The President’s announcement that he supports marriage equality has encouraged other high- profile leaders and organizations to express their support for marriage equality, most notably the NAACP, which decided in a near-unanimous vote to pass a resolution officially supporting marriage equality. The President also adds his voice to a growing chorus of people of faith who embrace equality not in spite of their religious beliefs, but because of them. It would be tempting to see this moment as...
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Obama administration
I am elated beyond words! President Obama has been re-elected. Marriage equality prevailed in ALL four states—Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington—that faced ballot measures. AND Tammy Baldwin is now Senator Baldwin, the first out LGBTQ person voted into the U.S. Senate. So many victories, including the Iowa Supreme Court justice who supported marriage keeping his seat and a host of openly LGBTQ folks being elected to public office. Mark this moment. We see a new future. Anything is...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 28, 2012)—Today, in a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), and ruled that the individual mandate, which requires most individuals to buy health insurance, is constitutional. The Court upheld the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility, but also ruled that states that do not comply with the expanded Medicaid provisions cannot be denied existing...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, June 15, 2012)—Today, President Obama’s administration announced that it will stop deporting young immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and who have been unable to obtain documentation, despite living in this country for most of their lives. Under the new policy, President Obama will exercise his legal authority to issue an executive order to stop deportations of these young people and to issue...
Today, the Obama administration announced new rules designed to launch a major offensive to help stop the epidemic of sexual violence in the nation’s prison system and youth detention system. The rules, released by the Department of Justice (DOJ), aim to “prevent, detect, and respond to sexual abuse in confinement facilities.” The new rules—and a new report from DOJ that was also released today—recognize that sexual violence is an especially urgent issue for LGBTQ youth in juvenile justice...
Where were you when you first heard? I was in front of Lincoln Center (I’m in New York City this week for a meeting with other LGBTQ civil rights attorneys from across the country) when NCLR Deputy Director Arcelia Hurtado screamed, “He did it!” I turned around and said, “What?” To which she replied, “Obama came out in support of marriage!” We both screamed and hugged, teary eyed. The New Yorkers walking past us didn’t care. But we knew that this was a historic and indelible moment....
Statement by NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, May 9, 2012)—Today, President Barack Obama told ABC News that he supports marriage equality, becoming the first president in the nation’s history to endorse marriage for same-sex couples. Said President Obama: “I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous...
Tonight, President Obama gave his third State of the Union address, which focused on building a lasting economic recovery. For the first time in our nation’s history, two out lesbians—Air Force Colonel Ginger Wallace and Lorelei Kilker—were among the select group invited to attend the speech as guests of First Lady Michelle Obama. Wallace is an Air Force intelligence officer who served in the Iraq war. When she was recently promoted to her current rank, her partner participated in her official...
By Huong T. Nguyen NCLR Guest Columnist Saturday, December 18, 2010. It’s 8:30 a.m., and I am still in bed. I hear footsteps hurriedly coming up the stairs. My bedroom door slams open, and a big mass lands on my body. Thromp! I open one eye and see my earnest 5-year-old son, Rowan, staring intently down at me. He whispers, “Mommy, wake up, they are voting to move the bill. ~~~ It’s only been three hours since I succumbed to sleep. I was keeping a vigil. I had a crazy idea that the repeal of...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell, Esq. (San Francisco, CA, December 6, 2011)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights applauds Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for her groundbreaking speech today on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Speaking to human rights leaders from around the world, Secretary Clinton made a powerful case for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in human rights...