Obama Proclamation on June Pride

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.

BARACK OBAMA

A New Day

At 7 this morning, everything was coated with a thick, fluffy blanket of snow. I have recently been greeting snow with exasperation since that means shoveling (over and over again) but this snow was different. It was light and airy and easily swept away. It made everything look peaceful, new and covered up the mud, slush and ice from the previous snow storms.

It made today seem like a new day for our new president. Giving him a moment's respite, calm, and celebration while covering and quelling the trouble that we all know lies beneath the surface.

Hillary Clinton Nominated for Secretary of State

In the wake of the recent horrific terrorist attacks in Mumbai, President-elect Obama presented his National Security Team today with Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State. If confirmed, she would be the third female Secretary of State (after Madeleine Albright and Condeleeza Rice) and the second Wellesley woman (after Madeleine Albright).

I am proud of her and fearful of what lies ahead. As a country, we desperately need to build stronger relationships with the global community and address very serious situations that are spiralling dangerously out of control.

More Work for Civil Rights

Our friends C & C married this year in California.

Over 50 years after the African-American Civil Rights movement in the U.S., we have elected our first African-American president.

However, this election illuminated the bigotry and hatred that still cripples this country and the civil rights waves roll on. Women gained the right to vote in 1920 and continue to fight for the right to control their destiny. Efforts to restrict abortion were rejected in South Dakota, California and Colorado. And "among the more unusual measures on this year’s ballots was one in Florida that would repeal an old clause in the state constitution that allows legislators to bar Asian immigrants from owning land. The repeal would be symbolic, as equal protection laws would prevent lawmakers from applying the ban. With 78 percent of precincts reporting just before 11 p.m. Tuesday, the vote was close, with 52 percent voting to preserve the clause." Seriously?

California, Arizona and Florida voted to ban same-sex marriage. Arkansas passed a measure that essentially banned gays and lesbians from adopting. More than 40 states now have constitutional bans or laws against same-sex marriages. Our new president opposes same-sex marriage.

I am woman. I am the daughter of Asian immigrants. I am in an incredible relationship with another Asian women whom I love and want to protect for the rest of our lives. This is outrageous and we need to continue to expand, to engage and build.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/us/politics/06ballot.html?em

President Barack Hussein Obama

Our 44th president and first family.

This has been a historic election. Having a woman as Vice President or President is a stronger possibility and not such a foreign idea in Americans' minds. Having a man whose father was from Kenya and raised as a Muslim and who later became atheist and Kenya's senior government economist happened. Having a feisty, powerful and strong black first lady who grew up on the South Side of Chicago and graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School is here. And two beautiful little first daughters!

This is a man who grew up working hard and ran on integrity, hope and change. He found and surrounded himself with an incredible team of brilliant and powerful people who tapped into the world that we are now and harnessed the power of the Internet. He is a man who built coalition, who brought people together. This is a man who often said the taboo words of gay, lesbian, equality.

This is bittersweet for me. I am so unbelievably overwhelmed and proud of his achievement. I am also anxious about the next few years ahead. I believe that he will be a strong leader who will bring America back into the global community and mend the wreckage of the past 8 years. He is a man who respects women and their rights. However, much damage has been done. Can anyone unravel the past 8 years (and possibly further)? Can anyone bring us out of this economic morass? Can anyone do the right thing for Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, etc? We have so overloaded our future, our children with debt - can this be corrected?

I'm not sure but I am so glad that he has stepped up to the challenge and will thoughtfully, methodically, work with the right people to make things better.

The Obama Store

I hate to admit this but today was the first day that I looked at Obama and McCain's websites. McCain's website is really well, ugly. It is low tech and feels really old. Obama's is sleek, smart, and links to your entire world (makes sense since he hired the founder of Facebook). There are online tools for you to organize locally (my.barackobama.com) and links to youtube, myspace, facebook, linkedin, blackplanet, asianave, migente, etc. You can get text messages to your phone. Oh, my phone is vibrating, hello Barack!

