Florida Agenda

By James Michaels

At 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, September 20, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) was no longer the law of the land in the United States allowing lesbians and gays to serve openly in the United States military.

Last ditch efforts by the Republican Party to detain the repeal of DADT due to “paper work problems” failed to stop the repeal of the act that the U.S. Congress passed,in a lame duck session last November. It was signed into law by President Obama immediately prior to their December recess.

President Obama issued a statement early Tuesday morning concerning the repeal of DADT:

“Today, the discriminatory law known as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is finally and formally repealed.

As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members. And today, as Commander in Chief, I want those who were discharged under this law to know that your country deeply values your service.

“I was proud to sign the Repeal Act into law last December because I knew that it would enhance our national security, increase our military readiness, and bring us closer to the principles of equality and fairness that define us as Americans. Today’s achievement is a tribute to all the patriots who fought and marched for change; to Members of Congress, from both parties, who voted for repeal; to our civilian and military leaders who ensured a smooth transition; and to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform who showed that they were ready to move forward together, as one team, to meet the missions we ask of them.

“For more than two centuries, we have worked to extend America’s promise to all our citizens.  Our armed forces have been both a mirror and a catalyst of that progress, and our troops, including gays and lesbians, have given their lives to defend the freedoms and liberties that we cherish as Americans.  Today, every American can be proud that we have taken another great step toward keeping our military the finest in the world and toward fulfilling our nation’s founding ideals.”

Immediately following the official repeal, several events happened in the United States:

Navy Lt. Gary Ross married his partner of 11 years, Dan Swezy, in Duxbury, Vermont, at the stroke of midnight just as the military’s ban on gays in the military was officially repealed. Vermont was chosen by the couple because it was in the eastern time zone and the couple would be able to recite their vows in front of family and friends at the first popular moment. The couple traveled to Vermont from their home in Arizona. Vermont was also the first state to allow gays to enter into civil unions and one of six that have legalized same-sex marriage.

For months, a faceless and nameless U.S. Air Force member stationed in Germany had been posting YouTube videos for months explaining what it was like living under DADT. At 2:45 a.m. in Germany, 7:45 CT, he produced a new video and posted it on YouTube, showing his face for the first time as he called his father in Alabama explaining he was gay. After telling his father of his sexuality, his father made it clear that he still loves him. “I called my dad to tell him the hardest thing that gay guys will ever have to say.” The serviceman still has not released his name but he goes by the YouTube identity of “AreYouSuprised?”

At midnight, HBO premiered a documentary, “The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The cable network described the show as a timely and historical look at gays and lesbians in the military that illustrates the tumultuous evolution of the controversial policy that fostered hate and intolerance within the military and undermined the very freedoms American military defend by forcing its soldiers to lie and live in secrecy.

The U.S. Military sent out a letter to all U.S. soldiers throughout the world formally announcing that DADT was over:

“Today marks the end of ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’ The law is repealed. From this day forward, gay and lesbian soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations and politics reflect the repeal guidance issued by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter.

“For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our soldiers are the most agile, adaptable and capable warriors in history — and we are ready for this change…

“Accordingly, we expect all personnel to follow our values by implementing the repeal fully, fairly and in accordance with policy guidance. It is the duty of all personnel to treat each other with dignity and respect, while maintaining good order and discipline throughout our ranks. Doing so, will help the U.S. Army remain the Strength of the Nation.”

The military also immediately started accepting applications from lesbians and gays. Prior to lifting of DADT, the military spent months updating regulations. Lifting the ban also brought a halt to any and all on-going investigations and discharges that were pending under the old law.

Existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will continue regardless of sexual orientation. There will be no immediate changes to eligibility for military benefits. All service members are already entitled to certain benefits, such as designating a partner as a life insurance beneficiary or as a caregiver.

The Navy had proposed training chaplains to conduct same-sex civil union on bases located in states where same-sex marriage is permitted. After more than five-dozen lawmakers objected, however, the plan was shelved until the Pentagon completes a review of the issue.

By David Stack

The United States of America is under a severe political, social and spiritual crisis; and I’m very concerned about the future because we are better than this! While Washington is in ideological gridlock, the U.S. now has the worst income inequality of any industrialized nation. There’s a strong relationship between inequality and social ills and health issues such as homicides, imprisonment, teenage pregnancy, obesity, and mental illness, etc.

Thirty years of research comparing each U.S. state, and various countries shows that the greater the inequality, the worse the societal ills.

