Today, Obama signed an executive order protecting the LGBT from discrimination if they work for a Federal contractor, with no exemptions for religious organizations

Thank you, Mr. President!

My president believes all people are equal, and will be signing an executive order banning job discrimination against the LGBT by federal contractors

Via Joe.My.God:

The National Lesbian & Gay Task Force is first with the news that President Obama will sign an executive order forbidding anti-LGBT discrimination by employers who have contracts with the federal government. Via press release:

“This is a major step forward in the struggle for freedom and justice for LGBTQ workers and their families. Now millions of people will have the economic security they need to provide for their families. Through his actions, the President has demonstrated again his commitment to ending discrimination. We thank all the organizations who have worked so hard to make this piece of history. This decision is good for LGBTQ people, good for our economy and good for America. Unfortunately, many of us who don't work for federal contractors will still lack workplace protections. Now we must redouble our efforts for the urgent passage of state employment protections and strong federal legislation.”

An outside perspective: how the world views Obama and George W. Bush at similar points in their presidencies

On my recent trip to Europe, I heard anecdotes from the people that made the same point. Most like and respect President Obama.

Reality: a graph that shows Obama's progress in restoring jobs after George W. tanked the economy

My president sends a message to Russia...of inclusion & love!

From Towleroad:

In an interview with Bob Costas this evening before the Opening Ceremonies of the Sochi Games, President Obama was asked about the inclusion of openly gay athletes in the official delegation.
Said Obama:

"There is no doubt we wanted to make it very clear that we do not abide by discrimination in anything, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. One of the wonderful things about the Olympics is that you are judged by your merit, how good you are regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love and that I think is consistent with the spirit of the Olympics."

John Heilemann explains Obama's "evolution" on marriage equality as a long-term strategy to advance equality

Jon Stewart covers Obama's epic pre-Super Bowl take-down of the Orwellian Fox News propaganda network

A new American value: diversity. Ads from the U.S. Olympic team, Coke & Cheerios make the case

Words matter: Obama has used the word "gay " 272 times since taking office. Reagan never used the word, even as AIDS ravished our community

From Huffington Post:

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, did some digging and found that President Barack Obama has used "gay" 272 times since taking office in 2009, far more than any of his recent predecessors: Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. 

Only Clinton comes closest to Obama, having used "gay" 216 times during his two terms, says a new report from the advocacy group. 

Of his total, Clinton used the word 46 times regarding gays in the military and 80 times when discussing Matthew Shepard or hate-crime legislation. Shepard was a gay University of Wyoming student who was beaten to death in 1998. His killing raised awareness about anti-gay violence and spurred efforts to enact hate-crimes laws in the U.S. 

Reagan used "gay" in any of their presidential remarks.

Change you believe in.

Inspiration!

The shame of it: GOP demands tax cuts for the rich and oil companies but cuts unemployment insurance for over 3 million Americans

The reality about the Federal deficit, not Fox "news"

Jon Stewarts points out that Obama's handshake with Raul Castro was appropriate at a memorial service for a man who was lauded for forgiving his opponents

Obama has more grace than the entire tea party.

In Obama's eulogy for Mandela today, he reveals his depth as a human being: someone who is self-reflective, speaks truth to power, and continually advocates for equality

For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe - Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate his heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or circumstance, we must ask: how well have I applied his lessons in my own life? 

It is a question I ask myself - as a man and as a President. We know that like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took the sacrifice of countless people - known and unknown - to see the dawn of a new day. 

Michelle and I are the beneficiaries of that struggle. But in America and South Africa, and countries around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not done. The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality and universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger, and disease; run-down schools, and few prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs; and are still persecuted for what they look like, or how they worship, or who they love. 

We, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace. There are too many of us who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. And there are too many of us who stand on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.

Time and time again, Obama makes me proud to be a American and an advocate for equality.

What a moment: President Obama receives a warm, enthusiastic welcome in South Africa as he eloquently eulogizes Mandela. Watch this...

Yesterday, President Obama gave out our nation's Medal of Freedom to 16 Americans, including two gay Americans. Let freedom ring!

Astronaut Sally Ride:  The surviving (lesbian) spouse of Sally Ride, Tam O’Shaughnessy, Dr. Sally Ride’s partner of 27 years, told HRC yesterday that the “award sends a message to the world, including to Russia, that equality is important, respect is important.” 

“The ideal America is one where no one – regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, — is a second class citizen,” said Tam. “With each protection and freedom and equality achieved, I feel safer in my state and prouder to be an American.” 

“I wanted to ensure Sally’s legacy reflected the integrity in which she lived her life, said Tam. “For her not to be open in this one way felt wrong.” 

“It’s scary to be open because you don’t realized the impact that it might have on so many aspects of your life,” said Tam. “You worry about grants, about whether you’ll be able to continue writing children’s textbooks; we were scared that if sponsors knew the founders of Sally Ride Science were two lesbians, if that would affect our organization.” 

“I’ve found that people really valued the relationship,” said Tam. “It didn’t matter that we were two women; what mattered was our relationship’s longevity and our love.”  

Civil Rights Advocate Bayard Rustin: “Walter Naegle accepting on behalf of his partner, Bayard Rustin. Bayard Rustin was a giant in the American Civil Rights Movement. Openly gay at a time when many had to hide who they loved, his unwavering belief that we are all equal members of a ‘single human family’ took him from his first Freedom Ride to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights movement. Thanks to his unparalleled skills as an organizer, progress that once seemed impossible appears, in retrospect, to have been inevitable. Fifty years after the March on Washington he organized, America honors Bayard Rustin as one of its greatest architects for social change and a fearless advocate for its most vulnerable citizens.” 

