Reading the President's proclamation on Pride Month on the official White House web site, celebrating the lives of LGBT persons, made me teary.
No other President of the U.S. has ever uttered anything like these words:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.
The fact that he included bisexual and transgender people shows how he "gets it."
He also said:
My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.
The next step, Mr. President, is to partner with the members of Congress to introduce, pass, and sign legislation. ENDA needs to be signed, DADA AND DOMA need to go. We are counting on you.
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"DADA and DOMA need to go"
DADA? Perhaps you mean DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell)?
Tremendous that a sitting President calls for equality for GLBT folks. Now we need to remind him to practice what he preaches.
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