We have a government system that works hard for the big money transnational corporations and the very richest Americans, but not for the rest of us. One of the many ways in which this is evident is in the corporate loopholes which allow the most profitable companies like Exxon to get away without paying any Federal taxes whatsoever!  Rather than fixing this, the Republicans want to privatize Social Security and do away with Medicare! The Republicans would rather balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable, the struggling middle class, etc. This is WRONG and simply immoral!

The Republicans hope you don’t know the history of the U.S. tax structure from the beginning of the 20th Century, and how it corresponds to the Great Depression and this Great Recession.

The majority of the GOP House (235 as of July, 2011) has signed the Grover Norquist Tax Pledge in which they vow not to increase taxes. Yet, polls show that the American people overwhelmingly support raising taxes on the wealthy. It’s bad for democracy for our elected officials who are supposed to represent all of us to make such a restrictive pledge—unless, of course, you’re among the wealthiest Americans!

You may recall that the Republicans used a hostage situation to coerce President Obama into a compromise that extended the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Why not take the $700 billion that the Republicans want to give in tax cuts to the top 2% of richest Americans, and instead of giving those tax cuts, put it into our crumbling infrastructure? That would guarantee an effective economic stimulus by creating much needed jobs. China is way ahead of us in high speed railway systems while our bridges are collapsing in this country!

Republicans call the rich ‘job creators,’ but with the Bush tax cuts still in place, I ask: WHERE ARE THE JOBS? It doesn’t make any sense to me to give the richest Americans this tax break at a time when our income inequality is the worst that it’s been since the Great Depression!

Most people forget that the TARP stimulus for the bank bailouts was initiated by former President Bush. Regarding Obama’s stimulus, I agree with economists who say that the stimulus would have had to be twice as big to have had a more noticeable effect on the economy. However, it’s clear that things would have been worse without this stimulus at all. Another way it could have been more effective is if the Republicans hadn’t stripped it of its “buy American only” provision. So instead, we are stimulating China!

Meanwhile China also had a stimulus plan, but that country had more sense to keep its “buy China only” provision in its plan.

It’s one of my biggest pet peeves that we’ve sent all our call centers and manufacturing jobs to India and China in the name of being “competitive in the global marketplace.” I understand that corporations are just doing what they have to do to stay competitive, but our politicians, both Democratic and Republican, have opened the door for outsourcing. They have abandoned the road map given to us by Alexander Hamilton’s 11-point Plan in his “1791 Report on Manufactures to Congress” that protected American industries. Our insane trade policies only benefit other countries and the transnational corporations. The losers here are mostly middle-class Americans as unemployment increases. We will never have a full recovery until we change the fundamentals!

And it’s plain to me how and why our policies have changed: The lobbyists, corruption, bribery… our politicians on both sides of the political spectrum have been seduced by the corporations to abandon some of our most basic principles. And we wonder where the jobs have gone in this country. Protectionism — It’s a word unfairly subjected to demagoguery, and yet I strongly believe this country is worth protecting!

The Democratic Party isn’t innocent here either. Ross Perot was absolutely right when he said that if Clinton’s NAFTA passes we’ll hear a “giant sucking sound” of our jobs leaving the country,  and that’s exactly what happened! Unfortunately it didn’t just stop at NAFTA.

In his book, “Rebootint the American Dream, “ Thom Hartmann wrote, “After Reagan blew out our tariffs in the 1980s and Clinton kicked the door off the hinges with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and World Trade Organization (WTO), our average tariffs are now around two percent. The predictable result has been the hemorrhaging of American manufacturing capacity to those countries that do protect their industries through high import tariffs but allow exports on the cheap—particularly China and South Korea.

“The irony is that we have abandoned Hamilton’s advice—and our own history—while China, South Korea, Japan, and other nations are following his prescriptions and turning into muscular and prosperous economic entities.”

Even though both parties have had their share in laws with incentives for corporations to outsource jobs, the 2010 Democratic House passed a bill that would have used both the carrot and the stick approach to stop the insane trade policies, and bring those jobs back to the U.S. But this bill was blocked by a Republican filibuster in the Senate! Who’s working for the American people?

The power of corruption and money in politics was given a massive boost by our conservative U.S. Supreme Court in January of 2010 when deciding the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 08-205 (2010) case in which they declared corporations as “persons.” Under the guise of “freedom of speech,” Citizens United opened the floodgates for corporate money to influence political campaigns. Not only that, but there’s nothing that prevents foreign corporations from influencing our elections! There are three ways to undo a poor decision by the Supreme Court.

