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President Obama’s Senior Advisor: I Don’t Know if Marriage Equality Will Be Added to Platform

Sunday, February 19th, 2012

Marriage Equality and the Democratic Party PlatformThe question of whether marriage equality will be a part of the Democratic Party platform this year was placed to the Obama campaign squarely today. The response: “I don’t know.”

ABC News’s Jake Tapper, guest hosting This Week, today asked former White House press secretary for President Obama and senior campaign advisor Robert Gibbs the question. Citing Metro Weekly’s exclusive report about House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)’s support for the plank’s inclusion, Tapper asked whether, in the context of Obama’s “evolving” thoughts on marriage equality, the platform would include such a plank.

Gibbs: “I don’t know the answer to that.”

Full Story from Metro Weekly

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White House Asked About President Obama’s View on Marriage Equality During Washington Trip

Saturday, February 18th, 2012

White House and Marriage EqualityWhite House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the progress of same-sex marriage in the states during President Obama’s visit to Washington State this morning. Gov. Chris Gregoire (D-WA) signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage on Monday and has urged New Jersey governor Chris Christie (R) to enact the marriage equality bill that passed in his legislature yesterday.

Carney reiterated the administration’s position that “the states should be able to decide this issue,” but did not say if Obama’s support for the marriage rights of gays and lesbians was still “evolving”:

Q: Since we’re going to Washington, Washington State legalized same-sex marriage this month. And as you know, Governor Christie is promising to veto a bill legalizing same-sex marriage that passed the New Jersey assembly. I’m just wondering what does the President think about Washington State’s decision and then Governor Christie’s vow to veto legislation?

Full Story from Think Progress

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The Backstory on President Obama’s Meeting With Gay Activists

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Note from Joe: Heather Cronk is the managing director of GetEQUAL and has recounted, below, the “back story” behind Thursday night’s $1.4 million Obama LGBT fundraiser. As we recently published, and as MetroWeekly discovered in interviews, so far, it sure seems that there were no real “asks” made of the President on a night when 40 LGBT high-dollar donors dined with him.

By telling the backstory about what happened with the Obama LGBT fundraiser this week, GetEQUAL will likely continue to be black-listed among the donor community. Given what we know about how things roll, the people who work for some of those donors who attended the high dollar event will likely do everything possible to ensure the group doesn’t get any resources at all. So if you appreciate this post, head over to www.getequal.org/donate and show them some love.

Here’s Heather…

Late last week, GetEQUAL got word that there was going to be a high-profile Obama/DNC fundraiser taking place in DC. There was no announcement for the event, and it seemed like the Obama campaign was trying to keep it secret. Joe Sudbay “broke” the story on AMERICAblog Gay (thankfully). Prior to hearing about the DC LGBT fundraiser, we at GetEQUAL had been busy planning to have a presence at upcoming fundraisers in places like Chicago and San Francisco to highlight and pressure the President broadly on LGBT issues, but this was an LGBT-specific event that opened up a new opportunity.

Full Story from AmericaBlog

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President Obama Defends His Record With the LGBT Community

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

President Obama defended his administration’s record on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights Thursday, even as he faces renewed questions about his stance on gay marriage in the wake of a federal court decision affirming that a California ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

“The work that we’ve done with the LGBT community, I think, is just profoundly American,” Obama told a group of top Washington, D.C.-area fundraisers.

“You should be judged on the merits. That’s at the heart of the American dream,” Obama said. “That’s how you should be judged — not by what you look like, not by how you worship, not by where you come from, not by who you love.”

Full Story from Politico

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Rumor: President Obama to Endorse Marriage Equality at State of the Union?

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Friday he wouldn’t rule “in or out” the possibility of President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage in the upcoming State of the Union address.

Carney made the remarks on whether Obama would announce support for marriage equality during the State of the Union address, which is set to take place Tuesday before a joint session of Congress, in response to a question from the Washington Blade.

