THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 1, 2009

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center has launched a new webisode of their online soap opera - In The Moment - which hopes to bring attention to the HIV epidemic and its ravishing affects on gay and bisexual men.

Take a look at their first video below.

“We’re grateful the City of West Hollywood has funded this initiative, through our WeHoLife.org program, to promote healthy living among those who live, work and visit West Hollywood,” said Susan Cohen, director of the Center’s Health Education and Prevention Department. “Of course, we know it also has the potential to stimulate safer sex discussions among anyone with a computer and we will be monitoring web traffic, with the hope that we can secure funding for the remaining 11 webisodes.”

You can go to the WeHo Life site for more information and to participate in the interactive discussions.

The first episode was engaging and I am hopeful that this new initiative will spark a new movement to become vocal and active in the fight against AIDS. If you haven't been following the news young gay and bisexual men - particularly those men of color - are seeing a dramatic increase in HIV infections.

Today - January 13th - marked the 50th anniversary of the first ever pro-gay U.S. Supreme Court ruling in ONE Inc. v. Olesen. ONE magazine, launched in 1953, was the very first mailed publication for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals in the United States and served a crucial role for the LGBT community in what would have been very dark times.

The magazine was stylish and professional and the editorial content was adamantly unapologetic. In April 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450 which barred gays and lesbians from federal employment with its “sexual perversion” clause. The FBI tried shutting down the magazine by calling the employers of the publishers and trying to get hem fired but soon lost interest. Then the Los Angeles and Washington post offices tried holding up the publication on grounds of "indecency." The clip below is from the October issue....

Your August issue is late because the postal authorities in Washington and Los Angeles had it under a microscope. They studied it carefully from the 2nd until the 18th of September and finally decided that there was nothing obscene, lewd or lascivious in it. They allowed it to continue on its way. We have been found suitable for mailing.

…But one point must be made very clear. ONE is not grateful. ONE thanks no one for this reluctant acceptance. It is true that this decision is historic. Never before has a governmental agency of this size admitted that homosexuals not only have legal rights but might have respectable motives as well. The admission is welcome, but it’s tardy and far from enough.

I can't believe that somebody was writing content like this so many years before Stonewall. I might be hard pressed to find gays and lesbians that would write so unapologetically today.

So to those early activists and pioneers for Gay Rights I salute you. Thanks for fighting the unpopular fight far before the world was ready to hear you.

The Advocate - the nation's largest LGBT news magazine - ran a piece in their September 25th issue entitled, "Out With the Mayors." The story centers around University of Toronto business professor Richard Florida's best-selling book The Rise of the Creative Class where he argues that a large gay presence helps a city's economic performance. Five mayors were asked: "Why should young gay professionals move to your city?"

Milwaukee's very own, Mayor Tom Barrett, along with the mayor's from Dallas, Kansas City, MO, Newark, and Portland, OR all answered the question.

Milwaukee's LGBT community should be pretty depressed by the TERRIBLE answer that Mayor Barrett gave. Notice how he doesn't even mention the word "gay" or even the acronym "LGBT". What's up with that Mayor Barrett???

Mayor Mark Funkhouser (Kansas City, MO) probably gave the best answer and he even used a clever reference to The Wizard of Oz. Mayor Tom Leppert of Dallas gave an almost equally bad answer to Barrett's but he at least mentioned GLBT. Leppert beat the openly gay candidate, Ed Oakley, in June 2007 in what supporters hoped would become the largest city with an openly gay mayor in the US.

Mayor Barrett certainly needs to work on catering to Milwaukee's thriving lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. Let's ask him to begin by saying the right words.