1. Wait for the composition of the Court to change
2. For the American people, the president, and Congress to break with the court
3. Amend the Constitution
(see www.MoveToAmend.org)

The first on the list is the best reason to make sure Barack Obama wins a second term. It is very likely that we will have a chance to change that composition in the next presidential term.

The Right Wing has waged war against regulations on banks and corporations. Would anyone want to watch a football game if there were no rules, no goal posts, and no boundaries? Of course not!

Remember the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf? It was the worst ecological disaster in our nation’s history, and eleven men died due to lack of regulations.  The Wall Street financial collapse in the fall of 2008, which went hand in hand with the housing crisis, was due to lack of regulations on Wall Street and the big banks.

I’m not so much for big government as I am for whatever government is necessary for worker safety, protecting children, protecting our environment, as well as consumer protections to keep our nation’s economy strong. While the Democrats aren’t absolved from supporting deregulation, once again, the Republicans have sold out! They’re desperately trying to bring back these same policies that played a major role in the fall of our economy, and THAT’S INSANE!

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suggests a five-point plan to balance the national budget without hurting the working middle class:

1) End Bush tax breaks to wealthiest Americans. (It’s time for SHARED SACRIFICE!) This would bring in $700 billion
dollars per year.

2) Establish a millionaire surplus tax of 5.4%. This would bring in $380 billion dollars in the next ten years.

3) End tax breaks for the oil/gas companies. This would bring in $35 billion dollars over the next ten years.

4) Prohibit abusive and illegal tax shelters (i.e. bogus address corporations in the Cayman Islands so they don’t have to pay US Federal taxes.) This would bring in $100 billion dollars per year.

5) End tax breaks to companies that outsource their jobs overseas. This would bring in $400 billion dollars in the next ten years.

The Republicans are more interested in sabotaging our economy so that the low information voters will think Obama is to blame.

What is priority number one for the Republicans? Jobs? The economy? According to the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

The sad thing is, none of what Sen. Sanders proposes will get accomplished  if Obama isn’t re-elected and if the Democratic Party doesn’t win the House back. Until then, the economy won’t see a recovery for a very long time!  Once again, the Republicans would rather balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the vulnerable, and the struggling middle class; and this is WRONG and simply immoral!

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Due to the corporate person-hood law of Citizens United, in 2012 we’re about to see an unprecedented amount of money pouring into this presidential campaign. The big oil industry and any corporation with enough money to crush any candidate standing in the way of their profits are ready. What can we do? Besides your vote, you can get involved. I would be glad to help get you started, or you can simply click on the link below to get started. There are many ways you can help, but just let me know if you need help getting started.

http://www.barackobama.com/get-involved

Click On Image to View Fullscale

WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Barack Obama last week certified the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the policy preventing gays and lesbians from openly serving in the military.

“Our military will no longer be deprived of the talents and skills of patriotic Americans just because they happen to be gay or lesbian,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

The move came after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certified that the military was ready to end the ban.

Each member of the Joint Chiefs had to submit a recommendation to Panetta, indicating that they are far enough in their training to repeal DADT, and that it will not have an impact on military readiness.

“As of September 20th, service members will no longer be forced to hide who they are in order to serve our country,” Obama wrote.

The “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy forced gays and lesbians to keep their sexual orientation secret if they wanted to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Last year, Obama signed a landmark law repealing the policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a White House press briefing earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the repeal of the nation’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the stance President Obama is taking about the possible repeal.

Carney replied: “I can tell you that the President has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which continues to have a real impact on the lives of real people: our families, friends and neighbors. He is proud to support the Respect for Marriage Act, introduced by Sen. Feinstein and Congressman Nadler which would take DOMA off the books once and for all.

This legislation would uphold the principle that the federal government should not deny gay and lesbian couples the same rights and legal protections as straight couples.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee getting is ready to hold their first hearing to repeal DOMA very soon.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When asked if he believes that civil marriage is a constitutional right during his press conference last week, President Barack Obama reminded the press of his record on LGBT issues and argued that marriage is best left to the states. He said that what happened in New York “w as

a good thing. I think that’s exactly how things should work. I think it’s important for us to work through these issues because each state is going to be different and each community is going to be different.”