“I will not rule anything in or out,” Carney said. “I’m just not going to talk about — beyond pointing at his words — his personal views on this. I think his administration’s policies on related issues are there for people to judge.”

Full Story from LGBTQ Nation

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Nancy Pelosi Urges President Obama to Finish Evolving on Marriage Equality

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Marriage EqualityPresident Barack Obama has said for more than a year now that his position on same-sex marriage is “evolving,” a stance that has frustrated and perplexed the gay community given the president’s broad support for other gay rights issues.

Now House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a vocal proponent of same-sex marriage, is nudging Obama to come around on the issue already.

In a February cover story with The Advocate, a national gay and lesbian news magazine, Pelosi declined to give specifics on conversations she may have had with Obama on the issue. Instead, she said she has been focused on pressing the Democratic National Committee to fund efforts to reject state-level anti-marriage ballot measures. “There are more ways to get your voice heard than just speaking,” she said.

Full Story from the Huffington Post

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Dan Savage: Will President Obama “Evolve” This Year on Marriage Equality?

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

President Obama to Evolve on Marriage Equality?Sex advice columnist, author and founder of the It Gets Better Project Dan Savage has predicted an “evolutionary leap” on gay marriage for President Barack Obama following the 2012 general election.

Obama, considered the most gay-friendly president the nation has ever elected, has repeatedly dodged the question of whether he supports giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, saying only that he’s “evolving” on the issue.

During a National Public Radio (NPR) All Things Considered story broadcast Saturday, Savage said the biggest issue of 2012 for the gay community will be the presidential election.

Full Story from On Top Magazine

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Richard Socarides Thinks President Obama May Soon Endorse Marriage Equality

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

President Obama and Marriage EqualityPresident Barack Obama will soon endorse gay marriage, Richard Socarides, a former adviser on gay rights to President Bill Clinton, has predicted.

In an op-ed published Tuesday in the New Yorker, Socarides wrote that Obama’s announcement was on the “immediate horizon.”

“After a year in which we saw a number of high-profile gay-rights victories, including the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in New York, it’s hard to imagine that more big news is on the immediate horizon. But it is.”

Full Story from On Top Magazine

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President Obama, The Courts, and Marriage Equality

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

President Obama and Marriage EqualityAfter a year in which we saw a number of high-profile gay-rights victories, including the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in New York, it’s hard to imagine that more big news is on the immediate horizon. But it is. Two highly significant court rulings in gay-rights cases pending in federal appellate courts are expected soon. Moreover, President Barack Obama’s self-described “evolution” on same sex-marriage appears likely to end with a strategically timed (if low-key) pre-election announcement of his support for marriage equality.

In Perry v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is being asked to address a lower court decision striking down California’s voter-approved Proposition 8. If the court upholds the earlier ruling, it would restore same-sex marriage in California, making that right available to a total of almost twenty-five per cent of all Americans, in seven states and the District of Columbia.

Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, which is before the First Circuit, asks whether the Defense of Marriage Act should be declared unconstitutional. That law prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legally preformed in states which allow them.

Full Story from the New Yorker

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Would Marriage Equality Support Help Obama for Re-Election?

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Marriage Equality and President ObamaAs US President Obama has launched his electioneering advertising his performance during the whole tenure, he is yet missing a card that may prove to be a boon for his reelection. It is high time for President Obama to cash in on the issue of gay marriage and assure the respective community that necessary legislation would be made to provide legal cover to their activities.

The gay marriage card can come in handy because both Republicans and Democrats direly need maximum public support that may only be achieved through giving them assurance to fulfill their basic demands. In fact, during the last election, Obama’s party had not supported the idea of gay marriages rather had ignored this particular segment of society just because the reason they had disliked their idea of marriage equality.

But with the passage of time, the community gradually gained public support and now stands at a point where a considerable portion of the population is in support of gay marriages. Contrary to Republicans, the Democrats have already started gaining their support as Hillary Clinton recently announced that gay rights are also human rights, assuring them that they would have their own identity in the society.

Full Story from All Voices

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