PRESS
RELEASE from Human Rights Campaign PAC | RESPONSE
May 26, 2011
Human Rights
Campaign Endorses President Barack Obama for Reelection
“President
Obama
has improved the lives of LGBT Americans more than any President
in history,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.
Washington – The Human
Rights Campaign, the
nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil
rights
organization, today announced its endorsement of President Barack Obama
for reelection. The decision was made based on the President’s
demonstrated commitment to LGBT equality
and his record of accomplishment, from major legislative victories to
critical administrative reforms.
“President Obama has improved the lives of LGBT Americans more than
any President in history,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “In 2008
we were promised change and profound change is what we got. More
remains to be done and ensuring that President Obama is able to
continue the forward momentum toward equality for another term is an
absolute priority of the Human Rights Campaign.”
President Obama’s Administration’s record of accomplishment for the
LGBT community includes:
- Pressing for passage and signing legislation to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell” law that bans openly lesbian, gay and bisexual
servicemembers.
- Pressing for passage and signing an inclusive hate crimes law –
the first federal statute to explicitly protect LGBT individuals.
- Determining that the administration believes Section 3 of DOMA to
be unconstitutional and refusing to defend the discriminatory law in
court.
- Requiring hospitals nationwide to adopt LGBT-inclusive
non-discrimination policies regarding visitation.
In addition, the administration’s policies: added gender identity to
the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs;
permitted married same-sex couples to use their marriage licenses as
evidence of a name change for passports and instituted more reasonable
standards for changing a gender marker on passports; allowed the Census
Bureau to release data on married same-sex couples;
extended a number of benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
possible under existing authority; launched a National HIV/AIDS
Strategy and efforts to target populations most at risk; required
abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs be inclusive of
and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT youth; and recognized LGBT families
are protected under a host of laws from the Violence Against Women Act
to family and medical leave regulations to housing programs.
More information on the President’s LGBT record is available at: www.hrc.org/ObamaEndorsement.
“The records of the other candidates seeking the presidency should
be a wake-up call to fair-minded Americans,” said Solmonese. “As the
fight for equality moves forward, President Obama is marching with us
while the alternatives would stop us in our tracks.”
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights
organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender
equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end
discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves
fundamental fairness and equality for all.
Regulatory and Policy Changes
- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a
regulation ending the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
- The State Department reversed a Bush Administration policy that
refused to use a same-sex marriage license as evidence of a name change
for passports.
- The Census Bureau overturned the Bush Administration's overbroad
interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and agreed to release
data on married same-sex couples along with other demographic
information from the 2010 Census.
- President Obama issued two Presidential Memoranda (in June 2009
and
June 2010) directing federal agencies to extend whatever benefits they
could, under existing authority, to the same-sex partners of federal
employees. These include sick and funeral leave, long-term care
insurance, travel and relocation assistance, child care subsidies, and
certain retirement benefits. The State Department extended numerous
benefits to the partners of Foreign Service officers, including
diplomatic passports, access to overseas medical and training
facilities, inclusion in housing allocations, and access to emergency
evacuation.
- The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) added gender identity to
the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed
regulations recognizing LGBT families for federal housing programs,
prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in accessing
federally-insured mortgage loans, and requiring HUD grantees to abide
by LGBT-inclusive state and local antidiscrimination laws. HUD also
announced it would conduct the first-ever nationwide study of LGBT
housing discrimination.
- President Obama issued Presidential Memorandum in April 2010
directing HHS to issue regulations requiring all hospitals receiving
Medicaid and Medicare to prohibit discrimination in visitation against
LGBT people. HHS issued regulations that went into effect in 2011.
- HHS rescinded provisions of a Bush-era rule which allowed health
care providers to refuse to provide any health care service or
information for a religious or moral reason.
- The federal Prison Rape Elimination Commission proposed national
standards to reduce sexual abuse in correctional facilities, including
standards regarding LGBT and intersex inmates. In early 2011, the
Justice Department proposed regulations to implement those standards.
- HHS's Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability
reviewed
the lifetime ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, concluded
that it is a "suboptimal" policy that screens out low risk donors and
called on HHS to conduct research to support a move to a policy based
on risk behavior, regardless of sexual orientation.
- The Department of Justice issued an opinion clarifying that the
criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to
stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners.
- The Department of State revised the standards for changing a
gender
marker on a passport, making the process less burdensome for
transgender people.
- The Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying that an
employee
can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a
same-sex partner's child, even where the partner does not have a legal
or biological relationship to that child.
- HHS revised its funding guidance around
abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs, requiring that
recipient programs are inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT
youth, and mandating that they include only medically-accurate
information.
- HHS awarded a $900,000 grant for the creation of a national
resource center on LGBT aging issues to Services & Advocacy for
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE). HHS also
awarded a $13.3 million grant to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center to
create a model program supporting LGBT and questioning youth in the
foster care system.
- At the request of HHS, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a
lengthy report in March 2011 detailing the range of areas in which more
research is needed on LGBT health needs.
- In March 2011, HHS sent a number of recommendations to the White
House for policy and regulatory changes that HHS could undertake to
improve the health of LGBT people, including: collection of LGBT health
data, guidance for states on including LGBT families in federal welfare
programs, and guidance for states on protecting the financial resources
of a same-sex partner when his or her partner enters long-term care
under Medicaid.
Support of Pro-LGBT Legislation
- The President signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act into law.
- The President signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010
into law, after including DADT repeal in the 2010 State of the Union
address and brokering a compromise with the Pentagon that honored both
the legislative calendar and the Pentagon process.
- Administration officials testified in support of ENDA in House
and Senate in the 111th Congress.
- Administration officials testified in support of the Domestic
Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend spousal
benefits to the partners of federal workers, including health insurance
and insurance benefits.
- The Department of Justice announced that it would stop defending
lawsuits brought against Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA), because the President and Attorney General believe that
provision is unconstitutional.
Personnel
- President Obama has appointed more than 100 openly-LGBT
individuals to positions throughout his administration.
- Among the prominent appointees are: John Berry, Director of the
Office of Personnel Management; Nancy Sutley, Chairperson of the
Council for Environmental Quality; Kristina Johnson, Under Secretary of
Energy; Fred Hochberg, chairman of the Export Import Bank; Jenny
Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington; Chai
Feldblum, commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and
David Huebner, Ambassador to New Zealand.
- The President has also nominated openly-LGBT people for positions
in the federal judiciary, including Emily Hewitt to be Chief Judge of
the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Marisa Demeo as an D.C. Superior
Court Associate Judge, Paul Oetken as the first openly-gay man on a
federal district court (the U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of New York) and Edward DuMont as the first openly-gay judge
on a federal appellate court (the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit).
Other Pro-LGBT Actions
- President Obama issued LGBT Pride Month proclamations in 2009 and
2010, the first since 2000, and held the first-ever Pride events at the
White House.
- Among the 2009 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom
were LGBT icons Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King.
- The administration added the United States to a United Nations
General Assembly resolution calling for an end to criminal penalties
based on sexual orientation or gender identity, a measure that former
President Bush had refused to sign.
- The President launched a National AIDS Strategy with key goals to
lower the number of new HIV infections, increase the number of people
receiving care, and reducing racial disparities. He also announced a
new, five-year outreach and prevention project called Act Against AIDS,
which targets populations most at risk.
- In October 2010, the White House held a summit on school bullying
and formed an interagency working group to look at ways to address this
pervasive problem, including in regards to LGBT youth.
- In response to an epidemic of anti-LGBT bullying and youth
suicides, the President and numerous other high-level officials
recorded video messages of support as part of the "It Gets Better"
Project.