June 29, 2009 5:46 PM

Obama: I Am A Champion For Gay Americans

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Social Issues
(AP)
President Obama, who has come under harsh criticism from gay rights advocates for not yet acting on many campaign promises on gay issues, Monday afternoon said that his administration has made some progress on behalf of gay Americans and plans to do more.

"I know that many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Mr. Obama said at a reception for LGBT Pride Month at the White House. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient anymore than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago."

"But I say this: We have made progress," the president continued. "And we will make more. And I want you to know that I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps."

"We've been in office six months now," he said. "I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."

As a candidate, the president promised as a candidate to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gays from serving openly in the military as well as the Defense Of Marriage Act. Gay rights advocates have grown increasingly impatient as his administration has made little progress on those or other issues important to them.

"I believe preventing patriotic Americans from serving their country weakens our national security," the president said in reference to "don't ask, don't tell." He said the administration is working with the Pentagon and Congress to end the policy. He also insisted that doing so will require an act of Congress, though many believe the president could halt discharges of openly gay servicemembers through an executive order.

(CBS)
"As commander-in-chief, in a time of war, I do have a responsibility to see that this change is administered in a practical and a way that takes over the long term," he said.

The president said that prejudice against gay people endures and that some citizens "still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes, who fail to see your families like their families and who would deny you the rights that most Americans take for granted."

"We seek an America in which no one feels the pain of discrimination based on who you are or who you love," he said.

The president noted that he has signed a memorandum extending some federal benefits to LGBT families and is urging Congress to pass the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act, which would mean the extension of health care benefits.

He also said his administration is working to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination bill and a hate crimes bill named after Matthew Shepard.

"There are unjust laws to overturn and unfair practices to stop," the president said.

First lady Michelle Obama was also present at the reception, which commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City, widely seen as the spark for the gay rights movement.

"The riots at Stonewall gave way to protests, and protests gave way to a movement, and the movement gave way to a transformation that continues to this day," he said. "It continues when a partner fights for her right to sit at the hospital bedside of a woman she loves; it continues when a teenager is called a name for being different and says, 'So what if I am?'; it continues in your work and in your activism, in your fight to freely live your lives to the fullest."

"We are all witnesses to monumental changes in this country," Mr. Obama concluded. "That should give us hope, but we cannot rest. We must continue to do our part to make progress step by step, law by law, mind by changing mind. And I want you to know that, in this task, I will not only be your friend; I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you."

Add a Comment See all 192 Comments
by pumpkinpat-2009 May 11, 2010 11:02 AM EDT
Was Obama ever a Batcha Bazi Boy?
Obama was a rumored Bi-Sexual in Ill. Sadly in the Press it never got Legs. They were more concerned with his frontisde not his Backside.
He is paying BACK his Pals.
Reply to this comment
by PeaceInJesus July 5, 2009 3:35 PM EDT
How about just becoming a Champion for ALL Americans? I propose that our President refrain from elevating a group focused on Biblically forbidden behavior to the level of those oppressed due to ethnicity.
Reply to this comment
by gkgmd July 2, 2009 9:24 PM EDT
Clover

You do you have a psychiatric diagnosis?
Reply to this comment
by CLoverNYC1 July 6, 2009 1:35 PM EDT
The ad hominem argument. *yawn*
by gkgmd July 1, 2009 9:30 PM EDT
CLoverNYC1

Deceit pretendes to others it knows what it doesn't. Narcissim pretend to others and to itself it knows what it doesn't.

You should feel humility in being so off target. And these organizations could sue you for slander. I would recommedn use caution.

Take out the spaces for the websites.

Heritability Estimates of Homosexuality


Heritability was estimated as between 27% and 76%. (Meaning that 27% to 76% of the variation in phenotype is genetic; based on the study of monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, brothers of gay men, and adoptive bothers of gay men
J. Michael Bailey and Richard Pillard in "A Genetic Study of Male Sexual Orientation" in the Archives of General Psychiatry, December 1991.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have both stated that sexual orientation probably has multiple causes.
http: //www.apa. org/topics/sorientation.html
http: //aappolicy.aappublications. org/cgi/reprint/pediatrics;113/6/1827.pdf

The American Medical Association Policy Regarding Sexual Orientation

http: //www.ama-assn.org /ama/pub/about-ama/our-people/member-groups-sections/glbt-advisory-committee/ama-policy-regarding-sexual-orientation.shtml

The American Psychiatric Association Statement On Therapies to Change Sexual Orientation

http: //www.psych.org /Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200001.aspx
The American Psychiatric Association Statement Supporting Same-Sex Civil Marriage

http: //www.psych.org /Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200502.aspx

http: //www.psych.org /Departments/EDU/Library/APAOfficialDocumentsandRelated/PositionStatements/200502.aspx

The American Psychological Association

http: //www.apa.org/pi /lgbc/policy/appropriate.html

http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/policy/marriage.html

The American Pediatric Association

http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;109/2/339
Reply to this comment
by CLoverNYC1 July 2, 2009 12:02 PM EDT
gkgmd,

Your agility at accessing pro-homosexual propaganda is unmatched.

Hooray for you.
by CLoverNYC1 July 2, 2009 12:15 PM EDT
by GoodWolf July 1, 2009 3:17 PM PDT
CLover, we got it -- you hate gays and are repulsed by them.
_____________________

Wrong again. No, I do not hate homosexuals.

What I protest is the political strategy of equivalence between the homosexual agenda and the black civil rights movement.

It is cynical and racist.

And if you had actually read my posts with a modicum of understanding you would have grasped that by now.