The most exciting item McCain has in his store is a very sad Palin cap. What does "1 of 2008" mean? The Obama store is so awesome. Obama has art by amazing artists for sale and this section called Runway to Change where designers have created t-shirts, bags, scarves, etc. Designers include Isaac Mizrahi, Rag and Bone, Jeffery Costello and Robert Tagliapietra, Juicy Couture, Tory Burch, Russell Simmons, Pharrell Williams, Vera Wang, Tracy Reese, Jay Z, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, etc. I love the Maria Cornejo t-shirt pictured. I love that designers I love love Obama! There's even a "Gear for Less" section with tank tops for $10. N says that she had seen guys in clubs wearing Obama t-shirts that lit up. Can't wait for those to go up in the Obama store!

Before you go, oh, this is just about shopping. That it has nothing to do with the election. I think that this shows that Obama is someone who inspires and who is current. He is someone who can take us into the future, not bring us back. Also, he surrounds himself with great people. He may not know all the answers but he knows who to go to.

2008 Presidential Election: A Choice between the Past and The Future

"...I’m going to try to make this simple. On the Democratic side you have a guy whose campaign has been based on the Internet, who believes America may have something to learn from other countries (like universal health care) and who’s unafraid in 2008 to say he’s a “proud citizen of the United States and a fellow citizen of the world.”

On the Republican side, you have a guy who, in 2008, is just discovering the Net and Google and whose No. 2 is a woman who got a passport last year and believes she understands Russia because Alaska is closer to Siberia than Alabama.

If I were Obama, I’d put it this way: “Senator McCain, the world you claim to understand is the world of yesterday. A new century demands new thinking. Our country cannot be made fundamentally secure by a man who thought our economy was fundamentally sound.”

American exceptionalism, taken to extremes, leaves you without the allies you need (Iraq), without the influence you want (Iran) and without any notion of risk (Wall Street). The only exceptionalism that resonates, as Obama put it to me last year, is one “based on our Constitution, our principles, our values and our ideals...”

From Roger Cohen Op-Ed in today's NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/opinion/25Cohen.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1222362101-4IpL08RfTqsEh/1EfM9KuQ

Obama's Tax Plan

So, not to distract from our pursuit of life, love, food, shopping and happiness, I'm very concerned about the upcoming election and our future. I'll take some posts to try and figure stuff out - choose the better of two evils. Feel free to bypass these political meanderings.

As we all know, I am a democrat. However, I struggle with a few things. One being, if you work hard for something, you should be rewarded for that or be allowed to keep the reward. Someone from work had forwarded me an email between a father and daughter. The daughter was saying it wasn't fair how at college, she was the only one in her work group to work on the project and everyone else got to get the A for it. The father goes, welcome to the Republican Party.

Similarly, in my Forbes magazine (not the most left leaning periodical), there's a excerpt from Investor's Business Daily, "Senator Obama has proposed lifting the tax cap on earnings subject to the 12.4% Social Security tax, which now covers only the first $102,000... The take-home pay of 10.3 million workers would be reduced by an average of $5,650 in the first year alone. Taxes would be raised on 4 million workers over the age of 50. Taxes would also be raised on 3 million small business owners who file their taxes as individuals. By fiscal 2015 the number of job opportunities lost would exceed 865,000 and personal savings would decline by more than $55 billion... Eliminating the earnings cap would raise taxes for many middle-class families, impose a huge tax burden on small business, slow the economy and cut jobs."

A couple things. Small businesses do not have to file as individual and be taxed on the personal level. I'm not an accountant but to me it would be better to be taxed at the lower corporate level. What's also infuriating is that I'd be okay with paying taxes if I knew it was going to something good and not being wasted. Our tax money is flushed down the toilet all the time (hello, record oil revenue for Iraq) and we have to be taxed MORE because our government can't manage money.