iends of lbians and gays -- (applse) -- has more than 200, 000 members and supporters, and has ma a difference for untls fai across Ameri. ), one of the most proment LGBTQ policians Amerin history and for years the only openly gay member of Congrs, said he is not worried that marriage rights will disappear. “Slia was the most important and explic homophobe to serve the Amerin ernment sce [Senator] Jse Helms died, and was ls appropriate for a Supreme Court jtice.

OBAMA'S EVOLUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

He had worked to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and he'd e out agast the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which ni feral benefs to same-sex upl legally married their even when he beme the first stg print May of 2012 to say that he thought gays and lbians should be able to marry, he moved prsed by ABC's Rob Roberts he suggted that the issue should be left to the stat. Even though 30 stat still had language fg marriage as between a man and a woman their nstutns, by November three more stat would thorize gay the time of his gural addrs the print was speakg sweepg said, "Our journey is not plete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else unr the law--for if we are tly created equal, then surely the love we m to one another mt be equal as well.

"He ma clear that support for the eedom to marry is not jt important to gay people and our loved on, but a central part of the Amerin project, our journey toward liberty and jtice for all, " says Evan Wolfson of the group Freedom to Febary, as expected, Solicor General Donald B. Perry is a challenge to California's Proposn 8, passed 2008, that f marriage as between a man and a by the language the gural addrs, some gay rights advot wonred if the Department of Jtice would weigh , even though the feral ernment wasn't an official party the se.

"It would be very important for , for the Uned Stat to make clear that this is a matter that affects the liv of all Amerins, 's the Constutn for all Ameri, " said Theodore Olson, an attorney reprentg two gay upl challengg Prop Febary 28, Verrilli filed a brief and opponents of Prop 8 were lighted. Verrilli had not lled for a nstutnal right to gay marriage, but he wrote, "the print and the attorney general have termed that classifitns based on sexual orientatn should be subject to heightened scty for equal protectn purpos.

OBAMA IS 'GAY PRINT,' SHOULD 'COME OUT OF THE CLOSET,' SAYS DAVE DBENMIRE

"In May, Rho Island and Delaware beme the 10th and 11th stat to allow gay marriage addn to the District of the end of June, the Supreme Court will issue opns both the DOMA and Prop 8 s. "As long as all who believe jtice stay wh the work ahead, we will w marriage natnwi eher June wh the Supreme Court lg, or after a few more years of engagement when we go back before the urt wh even more stat, still more public support, and perhaps a uple new jtic, " says urt's lg will e almost at the one year anniversary of the print's ial, personal, endorsement of gay marriage. But one right-wg source is gog even further, implyg a bizarre rant that Obama himself is gay and should "e out of the closet, " Right Wg Watch is reportg.

In a News Wh Views broadst, "Coach" Dave Dbenmire asks, "How about he e out and adm he's the first openly gay print or, better yet, openly bisexual print? Gossip lumnist turned Tea Party thor Jerome Corsi ma siar claims about Obama last fall, allegg that the print was actively volved Chigo's gay bar and bathhoe scene. The ad shows short clips of both ndidat talkg about gay marriage -- Obama sayg he supports , Romney sayg he don’t -- then the words "What rights would Romney ny?

HOW OBAMA BEME THE GAY-RIGHTS PRINT

2006: In sayg he planned to pursue a law Massachetts exemptg relig groups om allowg adoptn by gay parents, Romney was quoted the Boston Globe, "I know that there will be some gay upl who will say that this uld be discrimatory agast , except that there are many, many other agenci that n meet the needs of those gay upl, and I regnize that they have a legimate tert beg able to receive adoptive servic. July 2008: Wolf Blzer, then on CNN, asked, "If the stat -- whatever state said, you know what, 's fe for gay upl to adopt kids, that would be OK wh you? Obama and Romney have starkly different posns on gay marriage, but Obama’s ad distorts Romney's posn when says he would ny gay upl the right to adopt children.