You fling the word 'bigot' around so easily. You and your ilk are the most intolerant of all.
by CLoverNYC1 July 1, 2009 10:16 AM EDT
by hungry1968-15 June 30, 2009 4:42 PM PDT
You call yourself a christian?!?!
_______________________

*Clover laughing out loud at Hungry's predictability*

If anything Hungry, you are woefully predictable. You're like a disillusioned child pointing his finger at his parents caught doing something they shouldn't.

Yes, I am a Christian. No, I'm not perfect. What a surprise!

Yes, I am a Christian with countless flaws like you and everyone else on the planet - but a Christian nevertheless. I never said I had achieved the Christ-life. That is my goal, and yes I have a long way to go.

My personal faith is does not invalidate the fact that there is no equivalence between the homosexual struggle and the civil rights movement, that the black experience in America is singular, and that is a travesty that President Obama - a black man! - believes otherwise.

That's my position.

Deal with it, so I can stop laughing at you.
Reply to this comment
by GoodWolf July 1, 2009 8:46 AM EDT
CLoverNYC1 wrote:
There are just as many scientific examples that homosexuality among humans is not a genetic predisposition but a choice that can be REVERSED.
===

Not by any respectable, mainstream researchers. Go ahead, post a link to such "research" -- it can be easily refuted. The professional bodies of medicine, psychology and social work, around the world, rejected your argument long ago. I trust them over an obviously uneducated bigot.
Reply to this comment
by CLoverNYC1 July 1, 2009 10:20 AM EDT
Goodwolf,

Be homosexual. That is your choice and your right.

Don't be angry because I refuse to believe the fallacy that humans are born homosexual, that it is a congenital condition, blah blah blah blah ad infinitum.

No matter how much homosexual propaganda you post in this thread, I will never be convinced because there is a proponderance of evidence to support the opposite view.

So be 'gay' and begone.
by GoodWolf July 1, 2009 6:13 PM EDT
CLover, we got it -- you hate gays and are repulsed by them.

"preponderance of evidence" -- no, there is not. You're as dumb as a rock.
by gkgmd June 30, 2009 11:50 PM EDT
Pepperwood

If it is just about Democracy and numbers, Blacks make up 12.8% of the US population. Are you suggesting that if the 80% white majority decided "let's revert to slavery," you would support the majority having the right to do so?
Reply to this comment
by gkgmd June 30, 2009 11:18 PM EDT
And give me a break... vicious? Live a life around a society who considers it fun to refer to gay people as f.gs, qu..rs, f..ge p...ers. Live a life where you are told you are an abomination. Live a life where the core of your being is illegal and if you are caught your livelihood will be taken. Be told you will pay more taxes because of your phenotypic constitution. Be told it is acceptable to be separate but equal. Live in a place where if you love, people like characters from Deliverance will be you to death and the law will cover it up.

After that, walk in those shoes for a decade or two, then come back and whine about viciousness...

Geez....
Reply to this comment
by gkgmd June 30, 2009 11:09 PM EDT
How many courts upheld segregation of Blacks? How many courts upheld that women had no inalienable right to vote?

The courts were wrong. Bigotry is alive an well for now...

But we all see where the tides are taking us. You betcha. The GLBT united and had an agenda. And it will free America of bigotry.

In 10 years the position that these fireman can choose not to participate in a gay pride event if the city so chooses will be considered absurd.

Weren't the social conservatives, like yourselves, upholding have blacks in separate bathrooms and using separate water fountains? It hasn't been 50 years since that was considered rational. Now look. People would indeed be considered not quite right if they suggested something like that today.

The world has changed. We will marry. Men will have children with men. Women will have children with women. Your way of life is disappearing.

It brings my heart joy to see the frustration it is causing those who are bigoted. Bigotry is always the last to know and the least insightful.

Next?
Reply to this comment
by pepperwood2 June 30, 2009 10:38 PM EDT
The Real Truth Behind The San Diego Gay Pride Parade - California Jury Sides with Conscientious Firefighters

A jury in San Diego has decided local firefighters have the right to refuse to participate in the city's "gay pride" parade.

The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) sued on the firefighters' behalf after the San Diego Fire Department forced them to participate in the parade and retaliated against them for complaining about the harassment they endured during the event. After the lawsuit, the Fire Department changed its policy.

?Many people may mistakenly think the ?gay pride? parade is merely a ?fun? event,? said Joe Infranco, senior counsel for ADF. ?They never would have imagined the crude sexual harassment these firefighters were forced to endure.

"In truth, the goal of homosexual advocates is to undermine society?s long-held values. They continue to seek this, whether by demanding participation in ?gay pride? parades or by trampling the democratic process to redefine marriage.?

If I'm mistake please reply in the usual vicious dialog we have come to identify as Gay Pride and prove my point. So Sad!
Reply to this comment
by Yeah-Me June 30, 2009 11:22 PM EDT
I agree... The SF Fire Department shouldn't have forced those men to participate if they chose not to. I believe that ruling was quite just.

When it comes to the SF Pride parade/spectacle, as a gay person, I'm not quite in agreement with that. And... I don't think what happens during it really does represent the gay community. In truth, to me, it just seems more like a glorified Marti Gras event.
by gkgmd June 30, 2009 11:24 PM EDT
Yes, indeed this is the homosexual agenda; to undermine current societal values. And yes, like other groups disenfranchised from basic rights because of being in a separate group, this should not be considered something to be voted on. Inalienable rights are not voted upon.

You would think it reasonable if the gay population swelled to a majority that it would be acceptable to deny heterosexuals marriage? This isn't a numbers game. This is about inalienable rights.
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