A New Day
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — Check out this page on Obama's White House website.

Obama's Promises To Gays
The Atlantic Politics Channel — They're now in black and white on the White House website. Full civil unions and federal rights. Employment non-discrimination. A repeat of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Expanded Adoption Rights. ...

Presidency 2.0
The Moderate Voice — ... I didn’t watch the Inauguration because my power went out at 11:55, so while I won’t have an especially uplifting memory of the event, at least it’ll be a unique one. I followed a link to WhiteHouse.gov that showed the civil rights page has more LGBT bulletpoints than racial or gender, but to me the most interesting thing was the White House Blog. The ...

Change has come to WhiteHouse.gov
Citizen Crain — ... What a difference one minute can make! The new official site WhiteHouse.gov went live at 12:01 p.m., when the Constitution provides that Barack Obama became president even though he didn't take office for a few more minutes. In the section on " ...

Obama Lays Out Agenda On Web
Riehl World View — ... on what the liberal blogs were up to. This is just the area on Civil Rights. The whole agenda is on the right sidebar at link. ...

WhiteHouse.gov's Ambitious New LGBT Support Section
MoJo Blog Posts: mojo — ... is pretty darn sexy) and noticed something interesting, which he forwarded to me: the "Civil Rights" page under "Agenda" features a surprisingly large section on gay rights. "Support for the LGBT Community" takes up fully half the page, more than all other civil rights proposals combined, and while some of the eight points have been made by Obama before (repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," fight workplace discrimination), others are eye-opening: ...

WhiteHouse.gov
Political Punch — ... . His civil rights agenda will evoke some serious opposition in Congress, especially as it pertains to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Americans. He pledges to expand hate crimes statutes, support full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples, expanded adoption rights, and repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell. - jpt January 20, 2009 | ...

Federal civil unions: so simple
Citizen Crain — ... for the LGBT community on the official White House webpage , I believe this one is the best and most powerful. It will achieve more rights and benefits for gay people than all the others combined. It's beautifully simple yet simultaneously brilliant. If done properly, it will bring gay rights to couples in Mississippi and Alabama as well as Massachusetts. Repealing the Defense of Marriage Act will take many more years because marriage is still such a touchstone issue, whereas benefits for civil unions is not. And when DOMA falls, only Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York ...

Airwaves We Can Believe In
The BRAD BLOG — ... Thus, while perusing President Barack Obama's new White House website last night, there was much I found of interest. There was a bit, here and ...

The Agenda of The Obama
Daily Pundit — ... Obama, who has made a career of running for office on carefully vague, but high-flown, verbiage. Well, his staff has laid it all out at the whitehouse.gov web site, and it is important that you know exactly what he has in store for us. So, with that in mind, I intend to post one of the 24 sections of The Agenda of The Obama every day until you’ve had a chance to see and understand just what is planned for The Obama’s New American Order. Number one is Civil Rights: CIVIL RIGHTS “The teenagers and college ...

The Rude Pundit — They're Losing Their Fucking Minds, Part 1: So Barack Obama, openly pro-choice, openly pro-gay rights (not totally, but let's take it for now), and openly tossing the Bush administration onto the shitpile and setting it on fire, warming himself from the flames, has been in office nearly four days. And the right has lost its fucking mind. They don't know what to do. It's kind of hysterically pathetic, like watching a man driving a car that's grinding gears and squealing brakes and he turns up the radio so he can't hear the noise. Dude, the car's ...

Re: Britain to follow Netherlands?
The Corner on National Review Online — ... de jure in the Netherlands, but, either way, the Muslim lobby groups achieve their objective: to make serious open debate about Islam too costly for anyone who attempts it. Apropos "speech-curtailing" laws, Miss Eaves says: Here's a good litmus test for whether a law makes any sense: If the "crime" in question can only be described using the word for an emotion, like "hate" or "phobia," then we have wandered into thought-police territory. With that in mind, I was interested to see this pop up at the White House website on Obama Day One: Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: President ...

Canaries
Belmont Club — ... thinks that little by little, bit by bit, the UK may be going down the path on which Geert Wilders finds himself on. He adds this little tidbit about a little noticed item in BHO’s Whitehouse webpage. With that in mind, I was interested to see this pop up at the White House website on Obama Day One: Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section. The ...

Throw some gays overboard, again?
Citizen Crain — ... wants as well as the strategy that President Obama outlines for LGBT civil rights on the  White House webpage -- at the same time. If we were investing in securities this strategy would be called diversification; it has the benefit of maximizing our protections and minimizing our risks. If we pursue marriage and marriage only, here's what it would take to get federal couples rights and benefits to gays in all 50 states: 1. DOMA must be repealed (or declared unconstitutional) which would result in gay couples in four states getting the federal rights and benefits of marriage, ...

Allan Clear: Obama's Choice: Sane U.N. Drug Policy or the Same Old Failed War-on-Drugs Routine?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... that he, per the official White House site, "supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of [HIV] infection among drug users." ...

