Homosexual Activist Lays Out Obama’s Extensive Pro-‘Gay’ Record; AFTAH Responds

To many liberal journalists, President Obama’s pro-homosexual policies make him “angelic.” Above is Newsweek’s magazine cover published May 21, 2012, after Obama switched his position (again) on same-sex “marriage,” this time embracing it. As a young candidate for state senate, Obama explicitly endorsed “gay marriage,” before switching to “civil unions” — the position he held while running for president in 2008.

The following is a list of the Obama administration’s “accomplishments” in support of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) political/cultural agenda, as compiled by homosexual activist and Obama ally Andrew Tobias. This list appeared in the pro-“gay” “Equality Giving” website.

President Obama is easily the most pro-homosexual, pro-transsexual president in our nation’s history (hence the Newsweek cover) – far eclipsing the sizable pro-“gay” record of the last Democrat to hold the office, Bill Clinton.  Due to the sheer volume of Obama’s homosexualist “achievements,” this sympathetic compilation is not comprehensive.

Since AFTAH is not partisan and cannot endorse candidates, we will similarly explore the LGBT record of Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney — as well as further delve into the specifics of Obama’s policies on the issue.

I have added my own comments and analysis to some items on Tobias’ list – marked in red. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, www.aftah.org

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Tobias writes:

Accomplishments by the Administration and Congress on LGBT Equality

No one should rest until we have full LGBT equality.  But after eight years of Republican disrespect, progress is being made.  In its first term, the Obama Administration has…

FEDERAL LEGISLATION SIGNED INTO LAW

1. Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — the first positive federal LGBT legislation in the nation’s history
2. Repealed Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell
3. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act

POLICIES CHANGED

1. Reversed US refusal to sign the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
2. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees in 2009 and, further, in 2010 [This is a direct violation of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a bipartisan act of Congress signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996 — which states under Section 3: “In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” On February 3, 2011, President Obama through his Attorney General, Eric Holder, announced that the administration believes Sect. 3 of DOMA to be unconstitutional and therefore would no longer defend it in court.]
3. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban
4. Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees [Violation of DOMA: see No. 2 above under “Policies Changed”];
5. Committed to ensuring that federal housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity
6. Conceived a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders — the nation’s first ever — funded by a three-year HHS grant to SAG
7. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer)
8. Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept our relationships from being counted, encouraging couples who consider themselves married to file that way, even if their state of residence does not yet permit legal marriage [This is another violation of the letter and spirit of DOMA: see No. 2 above under “Policies Changed”];
9. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights
10. Required all grant applicants seeking HUD funding to comply with state and local anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT individuals
11. Adopted transgender recommendations on the issuance of gender-appropriate passports that will ease barriers to safe travel and that will provide government-issued ID that avoids involuntary “outing” in situations requiring ID, like hiring, where a gender-appropriate driver’s license or birth certificate is not available
12. Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims
13. Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover employees taking unpaid leave to care for the children of same-sex partners [Violation of DOMA: see No. 2 above under “Policies Changed”];
14. Issued guidance to assist tenants denied housing on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and banned LGBT discrimination in all HUD-assisting housing and HUD-assisted loans
15. Issued a National HIV/AIDS Strategy praised as “long-overdue” by the Task Force, Lambda and others
16. Issued guidance to 15,000 local departments of education and 5,000 colleges to support educators in combating bullying
17. Cut back authority to discharge under Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell from hundreds of generals to just 6 civilian appointees, effectively ending discharges while working toward a permanent end to the policy. [Thus President Obama undermined the existing law mandating homosexual exclusion, in advance of it actually being overturned by Congress.]
18. Led the fight that reversed a 2010 UN vote removing sexual orientation from the list of things people should not be killed for
19. Launched the first-ever national study of discrimination against members of the LGBT community in the rental and sale of housing
20. Determined that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional [See No. 2 above on DOMA under “Policies Changed”];
21. Determined that LGBT discrimination should be subject to a standard of “heightened scrutiny”
22. Stopped defending DOMA, leading to “dramatic changes across the country and the federal government in the way that lawyers and judges see legal challenges brought by LGBT people – and, slowly but surely, in the way that LGBT people are able to live their lives” [See No. 2 above on DOMA under “Policies Changed”; under the U.S. Constitution, it is not the role of the Executive Branch to determine which laws – or portions of laws — are or are not “constitutional.”];
23. Filed an unprecedented brief detailing the history of discrimination faced by gay, lesbian and bisexual people in America, including      by the federal government itself — the single most persuasive legal argument ever advanced by the United States government in support of equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people
24. Vacated a court order that would have deported a gay American’s Venezuelan partner [Violation of DOMA: see No. 2 above under “Policies Changed”];
25. Begun recognizing joint bankruptcy petitions filed by same-sex married couples [Violation of DOMA]
26. Endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act
27. Reduced the deportation threat faced by binational LGBT couples
28. Authorized military chaplains to perform same-sex weddings on or off military bases [Violation of DOMA];
29. Upped the nation’s commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS at home and abroad
30. Launched a muscular, game-changing campaign for global LGBT equality, highlighted by the Secretary of State in a half-hour address to the United Nations. [Despite his “gay”-cheerleading tone, Tobias correctly captures the importance of Obama’s landmark (some would say perverse) shift in treating homosexuality and transgenderism as a “human right” of U.S. foreign policy and foreign aid. Under Obama, U.S. embassies in countries across the world have celebrated “gay pride,” demonstrating insensitivity, if not sheer contempt, for the mores and religious beliefs of the peoples of more traditional countries. For example, Voice of America reports that the American Embassy’s June 26, 2012 celebration of “gay pride” in Nairobi ”is thought to be the first LGBT Pride celebration in Kenya, where homosexual acts are punishable by law.”Said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in announcing the new pro-homosexual policy: “Some have suggested that gay rights and human rights are separate and distinct, but in fact they are one and the same.  Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious tribal or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human and that is why gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights.” (Note Clinton’s dubious analogy between race/ethnicity/gender and changeable homosexuality, which revolves around behaviors long considered sinful.) Pro-family critics countered that the shift toward promoting Western-style “gay pride” abroad represents a type of “cultural imperialism” – imposing decadent post-Christian sexual ideologies on more traditional cultures – which breeds resentment toward the United States.]
31. Extended the gender-based employment discrimination protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to transgender employees
32. Added an LGBT representative to the diversity program at each of the nations 120 federal prisons