Obama also reiterated that he feels that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and that the federal government should not be poking its nose into what the states are doing when it comes to marriage equality.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Obama administration has launched a website highlighting the President’s accomplishments related to the LGBT community.

According to a White House statement: “In honor of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month,

The White House launched our first ever LGBT specific constituency webpage: http://wh.gov/lgbt.

This webpage is designed to keep you updated on how the President and the Administration are ‘Winning the Future’ for LGBT Americans.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, sent a letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus questioning a new RNC website that demonizes progress toward LGBT equality. The website, “Hope Isn’t Hiring,” directly mentions HRC, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization and a Washington Post article detailing President Obama’s work to eliminate discrimination against the LGBT community.

“The Case Against Obama: Social Issues” gave ten points:

1. Despite it being the law of the land, Obama refused to continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court.
2. Obama repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” while the U.S. troops are still on the battlefield.
3. Despite Obama’s misleading rhetoric, ObamaCare will provide federal funding for abortions.
4. Obama rescinded the Conscience Clause, exposing doctors and nurses to discrimination.

5. Obama has repeatedly nominated liberal extremists to the federal bench.
6. Obama opposed California’s Prop 8 and has expanded government recognition of same-sex couples.
7. Obama ordered Federal tax dollars to support embryonic stem cell research until a Federal judge intervened.
8. Obama supports Planned Parenthood and its Federal funding of abortions.
9. Obama is against school choice and giving parents control over their children’s education.
10. Many Americans no longer feel that the President shares their values.

“From the way in which certain issues are detailed, reasonable people would conclude that the RNC believes in discrimination against LGBT people,” wrote Solmonese. “You [the RNC] sensationalize issues like hospital visitation rights for loving families and ending housing discrimination when the truth is Americans agree that these are the right things to do.”

Hollywood Heavyweights Push Obama to Allow Gay Marriage

By ALEX VAUGHN

Anne Hathaway, Ellen Degeneres and Martin Sheen are just three of over two dozen Hollywood stars pushing President Obama to allow gay couples to legally marry.

The celebrities signed an open letter to the President on Tuesday, urging him to make good on what they said was his movement toward legalizing same-sex marriage.

“In February, you made a powerful statement about the law,” the letter reads. “Invoking guarantees enshrined in the Constitution, you and the Attorney General determined that federal discrimination against gay and lesbian couples in marriage is unconstitutional…. Today we ask you to take the next step and join the majority of Americans who support allowing loving and committed gay and lesbian couples to legally marry.”

Obama said in February that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the law in court. “Given that conclusion, the president has instructed the department not to defend the statute in such cases,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement at the time. “I fully concur with the president’s determination.”

But the letter called for more “clarity” from President Obama on the issue.

“We ask you now for your leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex cou- ples from marriage, an exclusion that harms millions of Americans each day,” the letter continues. “Whether to end discrimination in marriage is a question America has faced before, and faces again today. With so many Americans talking it through in heartfelt conversations, it is a question that calls for clarity from the President.”

Glee star, Jane Lynch, alongside a number of other notables, called on Obama Monday to change his attitudes about gay marriage from “evolving” to supportive.

The stars signed a letter titled “Say, ‘I do’ Mr. President” as part of a campaign organized by marriage equality group Freedom to Marry.

Now, the signatories, also including record executive David Geffen, are asking the president for “leadership on ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage.”

The New York-based group Freedom to Marry said Monday that R&B singer Mya and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey also signed an open letter calling on the president to back gay marriage.

Obama has said he supports civil unions as an alternative to marriage for gays and lesbians, and his views on the subject are evolving. Freedom to Marry says several couples plan to deliver the letter to the White House in the spring. Just weeks after the Obama administration announced it would no longer legally defend the Defense of Marriage act, some of the president’s biggest Hollywood supporters came forward urging him to go a step further and legalize same-sex marriage.

Citing Obama’s decision on DOMA last month, the letter calls for Obama to exhibit similar leadership on same-sex marriage rights. “We ask you to complete your journey and join us, and the majority of Americans, who support the freedom to marry.”

The letter was also signed by NFL linebackers Scott Fujita of the Cleveland Browns  and Brenden Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens; entertainment mogul Bob Wright; for- mer NAACP chairman Julian Bond; and Facebook co-founders Chris Hughes and Sean Parker. Hughes, who is openly gay, previously worked for Obama’s campaign in 2008, heading up its enormous- ly successful new-media efforts.

