Welcome to LGBT Americans for Obama

Welcome to Obama Pride: an online home for the LGBT community to share the resources we need to re-elect President Obama and stay connected with the campaign. The President believes that the simple propositions of fairness and equal opportunity are vital to the strength of our nation, and that our country is strongest when everyone has a seat at the table.

The Very Latest

  • A loving family for every child

    By Joe on

    One year ago today, when President Obama proclaimed November National Adoption Month, he reaffirmed his commitment to equality for all families, including those with two moms or two dads:

    "During National Adoption Month, we celebrate the acts of compassion and love that unite children with adoptive families, and we rededicate ourselves to the essential task of providing all children with the comfort and safety of a permanent home… With so many children waiting for loving homes, it is important to ensure that all qualified caregivers are given the opportunity to serve as adoptive parents, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, or marital status." – President Obama

    From putting in place measures to protect LGBT Americans from housing discrimination to extending hospital visitation rights to same-sex partners, the proclamation was one of many ways in which President Obama has used his first term fighting to ensure that same-sex couples have the opportunity to form strong, loving families like everyone else.

    Sign up to volunteer for the only candidate who’s fighting for every family—gay or straight—during the final days of the campaign.

    volunteer

The President's Accomplishments for LGBT Americans

STANDING UP FOR ALL FAMILIES

  • Affirmed his personal support for same-sex marriage

  • Opposed the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act, a legislative effort to repeal DOMA

Education and Youth

  • Hosted the first-ever White House conference on bullying in schools to provide information from various government agencies on how kids, teens, young adults, parents, educators, and others in the community can prevent or stop bullying

  • Created the Inter-Agency Task Force on Bullying to tackle bullying in our schools, including bullying of LGBT youth

  • Recorded an “It Gets Better” video in support of LGBT youth facing bullying at school

Health Care

  • Signed the Affordable Care Act into law, expanding access to health care and critical preventive services

  • Extended hospital visitation and medical decision-making rights to LGBT patients and their partners

  • Awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal to Janice Langbehn, a lesbian mother and activist whose story paved the way for the extending hospital visitation rights

  • Affirmed the administration’s commitment to creating an AIDS-free generation

  • Included specific data on health needs of lesbian and bisexual women in the Health Resources and Services Administration’s “Women’s Health USA 2011” report for the first time

  • Promoted equal access to quality health care by enabling searches for health plans with same-sex partner benefits on Healthcare.gov

  • Included proposals to improve LGBT Americans’ access to health care and provisions to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS in the administration’s 2013 federal budget proposal

  • Created a National Resource Center for LGBT seniors and awarded a grant to SAGE (Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders), supporting the first community center for LGBT seniors

  • Download this fact sheet to read more about the President's commitment to equal access.

Jobs and the Economy

  • The administration worked to protect federal LGBT employees from workplace discrimination by adopting an equal-opportunity employment policy that includes both sexual orientation and gender identity

  • Ordered the federal government to extend key benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees

  • Clarified the Family and Medical Leave Act to ensure family leave for LGBT employees who need to care for their children.

  • Set a precedent in hiring LGBT employees by appointing more openly LGBT administration officials than any other president in U.S. history

  • Continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Trans Equality

  • Ended the Social Security Administration’s gender “no-match” letters and ensured that transgender Americans can receive passports that accurately reflect their gender identity

  • Established guidelines to help protect transgender federal employees from discrimination in the workplace

  • Established policy regarding the respectful delivery of health care to transgender veterans

Housing

  • Announced HUD’s new rule protecting against housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity

  • Released America’s first comprehensive plan to prevent homelessness, including homelessness among LGBT youth

  • Awarded a grant to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Community Center to work with LGBT foster youth

National Security

  • Ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” so gay and lesbian Americans can serve the country they love without hiding who they are

  • Permitted military chaplains to officiate same-sex marriages where legal

International and LGBT Citizens Abroad

  • Ended the ban that prohibited people with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States

  • Created the first-ever U.S. government strategy dedicated to combating human rights abuses against LGBT persons abroad

  • Made it clear the United States will use all the tools of American diplomacy to promote LGBT rights abroad

  • Fought for the rights of LGBT persons worldwide by co-sponsoring the first UN resolution focused solely on LGBT rights

  • Directed agencies working abroad to combat the criminalization of LGBT status

  • Directed the Departments of State and Homeland Security to ensure LGBT refugees and asylum-seekers have equal access to protection and assistance

  • Prevented the removal of sexual orientation from a UN resolution condemning extrajudicial killings

  • Implemented a U.S. Agency for International Development policy to encourage contractors to implement and enforce non-discrimination policies for sexual orientation and gender identity

MITT ROMNEY AND PAUL RYAN WOULD DENY BASIC RIGHTS TO LGBT AMERICANS

Mitt Romney:

  • Supports writing discrimination into the Constitution with an amendment that would stop committed gay and lesbian couples from marrying

  • Stands behind the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to discriminate against married gay and lesbian couples from other states

  • Would allow states to ban civil unions, preventing LGBT Americans from enjoying many basic protections and benefits including—including health insurance for their partner and children, hospital visitation rights, adoption rights, and medical decision-making rights

  • Opposes federal employment protections for LGBT Americans

  • Spoke out against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” saying it would be a “social experiment”

  • Repeatedly tried to cut funding for LGBT youth services as governor, including suicide prevention, youth safety, and hate crimes awareness

Paul Ryan:

  • Repeatedly voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that effectively banned same-sex marriage

  • Voted to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act

  • Voted for an amendment to ban adoption by same-sex couples in Washington, D.C.

  • Opposed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and voted to delay its implementation

  • Repeatedly voted against expanding federal hate crime laws to cover violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity

  • Refused to support legislation protecting transgender individuals from discrimination in the workplace