PRESIDENT OBAMA CELEBRATES HIS LGBT LEGACY AHEAD OF FAREWELL ADDRESS

President Obama will deliver a farewell address next week, as he prepares to leave the office of the Presidency.

The Democrat, elected President in 2008 and re-elected in 2012, has been a proud supporter of LGBT rights, leading a quiet revolution on equality in the US and around the world.

He is set to leave power on January 20, as Republican President-elect Donald Trump assumes the office.

Ahead of the date, the outgoing leader will address the nation one last time on January 10, from his hometown of Chicago.

Ahead of the event, he teased the speech by taking to Twitter to set out his legacy on a number of issues.

He wrote: “As we look ahead to the future, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the remarkable progress that you made possible these past 8 years.”

Noting progress on LGBT rights, he said: “From realizing marriage equality to removing barriers to opportunity, we’ve made history in our work to reaffirm that all are created equal.”

He also reflected on the address in a post on the White House website.

President Obama wrote: “In 1796, as George Washington set the precedent for a peaceful, democratic transfer of power, he also set a precedent by penning a farewell address to the American people. And over the 220 years since, many American presidents have followed his lead.

“On Tuesday, January 10, I’ll go home to Chicago to say my grateful farewell to you, even if you can’t be there in person.

“I’m just beginning to write my remarks. But I’m thinking about them as a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey, to celebrate the ways you’ve changed this country for the better these past eight years, and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here.

“Since 2009, we’ve faced our fair share of challenges, and come through them stronger. That’s because we have never let go of a belief that has guided us ever since our founding—our conviction that, together, we can change this country for the better.

“So I hope you’ll join me one last time.

“Because, for me, it’s always been about you.”

The leader is inviting public contributions ahead of the speech, which will take place next Tuesday.

President Obama is by far the most progressive President on LGBT issues in US history.

Despite facing a hostile Congress for most of his Presidency, he signed a federal hate crime law, filed legal briefs that helped bring about equal marriage, overturned Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, helped bring down the Defence of Marriage Act,  banned homophobic discrimination for federal contractors, appointed an LGBT rights envoy, appointed a string of openly gay ambassadors and officials, oversaw a State Department that defends equality around the world, challenged anti-gay world leaders to their face, lit up the White House as a symbol of Pride, held a number of LGBT rights receptions, enshrined protections for LGBT people in healthcare law under Obamacare, issued a directive urging schools to protect LGBT students, helped block a number of homophobic Republican bills, recognised Ellen DeGeneres with a Congressional Medal of Freedom, made the Stonewall Inn a national monument, and led a nation in mourning after the Pulse tragedy.

SOURCE: PINK NEWS

VIDEO: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S LAST WORLD AIDS DAY MESSAGE

President Obama issued his final World AIDS Day message this morning. The two and a half minute video highlights his administration’s accomplishments fighting HIV and notes the work still undone.

“Together, we can do this,” Obama says in the video. “And long after I leave this office, you’ll have a partner in me.”

Via press release from the White House:

December 1 marks World AIDS Day across the globe, and serves as a way to recommit ourselves to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat. Throughout his Administration, President Obama propelled America’s leadership on HIV/AIDS by both developing the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States and expanding our investments in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. This World AIDS Day, we mark the successes we’ve made together, both domestically and globally, by demonstrating leadership, enhancing our commitment, and achieving measurable impact. We also recognize the challenges in reaching affected communities, and continued work needed to achieve our 2020 national goals and end AIDS worldwide by 2030.

The majority of people living with HIV reside in low- to middle-income countries. The United States is leading the world’s response to this crisis, working in partnership with countries and communities to end the AIDS pandemic by 2030. Including the President’s FY 2017 Budget request to Congress, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is investing over $70 billion from FY 2004 through FY 2017 to accelerate our impact and work to control the epidemic to accelerate our impact and work to control the epidemic with comprehensive and data driven efforts. PEPFAR’s success is measured in saving lives and changing the course of the pandemic. Building on the work of the previous Administration, we have exceeded our 2016 target for treatment and are now supporting nearly 11.5 million men, women and children across the globe with life-saving anti-retroviral treatment.

Watch the video below.

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

AN OPEN LETTER OF THANKS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Dear President Barack Obama,

Before you set off writing the next chapter of your life, I want to take this occasion to thank you for your service to our country and to the global community.

