Tag: President Obama

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President Obama speaks to the country regarding Boston bombing

President Obama pledged that the American government will find out who set off the twin bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon and “hold them accountable.”

Speaking at the White House press briefing room just hours after two bombs exploded in Boston, Massachusetts, Obama was careful not to characterize the attack and instead stressed that “we still do not know who did this or why and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this, we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

“On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans united in concern for our fellow citizens,” he added.

A White House official says that the Boston explosions will be “approached as an act of terror.”

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Why an executive order banning LGBT discrimination is a big, $250 billion deal

In lieu of passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seem out of reach at this time, LGBT advocates have asked President Obama to at the very least issue an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Some states with large federal contracts have protections on a state level already, but check the graphic above – all those orange states offer no protections while taking in billions in federal contracts.

The White House has repeatedly said that a legislative solution that would affect all employers is the best solution for the problem. White House folks say an executive order could be repealed by the next President.

But with the political priorities what they are today, why not issue the executive order?

From Buzzfeed:

Nearly $250 billion in federal contracts given out in the last fiscal year went to contractors operating in states where the companies could fire a worker solely because the person is gay, lesbian or bisexual, a new report has found. A group of organizations that have been urging President Obama to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers will be releasing the new report Tuesday as a step in increasing pressure on the president to act during tax time.

The report, a copy of which was provided to BuzzFeed Monday night, also has found that nearly $300 billion in federal contracts were given out in states that have no specific state-level protections against anti-transgender discrimination.

Although federal government employees are protected from anti-LGBT discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, there is currently no protection for employees of federal contractors against sexual orientation discrimination and protections against gender identity discrimination are unclear. And while most of the top federal contractors have policies against LGBT discrimination, the report aims to draw attention to the limits employees would have in states without legal protections.

As Joe Jervis at JoeMyGod points out, even though an executive order would only affect companies that do business with the federal government, it’s a start.  A start with $250B in federal money attached to it.

(via JMG)

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President Obama speaks to Hispanic news networks about same-sex marriage cases

President Obama spoke with the largest Hispanic television networks this week on the topic of the Supreme Court and marriage equality.

Speaking with Telemundo, the President said, “I think it is time for the justices to examine this issue.” In the interview, Obama reiterated his position that the federal government should recognize the unions of couples in states that allow gay marriage:

“I certainly believe that those states that have made a decision to recognize these couples as being married, that the federal government has to respect that decision by the states,” he said. “That’s traditionally been how it works. States have defined marriage and the federal government has followed the lead of the states.”

“I think not only is it right and fair but also consistent with our Constitution to recognize same-sex couples,” added Obama, a former professor of constitutional law. “It doesn’t mean everybody has to agree from a religious standpoint about this issue. It does mean that it is very important for us to remember that we’re a nation where everybody is supposed to be equal before the law.”

On Univision, the President wouldn’t predict the SCOTUS decisions, but spoke from his experience as a constitutional law professor:

“I never predict what the court will do,” Obama said. “But I used to teach constitutional law, and there is certainly a strong basis for determining that in this age, given what we now know, given the changes that have been taking place in the states around the country, same-sex couples should be treated fairly and have the same rights benefits, be able to transfer property, all the rights and recognitions that heterosexual couples do.”

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110 members of Congress ask President Obama to issue executive order as ENDA stopgap

Last year, 72 members of the House of Representatives wrote to President Obama asking him to issue an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Today, 110 members of Congress sent a letter to President Obama asking for the same action.

In lieu of the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, those members of Congress are asking the President to at least put in place a stopgap measure to end workplace discrimination against members of the LGBT community.

From the Advocate:

On Wednesday 110 Congress members wrote, “We remain committed to passage of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would ban employment discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. However, you can take action today to help prevent these types of unfair labor practices and to lay the groundwork for passage of ENDA.”

At least 16.5 million Americans would be protected under the proposed executive order, according to the Williams Institute, as federal contractors are one of the largest employer subsets in the country. But currently, it is legal to fire people on the basis of their sexual orientation in 29 states, and legal to fire people on the basis of their gender identity or expression in 34 states. Because of this, approximately 43% of LGB people, and 90% of transgender people have experienced some sort of workplace discrimination.