The letter comes as Obama prepares to launch his 2012 re-election campaign, in which he will no doubt count on entertainment types as an important source of financial and public support. But the president’s relationship with Hollywood has noticeably cooled since 2008, as celebrities have openly expressed their discontent with Obama in part because of his position on same-sex marriage.

Just last month, Matt Damon railed on Obama in an interview with CNN, bluntly saying he has not done a good job as president. Meanwhile, Lynch, the openly gay star of “Glee,” called Obama a “huge disappointment” for his handling of gay rights.

Obama has long said that he supports civil unions as an alternative to marriage for gays and lesbians—putting him to the right of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who has endorsed same-sex marriage.

Many gay rights supporters view that position as an opening—though it’s unclear how far Obama will be willing to go ahead of what could be a tough re- election campaign.

To date, the letter has received over 28,000 electronic signatures.

Has done more in two years than Bush administration did in eight

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

It’s no secret that LGBT rights advocates had been pushing President Barack Obama to move forward on equality legislation during the first two years of his presidency. Before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last month, many felt the president was dragging his feet on helping the LGBT cause, but according to Equality Giving, Obama’s administration has accomplished more in 24 months than his predecessors, President George W. Bush, had done in eight years. Here is their list of President Obama’s accomplishments:

FEDERAL LEGISLATION SIGNED INTO LAW

• 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.

• Signed repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

• Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act.

POLICIES CHANGED

• Reversed an inexcusable U.S. position by signing the United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

• Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees in 2009 and, further, in 2010. • Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010.

• Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign-service employees. • Committed to ensuring that HUD’s core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

• 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 SAG.

• Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation’s largest employer).

• 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.

•Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.

• Required all grant applicants seeking HUD funding to comply with state and local anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT individuals.

• Adopted transgender recommendations on the issuance of gender-appropriate passports that will ease barriers to safe travel and that will provide governmentissued ID that avoids involuntary “outing” in situations requiring ID, like hiring, where a gender-appropriate driver’s license or birth certificate is not available.

• Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims.

• Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover employees taking unpaid leave to care for the children of same-sex partners.

• Issued guidance specifically to assist LGBT tenants denied housing on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Issued a National HIV/AIDS Strategy praised as “long-overdue” by the Task Force, Lambda and others.

• Issued guidance to 15,000 local departments of education and 5,000 colleges to support educators in combating bullying.

• Cut back authority to discharge under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” from hundreds of generals to just six civilian appointees, effectively ending discharges while working toward a permanent end to the policy.

• Led the fight that reversed a 2010 United Nations vote removing sexual orientation from the list of things people should not be killed for.

RESPECT & INCLUSION

• Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide full partnership benefits to federal employees.

• Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamations since 2000.

• Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history.

• Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King, joining past recipients such as Rosa Parks.

• Appointed the first-ever transgender DNC member.

• Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA.

• Hired more openly LGBT officials in its first two years – more than 150, including more than 20 “Senate-confirmables” – than any previous administration hired in four years or eight.

• Swore in Ambassador David Huebner.

• 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.

• Appointed Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, instead of conservatives who would have tilted the Supreme Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation.

• Named open transgender appointees (the first president ever to do so).

• Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the president’s historic NAACP address to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation; created 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; included the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the secretary of the U.S. Treasury Department and the president of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President’s economic address at the New York Stock Exchange; and welcomed four gay couples to its first State Dinner.

• Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act.

• Spoke out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast.

• Dispatched the secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

• Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study.

• Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

• Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons

• Appointed Retired Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, an early public champion of open service in the military, to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

• Publicly invited the shunned Mississippi high school prom student to the White House.

• Successfully fought for U.N. accreditation of IGLHRC (the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) – against Republican attempts to block it.

• Convened the first-ever anti-bullying summit to craft a national strategy to reduce bullying in schools.

• Launched a new website, www.bullyinginfo. org, to bring all the federal resources on bullying together in one place for the first time.

• Awarded $13.3 million to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in the foster care system.

• Tweeted to 5.7 million BarackObama followers and nearly 2 million White House followers the president’s “It Gets Better” video.

• Embraced that campaign with heartfelt messages from, as well, the vice president, the secretary of state, secretary of agriculture (aimed particularly at rural youth), secretaries of education and health & human services, secretary of labor (in English and Spanish), director of OPM and LGBT members of the White House staff.

• Issued a Department of Justice video urging kids to call a Justice Department toll-free number if their school is aware of bullying but taking no action.