RESPECT & INCLUSION

1. Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide FULL partnership benefits to federal employees
2. Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamations since 2000
3. Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history. [Previous presidents have invited homosexuals into the White House but never explicitly used the White House as a venue to celebrate proud homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism.]
4. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King, joining past recipients such as Rosa Parks. [For more on Harvey Milk, the San Francisco “gay” icon and the first openly homosexual elected to public office, see Randy Thomasson’s website, http://savecalifornia.com/harvey-milk-day.html. Milk’s homosexual biographer, San Francisco Chroniclereporter Randy Shilts, wrote regarding the youthful sexual tastes of the “gay” politician: “It would be to boyish-looking men in their late teens and early 20’s that Milk would be attracted for the rest of his life” (The Mayor of Castro Street, p. 24). Author Daniel Flynn also notes among Harvey Milk’s dubious affiliations was his friendship and lobbying for mass-killing and Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones, who killed 900 followers with his deadly Kool-aid in Guyana in 1978. Milk once praised Jones as “a man of the highest character, who has undertaken constructive remedies for social problems which have been amazing in their scope and effectiveness.”]
5. Appointed the first ever transgender DNC member
6. Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA
7. Hired more openly LGBT officials (like these) in its first two years — more than 150, including more than 20 “Senate-confirmables” — than any previous administration hired in four years or eight. [The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund – which led a homosexual  “Presdential Appointments Project” – reports (Sept 2012), “To date, the Obama-Biden Administration has appointed more than 250 openly LGBT professionals to full-time and advisory positions in the executive branch; more than all known LGBT appointments of other presidential administrations combined.” Click on this link to view the list of Obama’s homosexual-bisexual-transgender appointments, some of whom have since moved to jobs outside of government. One such appointee is Kevin Jennings, the founder of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network), which promotes the acceptance of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism in schools. Jennings became a focal point of conservative opposition after it was reported that one of his homosexual heroes was early “gay” activist Harry Hay, who championed the notorious group NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), which advocates for sex between men and boys. Also, Jennings drew fire for his advice years back as a private high school teacher to “Brewster,” a sophomore student who confided with Jennings that he’d had a sexual encounter with an older man; Jennings used the exchange to confirm the boy as “gay.” See original 1999 AFTAH (Lambda Report) article HERE and a more recent report with newer information HERE.]
8. Sworn in Ambassador [to New Zealand and Samoa] David Huebner [Huebner is an open homosexual who used his swearing-in ceremony to make moral judgments about homosexuality as a supposed “irrelevant” non-factor. The Washington Blade, a newspaper catering to D.C.-area homosexuals, reports that Huebner “has a history in LGBT activism. He served as a board member of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and served as the group’s general counsel.”];
9. Changed the culture of government everywhere from – among others – HUD and HHS to the Export-Import Bank, the State Department, and the Department of Education
10. Appointed Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, instead of conservatives who would have tilted the Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation.  To wit (quoting McCain): “I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts.  I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts.  I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible].”
11. Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)
12. Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the President’s historic NAACP address (“The pain of discrimination is still felt in America.  By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender.  By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country.  By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God.  By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.”) . . . to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation (“Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage us to do our best and enable us to accomplish great things”) and his Mothers Day proclamation (“Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian.  Mother’s Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers”) . . . to creating the chance for an adorable 10-year-old at the White House Easter Egg roll to tell ABC World News how cool it is to have two mommies . . . to including the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President’s economic address at the New York Stock Exchange . . . to welcoming four gay couples to its first State Dinner
13. Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell  . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
14. Spoken out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast (“We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are — whether it’s here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.”) [Here Obama used a solemn occasion that historically has honored biblical values and prayer to posit a decidedly non-biblical approach toward aberrant sex. Bible-believing Christians hold that homosexual practice is sinful (and changeable) behavior – and not “who you are” any more than any other sin defines the person who engages in it. See this video by Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias explaining this critical distinction. Also see Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and leading Bible-and-homosexuality expert Prof. Robert Gagnon’s essays explicating the biblical view of homosexuality as sexual sin.]
15. Dispatched the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell
16. Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study
17. Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. [Feldblum gained some notoriety in pro-family circles by affirming that “gay rights” and religious liberty (ie., to oppose homosexuality and same-sex relationships) are fundamentally incompatible (a legal “zero-sum game”). She believes homosexual “rights” will usually triumph in court battles between the two. Feldblum, an atheist, also made the outlandish assertion that since people hold sexuality to be a “wonderful thing blessed by God,” homosexual sex, too, is a “wonderful life-affirming experience.” Thus, she said, teaching against it through religion “is not loving and redemptive at all but destructive.”]
18. Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons
19. Appointed Retired Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, an early public champion of open [homosexual] service in the military, to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWIS).
20. Publicly invited the shunned MIssissippi high school prom student to the White House
21. Successfully fought for UN accreditation of IGLHRC (the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) — against Republican attempts to block it
22. Convened the first-ever anti-bullying summit to craft a national strategy to reduce bullying in schools
23. Launched stopbullying.gov
24. Awarded $13.3 million to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in the foster care system
25. Tweeted to 5.7 million BarackObama followers and nearly 2 million WhiteHouse followers the President’s “It Gets Better” video [The “It Gets Better” video project was created by radical homosexual activist Dan Savage, who has engaged in some of the most hateful and spiteful rhetoric and conduct toward pro-family leaders of any homosexual advocate alive today. (For example, Santorum created the website, “Santorum[dot]com,” which cruelly “re-defines” former Pennsylvania Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s surname as follows [Warning: graphic and offensive]: “san-TOR-um: The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.” Moreover, Savage – who advocates outside sex for married straight couples (much like “monogamish,” sexually wandering gay male couples) – acknowledges that the “It Gets Better” project is an “aggressive act” because it allows homosexual activists like himself to bypass parents and gain a form of direct access to children. Savage told students at Elmhurst College: “[A] lot of people now miss that the It Gets Better Project is an aggressive act. That from the outset there was an outstretched middle finger at the heart of the It Gets Better Project…. The idea was we’re gonna talk to your kids whether you like it or not, that … We’re gonna reach into your kids and talk to your kids about being queer—whether you like it or not.” 
26. Embraced that campaign with heartfelt messages from, as well, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture (aimed particularly at rural youth), the Secretaries of Education and Health & Human Services, the Secretary of Labor (in English and Spanish), the Director of OPM and LGBT members of the White House staff
27. Issued a Department of Justice video urging kids to call a Justice Department toll-free number if their school is aware of bullying but taking no action
28. Held the first ever White House conference on bullying prevention, led by the President and First Lady
29. Hosted first-ever White House transgender policy meeting
30. Emphasized the positive value of Gay-straight Student Alliances (GSAs) and advised the nation’s school districts of their legal responsibility to allow establishment of GSAs
31. Appointed the first openly gay man to serve on the federal bench
32. Nominated the first open lesbian US attorney
33. Nominated the first openly gay US attorney to serve Texas
34. Forced the Tehachipi Unified School District to prevent and respond to gender-based harassment 
35. Acknowledged in federal court the U.S. government’s “significant and regrettable role” in discrimination in America against gays and lesbians, arguing that DOMA is unconstitutional. (“This is your U.S. Justice Department, folks, forcefully, stunningly taking on the homophobes in Congress and a huge Obama WIN.” – [homosexual reporter] Rex Wockner)
36. Appointed open lesbian activist to West Point advisory board
37. Used the President’s annual United Nations address to say, “no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere.” [see No. 30 above under Policies Changed].
38. Presented Janice Langbehn with the Presidential Citizens Award for her role in securing hospital visitation rights
39. Convened the first-ever White House LGBT Elder Housing summit
40. Endorsed the Student Non-Discrimination Act and the Safe Schools improvement Act targeting discrimination and bullying based on sexual orientation and gender identity
41. Endorsed marriage equality [President Obama reversed himself (twice) on homosexual “marriage,” now saying he had “evolved” from his previous opposition to legalizing same-sex “marriage” on religious grounds. Actually, before he was “against” homosexual “marriage,” Obama was on record favoring its legalization. As a state senate candidate in 1996, he responded to a candidate questionnaire by the Chicago homosexual newspaper Outlines with this type-written response: “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight effort [sic] to prohibit such marriages.” He also affirmed same-sex “marriage” in response to a candidate survey by the Illinois homosexual political action group IMPACT, the “gay” newspaper Windy City Times reports. Twelve years later, as the Democratic Party’s 2008 standard bearer, Obama famously and solemnly affirmed authentic marriage, telling debate host Pastor Rick Warren at Saddleback Church: “I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian . . . it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”]

[Tobias concludes:] The Administration will continue to make steady progress on our issues whether we help strengthen its hand or not.  But the stronger it is, the faster that progress will come.

Website bio of Andrew Tobias:

DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias is the author of several books, including The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need and The Best Little Boy in the World.