Thompson dited himself to helpg build support for Obama on the liberal Lakeont on the North Si of Chigo, which clud the uber-gay neighborhood of Boystown centered on North Halsted that time, Obama had very ltle gay support to speak of. Thompson explaed that this kd of explic regnn was important bee there were still many people who thought legal rights for gays and lbians wasn’t a legimate nversatn. And yet he had never heard of the event that many nsir the birth of the morn gay rights movement: the rts that took place at the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village 1969, when the LGBT muny fought back agast police timidatn and arrt and mand legal equaly.

It wasn’t long after marriage for gay upl had bee legal Massachetts, and the vilently anti-gay Key kept tryg to ba Obama to discsg the subject. “This muny is expectg you to stand bi them, ” she Obama ma clear to Verdich that he’d be stickg wh his, other words, began his polil journey sympathetic to gay rights, but not eply rmed about them.

OBAMA NTU CHIDG RSIA ON GAY RIGHTS

The historic succs, on his watch and wh his help, meant that LGBT rights, and marriage equaly specifilly, would be at the center of the legacy he’d leave gay rights advot, the Obama princy got off to an spic start. Warren had been an outspoken supporter of Proposn 8, the California ballot iative that had brought marriage for gay upl to an immediate halt jt two months earlier, cshg the spir of the gay muny California and natnwi.

If the new admistratn argued that a “heightened scty” standard of review were required for laws that classified based on sexual orientatn, would be difficult jtifyg the nstutnaly of DOMA, or any other law that sgled out gay or lbian Wolfson, print of Freedom to Marry and known as the godfather of the movement, ma a forceful se to the Whe Hoe to apply heightened scty—first to Ta Tchen the office of public engagement and later to Obama nfidante Valerie Jarrett—always acpanied by a strong pch for gog all the way and enunciatg support for marriage.

OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE

The latter had been a movement victory, wh the gay prs phg hard and advot and ordary same-sex upl alike speakg out, while quiet nversatns between advot and Whe Hoe officials were simultaneoly takg place. Sce takg office, Print Obama and his Admistratn have ma historic stris to expand opportuni and advance equaly and jtice for all Amerins, cludg Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr (LGBT) Amerins.

Insurance pani are no longer able to discrimate agast anyone due to a pre-existg ndn, and bee of the law, surers n no longer turn someone away jt bee he or she is lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr. Print Obama veloped and released the first prehensive Natnal HIV/AIDS Strategy for the Uned Stat 2010, updated through 2020, and is implementg to addrs the dispari faced pecially by gay and bisexual men of all rac and ethnici and transgenr women of lor. The Print signed bipartisan legislatn to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell on December 22, 2010, allowg gay, lbian, and bisexual Amerins to serve openly the Armed Forc whout fear of beg dismissed om service bee of who they are and who they love, puttg motn the end of a discrimatory policy that ran unter to Amerin valu.

Over the next two years, the iative has veloped and evaluated strategi to prevent lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr youth om beg homels or tervene as early as possible once they do bee homels. Once the rince of noted gay rights activist Henry Gerber, the home was where the natn's first chartered LGBT rights anizatn, the Society for Human Rights, was formed 1924. Later, Obama reerated cricism of Rsian tolerance spawned by a law passed before the Sochi Olympics that outlawed promotg gay rights to children.

RAND PL: THKS PRINT OBAMA COULDN’T “GET ANY GAYER”

Earlier this month, the Pope reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s opposn to gay marriage but suggted a newspaper terview that uld support some typ of civil unns. Senate mpaign, addg, “but what I also believe is that we have an obligatn to make sure that gays and lbians have the rights of cizenship that afford them visatns to hospals, that allow them to transfer property to each other, to make sure they’re not discrimated agast on the job. ” He wrote: “And I was remd that is my obligatn, not only as an elected official a pluralistic society but also as a Christian, to rema open to the possibily that my unwillgns to support gay marriage is misguid … that J’ ll to love one another might mand a different ncln.

“That’s why we fend ee speech, and advote for polil prisoners, and nmn the persecutn of women, or relig mori, or people who are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr.