obama repeal

[president obama] when i am president of theunited states, gays and lesbians will have someone who will fight for equal rights forthem, because they are our brothers, and they are our sisters! [jane lynch voice over] in 2008, our countryelected a leader who not only acknowledged the lgbt community—but who embraced it. [president obama] i'm here with you in thatfight. (applause.)â  [jane lynch vo]who counted us as friends [president obama] i held some bilateral talkswith your leader, lady gaga. she was wearing 16-inch heels.â 

[jane lynch vo]we elected a man who understood our struggles [president obama]i was shocked and saddened by the deaths of several young people who were bullied andtaunted for being gay. [jane lynch vo]and who has pushed the nation forward towards equality. [president obama]it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that i think same sex couples should be ableto get married. [president obama]i don’t think there’s been a, a single moment in which lgbt issues became importantto me. i think it’s an accumulation of a

lifetime of friends and family, people i’vegotten to know, who have helped me understand how the fight for lgbt rights is consistentwith that most important part of america’s character, which is to constantly expand opportunityand fairness to everybody. we’ve seen a profound cultural shift justin the last decade, partly because folks are family now. this isn’t a matter of strangers,these are people we love. people we care about. people we care about. since i came to washington,first as a senator and then ultimately as president, meeting people like judy shepard,and not only hearing the heartbreaking tragedy of matthew but also the strength and determinationshe brought to making sure that never happens to young people anywhere in the country again.

all the men and women in uniform who i’vehad a chance to meet who have served our country with such devotion, having to hide who theyare in order to keep in uniform. those stories made me passionate about this issue. [jane lynch vo]that passion drove him to make more significant advances for lgbt americans than any otherpresident who came before him. [newscaster] gay rights groups are hailingit as a big victory. president obama ordered any hospital that gets federal funding togive same sex couples visitation and consultation rights. [newscaster]president obama getting ready to grant some

benefits to same sex partners of federal employees. [newscaster]president obama will sign a measure making it a federal crime to assault someone becauseof sexual orientation or gender identity. [president obama]no one in america should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands ofthe person they love.â  [judy wheeler via cnn]this is a triumph for not just members of the gay community but for us as a civilization. [jane lynch vo]he appointed more openly lgbt people to his administration and confirmed more lgbt federaljudges than any previous administration.

and he knocked down a long-standing discriminatorypolicy within the us military. [president obama]one of my proudest moments was when we were able to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell.”it was not an easy process. there were some who doubted whether we’d ever get it done. [president obama]“this is done.” [president obama]that day that we signed it, that was an emotional day and to see not just folks who were activein the military, but to see veterans — some of them from the vietnam war or the gulf war— seeing the tears on their faces and understanding what it meant to them to be acknowledged wasone of the most satisfying moments of my presidency.

[president obama]we are not a nation that says don’t ask don’t tell. we are a nation that says, outof many, we are one. [jane lynch vo]and with that firm belief, he became the first sitting president to support marriage equality. [newscaster]truly historic and potentially watershed moment as president obama comes out formally publiclyenthusiastically in support of gay marriage. [newscaster]no sitting president has ever done what barack obama did yesterday [commentator]: the president of the unitedstates just said he stands fully with gay

and lesbian americans. [president obama]it’s part and parcel of my overall belief that all the lgbt couples that i meet acrossthe country; their families, their children, their commitments to each other are as strongand as precious as anybody else’s. not only to preserve the gains that we’veover the last three years, but to make sure that any discrimination is eliminated, you’regoing to need a strong advocate in the white house. i am that strong advocate we’re going to continue to lean forwardand making sure that whether it’s the capacity

to adopt, hospital visitation, ending travelbans, making sure that benefits to spouses or partners are recognized at the federallevel; we’re just going to keep on making sure that the rights of same-sex couples areexpanded. and it’s not just a matter of head. it’sa matter of heart. it’s who i am. it’s what i care about.