Quote of the day on the Gettysburg address

In the evening, when Michelle and the girls have gone to bed, I sometimes walk down the hall to a room Abraham Lincoln used as his office. It contains an original copy of the Gettysburg Address, written in Lincoln's own hand. 

I linger on these few words that have helped define our American experiment: 'a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.' 

Through the lines of weariness etched in his face, we know Lincoln grasped, perhaps more than anyone, the burdens required to give these words meaning. He knew that even a self evident truth was not self executing; that blood drawn by the lash was an affront to our ideals; that blood drawn by the sword was in painful service to those same ideals. 

He understood as well that our humble efforts, our individual ambitions, are ultimately not what matter; rather, it is through the accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women -- those like the soldiers who consecrated that battlefield -- that this country is built, and freedom preserved. This quintessentially self made man, fierce in his belief in honest work and the striving spirit at the heart of America, believed that it falls to each generation, collectively, to share in that toil and sacrifice. 

Through cold war and world war, through industrial revolutions and technological transformations, through movements for civil rights and women's rights and workers rights and gay rights, we have. At times, social and economic change have strained our union. But Lincoln's words give us confidence that whatever trials avail us, this nation and the freedom we cherish can, and shall, prevail.

-- Barack Obama on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

A world of possibility: the employment discrimination bill (ENDA) may pass the US Senate today and we are getting closer to marriage equality in Hawaii & Illinois

Good news in the U.S. Senate: we have the votes to stop a filibuster, thanks to Republican Senator Dean Haller from Nevada, who just became the 60th senator to sign on this legislation.  More here.

The democratic process towards equality continues in Hawaii.

Here is the latest good news from llinois.

The untold story of Obama with the Sandy Hook victims' families. Mistakes and all, he is my president...

An excerpt from THE PRESIDENT’S DEVOTIONAL: The Daily Readings That Inspired President Obama, by Joshua DuBois,  former head of the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships in the Executive Office of the President of the United States under President Barack Obama.

But the private facts we received in the White House from the FBI were even worse. 

How the gunman treated the children like criminals, lining them up to shoot them down. How so many bullets penetrated them that many were left unrecognizable. How the killer went from one classroom to another and would have gone farther if his rifle would’ve let him. 

That news began a weekend of prayer and numbness, which I awoke from on Saturday only to receive the word that the president would like me to accompany him to Newtown. He wanted to meet with the families of the victims and then offer words of comfort to the country at an interfaith memorial service. 

I left early to help the advance team—the hardworking folks who handle logistics for every event—set things up, and I arrived at the local high school where the meetings and memorial service would take place. We prepared seven or eight classrooms for the families of the slain children and teachers, two or three families to a classroom, placing water and tissues and snacks in each one. Honestly, we didn’t know how to prepare; it was the best we could think of. 

The families came in and gathered together, room by room. Many struggled to offer a weak smile when we whispered, “The president will be here soon.” A few were visibly angry—so understandable that it barely needs to be said—and were looking for someone, anyone, to blame. Mostly they sat in silence. 

I went downstairs to greet President Obama when he arrived, and I provided an overview of the situation. “Two families per classroom . . . The first is . . . and their child was . . . The second is . . . and their child was . . . We’ll tell you the rest as you go.” 

The president took a deep breath and steeled himself, and went into the first classroom. And what happened next I’ll never forget. 

Person after person received an engulfing hug from our commander in chief. He’d say, “Tell me about your son. . . . Tell me about your daughter,” and then hold pictures of the lost beloved as their parents described favorite foods, television shows, and the sound of their laughter. For the younger siblings of those who had passed away—many of them two, three, or four years old, too young to understand it all—the president would grab them and toss them, laughing, up into the air, and then hand them a box of White House M&M’s, which were always kept close at hand. In each room, I saw his eyes water, but he did not break. 

And then the entire scene would repeat—for hours. Over and over and over again, through well over a hundred relatives of the fallen, each one equally broken, wrecked by the loss. After each classroom, we would go back into those fluorescent hallways and walk through the names of the coming families, and then the president would dive back in, like a soldier returning to a tour of duty in a worthy but wearing war. We spent what felt like a lifetime in those classrooms, and every single person received the same tender treatment. The same hugs. The same looks, directly in their eyes. The same sincere offer of support and prayer. 

The staff did the preparation work, but the comfort and healing were all on President Obama. I remember worrying about the toll it was taking on him. And of course, even a president’s comfort was woefully inadequate for these families in the face of this particularly unspeakable loss. But it became some small measure of love, on a weekend when evil reigned. 

And the funny thing is—President Obama has never spoken about these meetings. Yes, he addressed the shooting in Newtown and gun violence in general in a subsequent speech, but he did not speak of those private gatherings. In fact, he was nearly silent on Air Force One as we rode back to Washington, and has said very little about his time with these families since. It must have been one of the defining moments of his presidency, quiet hours in solemn classrooms, extending as much healing as was in his power to extend. But he kept it to himself—never seeking to teach a lesson based on those mournful conversations, or opening them up to public view. 

Jesus teaches us that some things—the holiest things, the most painful and important and cherished things—we are to do in secret. Not for public consumption and display, but as acts of service to others, and worship to God. For then, “your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you,” perhaps not now, but certainly in eternity. We learned many lessons in Newtown that day; this is one I’ve kept closely at heart.

Best tweet of the day