Thank you for your alerting the world to the threats and dangers of “crude nationalism” presented in the guise of “popularism,” which feeds on people’s fears and prejudices resulting in the separation of people and nations from one another.

Thank you for your audacity to hope for a better, more inclusive country and world, one that comes closer to fulfilling our founding goal of ensuring liberty and justice for all, one that cherishes our diversity while truly exemplifying E Pluribus Unum.

Thank you for your brilliance of intellect that guides your every decision, and filters the noise and distraction in the cacophony of voices around you.

Thank you for your charm that often disarms even your most ardent skeptics once in your presence.

Thank you for your commitment to the most important of your priorities, your family, by never allowing your work to cloud your connections with loved ones.

Thank you for your dedication in protecting the environment by working to save and sustain the earth for current generations and those yet to come.

Thank you for your dignity in how you express and carry yourself, even when others do not reciprocate in kind.

Thank you for your empathy in reaching out to the marginalized, dispossessed, and scapegoated among us, and in attempting to bring them into the center of our society.

Thank you for your fortitude among the onslaught of obstructionism cascading like torrents from across the ever-widening aisle.

Thank you for your gentleness in redefining the truly gentle man in a world and a nation of increasing toxic hyper-masculinity.

Thank you for your grace under tremendous odds by those who have attempted to bring you down from the beginning of your tenure, and in the face of the incessant barrage of criticism and attacks on your very humanity and your qualifications to hold the highest office in the land.

Thank you for your heroism in never giving up even in tough times when the hill you have chosen to climb in the distance is, in fact, a seemingly unassailable mountain the closer you approach it.

Thank you for your humor and your tendency never to take yourself too seriously, and your ability to roast yourself when the occasion calls for it.

That you for your integrity, which you are never willing to sacrifice in exchange for mere material or political rewards.

Thank you for your judgment in keeping forever on course and attentive, preventing you from swerving into potentially dangerous political terrain.

Thank you for your kindness that comes forth in your treatment of the people you meet, especially when you are in the company of the youngest among us.

Thank you for your love of people, love of country, love of service, and your evident love of life itself.

Thank you for your mensch-ness (Yiddish, “a person of integrity and honor”), the qualities that have secured your place in that great pantheon of “the good.”

Thank you for your mindfulness in concentration, focus, study, and understanding of self, and your ability to “be here now” at the moment.

Thank you for your nobility, that virtually indefinable quality emanating from deep within.

Thank you for your oratory precision in presenting a clear and sustained message, and in mobilizing your enthusiastic supporters to rally beside you.

Thank you for your patience in seeing the big picture and in continuing your course in reaching your goals, even when others deposit giant boulders to block your way.

Thank you for your pragmatism in your continued efforts to unite the disparate states of the fractured United States of America.

Thank you for your pride in your multiple identities, and in serving as a positive and constructive role model to others who may had never imagined reaching the pinnacle of their potential.

Thank you for your principles, which you never sacrificed for the sake of mere expediency or popularity.

Thank you for your quick wit that often delights your supporters and challenges your detractors to raise the level of discourse ever higher.

Thank you for your respect for other nations, and by so doing, bringing back respect for our country and for the office of the presidency from people and leaders worldwide.

Thank you for your steadfastness to diplomatic negotiations in conflict resolution whenever and wherever possible rather than the raising of arms.

Thank you for your temperament, one of the most, or possibly the most, crucially important qualities in functioning effectively and responsibility in the highest and most critical position in our country.

Thank you for your understanding of the full enormity of the awesome responsibilities you inherited upon election, responsibilities you have never shirked, relegated, or denied.

Thank you for your values that serve as the foundation of your beliefs, actions, interactions, responses, and initiatives.

Thank you for your vision in seeing the true potential of the United States to ultimately attain the end goals in this great experiment in democracy.

Thank you for your warmth and your willingness to listen and truly to hear others’ opinions in carefully weighing numerous options before coming to a final decision.

Thank you for your xenial nature allowing people who do not know you well to relax in your company.

Thank you for your xenophilia amid conditions where some political leaders and would-be leaders promote xenophobia to divide and conquer in their quest for power.

Thank you for maintaining your youthfulness in your boundless exuberance and optimism, especially when the going was difficult in repairing a ruptured economy and bringing peace to an endangered world.

