Texas AG Ken Paxton addresses lawsuit against the Obama Administration Over Trans Students - VIDEO

TV Networks failed to broadcast Obama Administration’s Major LGBT Announcement

After President Obama and Sec. of State Hillary Clinton announced their stance on International LGBT issues, you would think the network would cover it, right?

Wrong! In fact, only the cable news channels covered it. Think Progress has the numbers:

They covered other things like Kim Kardashian's return to the limelight and Sandusky, but nothing on Clinton's historic speech. Fail

Obama Administration Issues a Memorandum to address International LGBT Issues

The Obama Administration has released a memorandum to fight discrimination on LGBT issues on a global scale.

Metro Weekly reports:

"The Obama Administration has made a tremendous difference in the lives of LGBT people in the United States and this new strategy helps to extend that presidential leadership across the globe," Solmonese said. "There is no question that the administration's record of advancing equality for LGBT people has been enhanced by the leadership of Secretary Clinton who consistently underscores the simple truth that LGBT rights are human rights."


According to HRC, the presidential memorandum is the first ever U.S. government strategy to deal with human rights abuses against LGBT people abroad.


Obama's memorandum requires the Department of State to "lead a standing group, with appropriate interagency representation, to help ensure the Federal Government's swift and meaningful response to serious incidents that threaten the human rights of LGBT persons abroad." 

Please click on the link above to read the full memorandum.

Evolving Already? Obama Administration says DOMA is Unconstitutional

Maybe folks didn't noticed, but on Friday, the Obama Administration declared DOMA to be unconstitutional. During the Karen Golinski's case, the Justice Department said she and her partner should not be denied benefits; and DOMA violates the equal protection of the couple.

Here's the breakdown:

"The official legislative record makes plain that DOMA Section 3 was motivated in large part by animus toward gay and lesbian individuals and their intimate relationships, and Congress identified no other interest that is materially advanced by Section 3," the brief reads, referring to the section in the act that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Though the administration has previously said it will not defend the marriage act, the brief is the first court filing in which it urges the court to find the law unconstitutional, said Tobias Barrington Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

"This brief represents the concrete manifestation of a complete paradigm shift in the federal government's position on anti-gay discrimination and the constitutional rights of married same-sex couples," Wolff said in a phone interview Saturday.

This is the first time the administration goes on record, saying DOMA is unconstitutional. We should pay attention. Obama's evolving stage is moving forward.

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Obama Administration will address Homeless Gay Teens

ACF Commissioner Bryan Samuels

The Obama Administration is getting into the heart of the matter with homeless LGBT youth.  ACF Commissioner Bryan Samuels took the lead by creating a memo about homeless LGBT youth and how child welfare agencies can effectively care for these teens. Those efforts moved onward and upward to the Obama Administration:

The feds are intent on making up for lost time -- and not with memos. The Obama administration is spending millions on a pilot program in L.A. County aimed at assisting LGBTQ youth in the child-welfare system, Samuels said.

Congress has taken up the issue as well. On May 3, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) reintroduced legislation that would ban discrimination of gay parents in adoption and foster care placements. Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) signed on as the first Republican co-sponsor of the bill at the end of the month.

"My home state of Florida had discriminatory laws in place that were preventing caring parents from adoption," she said in a statement. "This Federal bill is a step in the right direction so that the proper match between responsible parent and needy child can take place regardless of the parent's sexual orientation."

In mid-May, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced the Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act. More than 40 organizations and nonprofits signed on in support of the legislation.

Tucked into the bill, which calls for stronger supports for state wards, is a provision that HHS must create a five-year pilot program aimed at preventing families from rejecting gay children. The accompanying press release highlighted this angle. "There are common sense reforms we can implement to help make things better for LGBT youth," Kerry wrote.

This will take some time to be at a strong place, but these efforts are way better than several years ago.

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The Obama Administration demands the United Nation's Support for Gay Rights

The Obama administration is stepping to the plate by issuing a statement tasking for the UN's support to stop discrimination against gays and lesbians around the world. This is a big step, y'all.

The U.S. declaration was made Tuesday, March 22 at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council and had the support of more than 80 countries. Although it is not in the form of binding resolution, the American push for U.N. action has helped win over a handful of new countries to the cause. A resolution could be brought to a vote later this year.


The issue of gay rights has polarized nations at the U.N. for years. And despite growing acceptance for LGBT lifestyles in Western nations and parts of Latin America, lawyers say there is still a gap in human rights treaties for the protection of gays against discrimination and mistreatment.


"We are very concerned that individuals continue to be killed, arrested, and harassed around the world because of their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organizations. "This statement sends a strong message from across the globe that such abuses should not be tolerated."


The U.S. document calls for nations to end any criminal punishments against lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, and asks the global body to review how governments treat them in the U.N.’s human rights assessments. It acknowledges that "these are sensitive issues for many," but insists that people must be freed from discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

Feeling it.

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A List 30 Accomplishments by the Obama Administration on LGBT Equality

In the midst of our gay rights battle, it's good to stop and smell roses every once in a while.

With that said, I wanted to share a list of accomplishments on LGBT Equality from the Obama Administration provided by DNC Treasurer, Andrew Tobias.

1. Reversed an inexcusable US position by signing the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
2. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
3. Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide full partnership benefits to federal employees
4. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
5. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010
6. Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamation since 2000
7. Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history
8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King
9. Appointed the first transgender DNC member in history
10. Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees
11. Committed to ensuring that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity
12. 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 SAGE
13. Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA
14. 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
15. Supported lower taxes for same-sex couples who receive health benefits from employers
16. Hired and appointed a record number of qualified LGBT Americans, including more than 10 Senate-confirmed appointments
17. Sworn in Ambassador David Huebner
18. 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
19. Appointed Sonia Sotomayor, instead of a conservative 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]"
20. Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)
21. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation's largest employer)
22. 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
23. Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
24. 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.")
25. 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, in the meantime dialing back on discharges
26. Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study
    
27. Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
28. 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
29. Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons.
30. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.

There are some of these I actually forgot about, but I want to check on no. 20 though.

Anywho, please think about the list. There's much more to accomplish, however let this list serve as a reminder of the successes.

Thanks to Mad Professah for the tip.

Is the Obama Administration planning on dealing with Arizona?

The word is out the Obama Administration may be addressing Arizona on their crazy ass immigration law.

ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper had this to say:

So what did President Obama mean when -- responding on Friday to Arizona's new immigration law -- he said that he'd "instructed members of my administration to closely monitor the situation and examine the civil rights and other implications of this legislation"?

An Obama administration official says it means that officials from the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security are looking to see if there are any actions they should take in response to the law -- and "that could mean suing to block the law, but we're a long way from knowing if that's a viable route yet."

Interesting news, however I can see teabaggers claiming that Obama's trying to endanger their state and children.

This could be an interesting week.

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The Obama Administration Will endorse the U.N. Gay Rights Declaration

The Obama posse will endorse the U.N. declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

If y'all remember, Bush refused to participate and didn't endorse the declaration, in fact, we were the only western government that refused to join the party.

But that's changing for the better, I hope.

Several officials involved in this process said:

"The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with the other supporters of this statement and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

Another official added that the United States was concerned about "violence and human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, transsexual and bisexual individuals" and was also "troubled by the criminalization of sexual orientation in many countries."

"In the words of the United States Supreme Court, the right to be free from criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation 'has been accepted as an integral part of human freedom'".

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