“With a majority of American workers living in states that have not passed laws granting LGBT employees legal protections from workplace discrimination, an executive order will provide broad protections that will level the playing field,” the Congress members wrote.

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Press Conference: President Obama speaks on Prop 8 repeal

At a press conference, President Obama was asked about his administration’s amicus brief filed in the Prop 8 SCOTUS case:

“The specific question presented before the Court right now is whether Prop 8 and the California law is unconstitutional and what we’ve done is we’ve put forward a basic principle which applies to all equal protection cases. Whenever a particular group is being discriminated against, the court asks the question, what is the rational for this. And it better be a good reason. And if you don’t have a good reason, we’re going to strike it down.”

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Obama administration files amicus brief in SCOTUS Prop 8 case

The Obama administration has filed a “friend of the court” brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold the repeal of Prop 8.

From the AP:

While the administration’s friend-of-the-court brief in the Proposition 8 case does not call for marriage equality across the United States, it does point the court in that direction.

A Supreme Court ruling in line with the administration’s argument could have broad implications and almost certainly expand the rights of same-sex couples to wed.

The administration’s nonbinding brief contends that denying gays and lesbians the right to marry violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The document urges the justices to give extra rigorous review to any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation.

SCOTUSblog writes:

Administration sources said that President Obama was involved directly in the government’s choice of whether to enter the case at all, and then in fashioning the argument that it should make.  Having previously endorsed the general idea that same-sex individuals should be allowed to marry the person they love, the President was said to have felt an obligation to have his government take part in the fundamental test of marital rights that is posed by the Proposition 8 case.  The President could take the opportunity to speak to the nation on the marriage question soon.
In essence, the position of the federal government would simultaneously give some support to marriage equality while showing some respect for the rights of states to regulate that institution.  What the brief endorsed is what has been called the “eight-state solution” — that is, if a state already recognizes for same-sex couples all the privileges and benefits that married couples have (as in the eight states that do so through “civil unions”) those states must go the final step and allow those couples to get married.  The argument is that it violates the Constitution’s guarantee of legal equality when both same-sex and opposite-sex couples are entitled to the same marital benefits, but only the opposite-sex couples can get married.
The eight states that apparently would be covered by such a decision are: California (whose Proposition 8, which denies marriage to couples who already have all of the other marital benefits, would fall), Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Rhode Island.
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Obama Administration files brief supporting repeal of DOMA

President Obama’s administration filed an historic legal brief late Friday that declares his belief to the US Supreme Court that DOMA is unconstitutional. The brief was written by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

According to NBC News:

The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to throw out a section of a 1996 federal law that prohibits recognition of same-sex marriage. 

The brief was filed Friday in United States v. Windsor, a case challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, the law that legally declares marriage to be only between a man and a woman. That section allows state and federal authorities to deny benefits to same-sex couples that are commonplace for heterosexual couples, like insurance for government workers and Social Security survivors’ benefits.

This marks the first time a president has endorsed same-sex marriage rights in the nation’s highest court.

The brief cites (among many other things) the Stonewall rebellion, gay parenting studies, and federal hate crime statistics. 

The brief reads in part: “Moral opposition to homosexuality, though it may reflect deeply held personal views, is not a legitimate policy objective that can justify unequal treatment of gay and lesbian people.”

Read the entire document here.

(via Towleroad)

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Bipartisan political figures band together to support marriage equality

This is a BIG deal.

The Respect For Marriage Coalition will today launch a national print and television campaign in support of marriage equality. The coalition is made up of several progressive and LGBT groups like Freedom To Marry and the Human Rights Campaign.

The TV ad features a bipartisan group of political figures like former First Lady Laura Bush, former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, former Vice President Dick Cheney and, finally, President Barack Obama.  All showing their support for marriage equality.

In addition, a full-page print ad (below) will appear in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post in the next few days.