Thank you for your continued zest for life, and for serving your country and the planet these past eight years during all the ups and downs in world and domestic events on this roller coaster called “politics.”

Though you may take all I have stated as too high a praise, know that you are loved and truly admired by a great many people around the world.

I predict you will conduct one of the most exciting and impactful post-presidencies in our history.

I can also see in my mind’s eye your return for an extended stay in the White House.

We will remember to go high when they go low. MICHELLE IN 2020!

Go in peace and health,

Warren J. Blumenfeld

SOURCE: LGBTQ NATION

OBAMA SPEAKS OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE AIMED @ GAYS & OTHERS IN UN SPEECH

In his last speech to the United Nations, US President Barack Obama spoke out against violence aimed at gays and others around the world.

‘I do not believe progress is possible if our desire to preserve our identities gives way to an impulse to dehumanize or dominate another group,’ Obama said on Tuesday (20 September).

‘If our religion leads us to persecute those of another faith, if we jail or beat people who are gay, if our traditions lead us to prevent girls from going to school, if we discriminate on the basis of race or tribe or ethnicity, then the fragile bonds of civilization will fray.’

He added: ‘The world is too small, we are too packed together, for us to be able to resort to those old ways of thinking.’

Obama is the first US president to publicly support same-sex marriage while still in office and has championed other areas of LGBTI equality including allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the US military.

In his UN speech, Obama also pointed out that even in remote corners of the world, ‘citizens are demanding respect for the dignity of all people no matter their gender, or race, or religion, or disability, or sexual orientation, and those who deny others dignity are subject to public reproach.

‘An explosion of social media has given ordinary people more ways to express themselves, and has raised people’s expectations for those of us in power.’

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

IT'S OFFICIAL: STONEWALL INN IS A NATIONAL MONUMENT

President Obama made history today by naming the site of the Stonewall riots the first national LGBT monument — but it had long ago proved it deserved that title.

The bar has been a gathering place after major moments in LGBT history, both for celebration and mourning. The Stonewall Inn became a center for LGBT people and allies to come together after the Orlando mass shooting to remember the 49 people whose lives were lost June 12 and the 50-plus who were wounded. This time last year, crowds rushed to the Stonewall to celebrate the Supreme Court's ruling for marriage equality, after a long and hard-fought struggle. 

While LGBT people are in a state of mourning over the horrific act that took place in Orlando, the community needs a space where it can come together to honor historic moments in our history. That kind of space is exactly what President Obama recognized today.

The Stonewall National Monument will protect 7.7 acres of land in Manhattan's Greenwich Village — Christopher Park, the Stonewall Inn bar, and the area streets and sidewalks that surround the area where the 1969 riots against police harassment took place.

"The riots became protests, the riots became a movement, the movement ultimately became an integral part of America," said President Obama in a video about the history of the Stonewall riots. 

"I believe our national parks should reflect the full story of our country, the richness and diversity and uniquely American spirit that has always defined us," Obama added in his announcement.

The National Parks Conservation Association celebrated the announcement, saying, "Now, thanks to this victory, this site of mass resistance that led to larger social and political change will now be preserved as part of our national heritage for future generations."

President Obama first revealed his plans to make Stonewall a national monument back in May. 

Watch the video from President Obama below

SOURCE: THE ADVOCATE

OBAMA PAYS TRIBUTE TO ACTIVISTS IN FINAL LGBTI PRIDE MONTH PROCLAMATION

Barack Obama, the most pro-LGBTI president in US history, kicked off Pride Month a bit early on Tuesday (31 May) with his final proclamation marking the occasion.

Obama paid tribute to the activists who have led the fight for equality and made historic gains such a same-sex marriage which became legal across the US last June.

He states: ‘This journey, led by forward-thinking individuals who have set their sights on reaching for a brighter tomorrow, has never been easy or smooth. The fight for dignity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people is reflected in the tireless dedication of advocates and allies who strive to forge a more inclusive society.

‘They have spurred sweeping progress by changing hearts and minds and by demanding equal treatment — under our laws, from our courts, and in our politics.

‘This month, we recognize all they have done to bring us to this point, and we recommit to bending the arc of our Nation toward justice.’

Obama is the first sitting US president to personally come out publicly in support of same-sex marriage and in 2014 signed an Executive Order in that prohibits discrimination against Federal employees and contractors on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

This year his administration has stepped up on the issues of conversion therapy for minors, equal rights for transgender individuals and workplace protections for LGBTI people.

‘There remains much work to do to extend the promise of our country to every American, but because of the acts of courage of the millions who came out and spoke out to demand justice and of those who quietly toiled and pushed for progress, our Nation has made great strides in recognizing what these brave individuals long knew to be true in their hearts — that love is love and that no person should be judged by anything but the content of their character.’

Obama also states in the proclamation: ‘I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.’

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

OBAMA: ANTI-LGBTI LAWS IN NORTH CAROLINA & MISSISSIPPI ARE 'WRONG' & SHOULD BE 'OVERTURNED'

US President Barack Obama said Friday (22 April) that controversial anti-LGBTI laws recently enacted in North Carolina and Mississippi should be repealed.

Obama, appearing at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron, made his strongest statements to date against the laws which have resulted in growing backlash.

‘I … think that the laws that have been passed there are wrong and should be overturned and they’re in response to politics in part and some strong emotions that are generated by people,’ Obama said.

North Carolina’s HB2 law bans all local LGBTI rights ordinances in the state.

It was rushed into law to override an ordinance in Charlotte that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom of their gender identification.

Mississippi’s HB 1523 is considered by LGBTI activists to be the worst of the anti-gay bills currently under consideration by state legislatures in the US.

It legally protects religious institutions should they decide to not recognize the legality of same-sex marriages or refuse to place children with qualified, deserving LGBTI families.

It also protects state employees if they refuse to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple and sanctions the use of ‘conversion therapy’ to ‘cure’ LGBTI people.

The Republican governors in both states have remained defiant against critics and continue to defend the laws.

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

TODAY IS PRESIDENT'S DAY!

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. - Barack Obama

OUT 100 2K15 COVER REVEALED: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Ally. Hero. Icon.

The 44th President of the United States is our Ally of the Year—a president who came to office on a wave of euphoria, appeared to lose momentum halfway through, and has since rallied, helping us secure marriage equality, among other landmark initiatives that are transforming our place in America.

This is the first time a sitting president has been photographed for the cover of an LGBT title, a historic moment in itself, and a statement on how much his administration has done to advance a singularly volatile issue that tarnished the reputations of both President Clinton and President Bush. It might have tarnished this president, too, but for his late-hour conversion in 2012, which set the stage for the extraordinary succession of events that led to this year’s Supreme Court ruling, on June 26, making it unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to wed. Many things led up to that decision—“decades of our brothers and sisters fighting for recognition and equality” as the president notes—but once his administration decided to join that fight it created what people like to call a “transformative” moment. It helped tip the balance, and it put our elected leader on the right side of justice.

Read the Interview

SOURCE: OUT DOT COM

OBAMA: GAY RIGHTS IN ONE OF THE 'BIG HITS' OF MY PRESIDENCY

President Barack Obama has described LGBTI rights as one of the biggest 'hits' of his presidency.

The US president was reflecting as he enters into the last 18 months of being commander in chief, saying he believes he has made the country better than when he first took office.

Speaking to Marc Maron on his WTF podcast, Obama asked himself the infamous Ronald Reagan question: 'Are you better off than you were four years ago?'

Pointing out the Affordable Care Act and driving unemployment down, he also said he has 'doubled our clean energy and reduced our carbon footprint'.

'LGBT rights have been recognized and solidified in ways that we couldn't even imagine 10 years ago,' he emphasized.

'When I look at those things, I can say that in terms of not just in terms of managing the government, but moving the country forward, we've had a lot more hits than misses and we've made a difference in people's lives.

'That is ultimately what you're looking for, what you wake up and you think, are things a little bit better? If you take that long view, you're less nervous or stressed about the day to day.'

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS HOSTING A PRIDE EVENT @ THE WHITE HOUSE

The Washington Blade reports that Obama will host the event commemorating June as Pride month.

The reception will take place on 24 June.

LGBT receptions have been held at the White House since 2009, and are often used by leading rights advocates to push the President on a range of issues.

The latest reception will be held around the time the US Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

Obama recently joined the world of Twitter, and in one of his first tweets made the day of a 5-year-old advocate of same-sex marriage.

