(NAME-MCE) Barack Obama's Letter to LGBT People

[Warren Blumenfeld]

Andrew Belonsky at Queerty 
<http://www.queerty.com/obama-campaign-calls-on-gay-clinton-supporters-20080607/>did 
a great wrap-up of an Obama campaign conference 
call to gay supporters which happened late on 
Friday on which former HRC executive director 
Elizabeth Birch and current president Joe 
Solmonese participated, explaining Obama's 50 
state strategy and urging Clinton supporters to rally behind the party.
Obama also received 
<http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/jcitron/gG5V2t>the 
endorsement of the Human Rights Campaign over the weekend.
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Barack Speaks To HQ Staff & Volunteers
Saturday, June 6, 2008
Chicago Headquarters
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnhmByYxEIo>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnhmByYxEIo
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***OBAMA'S LETTER TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY***
I’m running for President to build an America 
that lives up to our founding promise of equality 
for all – a promise that extends too our gay 
brothers and sisters. It’s wrong to have 
millions of Americans living as second-class 
citizens in this nation. And I ask for your 
support in this election so that together we can 
bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.

Equality is a moral imperative. That’s why 
throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate 
discrimination against LGBT Americans. In 
Illinois, I cosponsored a fully inclusive bill 
that prohibited discrimination on the basis of 
both sexual orientation and gender identity, 
extending protection to the workplace, housing, 
and places of public accommodation. In the U.S. 
Senate, I have cosponsored bills that would 
equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and 
provide benefits to domestic partners of federal 
employees. And as president, I will place the 
weight of my administration behind the enactment 
of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes 
and a fully inclusive Employment Non- 
Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace 
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to 
urge states to treat samesex couples with full 
equality in their family and adoption laws. I 
personally believe that civil unions represent 
the best way to secure that equal treatment. But 
I also believe that the federal government should 
not stand in the way of states that want to 
decide on their own how best to pursue equality 
for gay and lesbian couples -whether that means a 
domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil 
marriage. I support the complete repeal of the 
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Federal law 
should not discriminate in any way against gay 
and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA 
does. I have also called for us to repeal Don’t 
Ask, Don’t Tell, and I have worked to improve 
the Uniting American Families Act so we can 
afford same-sex couples the same rights and 
obligations as married couples in our immigration system.

The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS 
epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not 
have to choose between values and science. While 
abstinence education should be part of any 
strategy, we also need to use common sense. We 
should have age-appropriate sex education that 
includes information about contraception. We 
should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection 
within our prison population. And we should lift 
the federal ban on needle exchange, which could 
dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug 
users. In addition, local governments can protect 
public health by distributing contraceptives.

We also need a president who’s willing to 
confront the stigma - too often tied to 
homophobia - that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. 
I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to 
evangelicals at Rick Warren’s Saddleback 
Church, and will continue to speak out as president.

That is where I stand on the major issues of the 
day. But having the right positions on the issues 
is only half the battle. The other half is to win 
broad support for those positions. And winning 
broad support will require stepping outside our 
comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal 
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and implement fully 
inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and 
discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring 
the message of LGBT equality to skeptical 
audiences as well as friendly ones - and that’s 
what I’ve done throughout my career. I brought 
this message of inclusiveness to all of America 
in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic 
convention. I talked about the need to fight 
homophobia when I announced my candidacy for 
President, and I have been talking about LGBT 
equality to a number of groups during this 
campaign - from local LGBT activists to rural 
farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist 
Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached.

Just as important, I have been listening to what 
all Americans have to say. I will never 
compromise on my commitment to equal rights for 
all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my 
ears to the voices of those who still need to be 
convinced. That is the work we must do to move 
forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary.

Americans are yearning for leadership that can 
empower us to reach for what we know is possible. 
I believe that we can achieve the goal of full 
equality for the millions of LGBT people in this 
country. To do that, we need leadership that can 
appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. 
Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. 
Together, we will achieve real equality for all 
Americans, gay and straight alike.
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Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
Assistant Professor
Multicultural and International Curriculum Studies
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011
wblumen at iastate.edu
515.294.5931 office
515.232.8230 home