Hate Crimes: The Importance of Lady Justice's Blindfold
The Brussels Journal - The Voice of Conservatism in Europe — ... was filled in by their accusers: their aim was said to be to stir up anti-Muslim feelings among the public. Prosecutors and judges are no longer interested in what actually and objectively happened. Instead they focus on the intentions which they claim motivated those who acted. No longer is Lady Justice blind to anything except the facts; she is blind to the facts, but claims to be a clairvoyant about everything else. Last week , the White House website announced that President Obama and Vice President Biden intend to “strengthen federal hate ...

Maia Szalavitz: Obama Sends Drug Warriors to UN, DEA to CA: Stop Fighting Bush's Wars
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... I will go further. Obama has said that he supports lifting the federal ban on funding for needle exchange programs in the U.S. and that he supports science-based policy, which backs this action. He has said that he will end the raids on medical marijuana in states that have legalized it. ...

Hope and Change Will Mean Abandoning Equality Before the Law
Moonbattery — Chairman Zero's website features a promise to expand hate crimes statutes: President Obama and Vice President Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section. "Hate crimes" is a concept by which the notion of equality before the law is discarded in exchange for special legal protection for groups favored by liberals. In other words, those who are not blacks, Muslims, or ...

Obama’s Policies on Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage Wrong, Says Blunt
CNSNews.com Headlines — ... a zero. During the presidential campaign, Obama promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would make abortion legal nationwide under all circumstances. He also said he would work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. He also promised to reverse the Mexico City Policy, which he did quietly and without television cameras present late in the day on Jan. 23. Further, the president s whitehouse.gov Web site states that he wants to repeal the Don t Ask, Don t Tell policy for the military and ...

Europe’s War on Free Speech
The Brussels Journal - The Voice of Conservatism in Europe — ... , which means they can be punished for expressing the “wrong” opinions. But Europe’s war on free speech should serve as a warning to Americans about the perils of complacency. Indeed, the Obama administration says it intends to “strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section.” Some politicians have also expressed support for re-imposing the ...

Evan Wolfson: Marriage and Gays: What Would Lincoln Do?
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... In recent years, Obama has wavered on marriage equality, while expressing commendable support for gay families and substitute legal status such as ...

Another civil unions proposal (this time in the NYT)
Citizen Crain — ... Both Chris and I have each elucidated on ways to take take advantage of President Barack Obama's explicitly stated support for full civil unions on the White House web page to score a giant leap forward for gay rights. Chris' post on this topic is ...

Civil unions WILL lead to marriage
Citizen Crain — ... that "once a civil unions law is in place, denial of marital status would be almost impossible to defend."The right realizes this, our leaders don't. Many proposals have been made advocating ways to achieve civil unions nationally, especially since it is President Obama's official position to have full civil unions for gay people. Federally recognized civil unions would mean civil unions in all 50 states. All couples would have to do is go to a state that offers civil unions to get hitched, then return to their home state. Federal couples' benefits in all 50 states is a big ...

Aubrey Sarvis: Don't Let an Ambush Happen Again, Mr. President
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... Meanwhile, back in Washington, the White House is playing cautious while ominous rumblings are emanating from Congress. Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell -- an Obama campaign promise, after all -- seems to be moving slowly. I suppose we should be thankful that it's moving at all, considering the mess the economy is in and those two drawn-out wars we're fighting many time zones away. Compared to that, repealing DADT is a piece of cake. ...

What’s LEFT of the Constitution? Prop. 8 and the Administration’s Marriage Doubletalk
Stop The ACLU — ... on marriage:“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman.” Yet, the new administration’s actual policies and planned actions for marriage are stated much differently. The new administration… · Supports “full civil unions and federal rights for [homosexual] couples” · Opposes a “constitutional ban on same-sex marriage” · Promises to repeal the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” One look at the “Civil Rights Agenda” page of the White House website makes it clear that the rhetoric during the Saddleback Forum does not match the reality of the new ...

Aubrey Sarvis: Time for Courage and Leadership, Mr. President
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... But when the American people elected Barack Obama last November, we thought all that would soon be behind us. No more "let's push that one down the road a bit." It's right there on the White House web site clear as spring water and it's worth quoting in its entirety: "Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell [boldface theirs]: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, ...

Glenn Beck's Conspiracy Theory About Gay Marriage: It's About “Attacking Churches” And Going “Into The Schools”
News Hounds — ... Beck went on to claim that Obama has “my exact stance” on gay marriage (except, in all likelihood, Beck's theory about gay marriage being an “attack” on churches). ...

Aubrey Sarvis: Stand by Your Word, Mr. President: End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... That's a lot of political capital, and political capital is political power. The president may never have a better moment. There is, however, one campaign promise he's been silent on since he was elected in November: the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." It's still up there on the White House website. "President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy," it says. "The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness ...

Caroline Fredrickson: Crack the Disparity Today
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... that the crack-powder disparity "ought to be addressed by making sure the powder-cocaine and the crack cocaine penalties are the same." Right now on the whitehoue.gov page, the Obama administration lists the complete elimination of the disparity as one of its civil rights priorities. ...

Emma Ruby-Sachs: An LGBT Report Card for Obama's First 100 Days
Politics on HuffingtonPost.com — ... In his own words, the struggle for LGBT rights is "about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect." He has an obligation to put that promise of equality on his immediate political agenda. ...