He last month called for an end to “devastating” ‘gay cure’ therapies which aim to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBT youths.

Speaking on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), President Obama has said “there is so much more to do”, but vowed to keep fighting.

Obama’s recently-appointed special envoy for LGBT rights is heading to Uganda – where homosexuality is illegal.

SOURCE: PINK NEWS

US PRESIDENT OBAMA ISSUES A GAY PRIDE MONTH PROCLAMATION

To honor LGBT Pride Month, US President Barack Obama released a proclamation.

The White House issued the statement on May 29th 2015.

It starts by connecting the fight for LGBTI equality with the country's history.

'Over the course of more than two centuries of striving and sacrifice, our country has expanded civil rights and enshrined equal protections into our Constitution,' the proclamation says. 'Through struggle and setback, we see a common trajectory toward a more free and just society.

'But we are also reminded that we are not truly equal until every person is afforded the same rights and opportunities -- that when one of us experiences discrimination, it affects all of us -- and that our journey is not complete until our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.'

The president points to the highlights in his administration, from prohibiting federal contractors from discrimination based on sexual orientation to calls for a ban on conversion therapy.

'...I will keep calling on the Congress to pass legislation so that all Americans are covered by these protections, no matter where they work.'

Obama doesn't shy from the remaining work for the gay community: homelessness for LGBTI youth, supportive housing for  'older individuals,' and an update of the country's plan to address HIV/AIDS.

The statement ends with the following:

'...We celebrate the proud legacy LGBT individuals have woven into the fabric of our Nation, we honor those who have fought to perfect our Union, and we continue our work to build a society where every child grows up knowing that their country supports them, is proud of them, and has a place for them exactly as they are.'

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS

OBAMA TO APPOINT LGBT RIGHTS ENVOY

Barack Obama is to create a new envoy role within the State Department, to promote LGBT rights around the world.

The US President is expected to announce later this month that he will appoint the first LGBT rights envoy.

According to an official within the State Department, the envoy will be an openly gay Foreign Service officer – and is currently going through the final stages of vetting.

Democratic Senator Ed Markey, who previously tried to secure a rights envoy through a bill in Congress, said: “I welcome the State Department’s action on my call to make defending LGBT rights a foreign policy priority.

“This special envoy position at the State Department will be a global model for defending LGBT rights around the world.”

Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign said: “For the first time in our nation’s history, LGBT people around the world will have a dedicated, full-time senior advocate in the U.S. State Department.

“President Obama and Secretary Kerry have shown tremendous leadership in championing the rights of LGBT people abroad.

“We look forward to working closely with whomever is selected for this new role, as we continue to push back against laws and attitudes that lead to human rights violations against LGBT people.”

Obama previously appointed a Democratic activist to the role of LGBT Liaison within the White House – but the role within the State Department will be distinct.

In the UK, the Labour party has said it would introduce an LGBT Rights Envoy – with Lord Michael Cashman set to take up the role if the party is elected.

SOURCE: PINK NEWS

PRESIDENT OBAMA DISMISSES GENDER STEREOTYPES WHEN SORTING CHILDREN'S TOYS

Video footage has emerged of the US President and First Lady, Michelle Obama, helping out earlier this month in sorting out toys for a charity initiative to provide gifts to less fortunate children.

The couple were helping to sort items in the ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ bins for the US Marine Corp’s annual Toys for Tots program in early December.

Michelle Obama has helped out with the program on several years previously, but this was the President’s first time. The event took place at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

In a move that will be welcomed by those frustrated by the gender stereotyping of children’s toys – and probably attacked by some of the President’s more rightwing critics – the President didn’t appear too concerned about sorting the presents along strictly tradition boy-girl lines, pointing out that some girls like playing with toys normally associated with boys.

The President – a father to two daughters – put science and sports-related toys in the girls bin. When he then placed a basketball in the bin, he said; ‘I just wanna make sure some girls play some ball.’

He then comes across a T-Ball set, which he also puts in the girls bin: ‘T-Ball? Girls like T-Ball … I’m just trying to break down these gender stereotypes.’

Tots for Toys has been delivering gifts to children since the 1940s, since which time is has given out over 469million toys. 

Click here for more information about the program, and watch video of the President below.

SOURCE: GAY STAR NEWS