Obama: Support gay troops(Photos)

A combative Obama on Saturday criticized Republican presidential candidates for staying silent when the crowd at a recent debate booed a gay soldier who asked a question of the contenders via videotape.

"You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the

uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient," Obama said during remarks at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights organization.

Referencing the boos at the Sept. 22 Republican debate, he said: "We don't believe in standing silent when that happens."

Obama touted his administration's efforts to repeal the military's ban on openly gay service members, as well as his orders to the Justice Department to stop enforcing a law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

But, as expected, Obama stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, saying only that "every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law."

Obama has said his views on gay marriage are "evolving", but for now he only supports civil union.

Obama's position on gay marriage has become a sore point for some gay activists who say they're otherwise pleased with the president's handling of issues important to them. Some of the president's backers say he could be wasting a chance to energize key segments of his base, including young people, if he doesn't publicly advocate for gay marriage.

"If he doesn't, he could be missing an opportunity to mobilize voters who need to be inspired to vote for him," said Doug Hattaway, a Democratic consultant.

The president's position on gay marriage puts him at odds with some of his supporters. Numerous recent polls suggest a slight majority of Americans favor giving same-sex couples the right to marry, and support is highest among Democrats and young people.

Obama has acknowledged that public support for gay marriage is building. During a meeting with liberal bloggers last October, he said "it's pretty clear where the trend lines are going."

Obama aides have given no indication of where the president's evolution on gay marriage stands. And some gay rights advocates believe political considerations could keep Obama from publicly backing gay marriage until after the November 2012 election.

Joe Sudbay, among a group of bloggers who met with Obama last year, said most gay rights advocates won't vote against Obama if he stops short of backing gay marriage. But he said they may be less likely to volunteer their time and money to the campaign.

"He might not lose votes, but he won't gain enthusiasm," said Sudbay, deputy editor of AmericaBlog.com.

While gay rights advocates may not be getting everything they want from the president, they see little support for their cause among the field of Republican primary contenders.

Most top Republican presidential candidates, including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, favor limiting marriage to unions between one man and one woman.

Fred Sainz, the Human Rights Campaign's vice president for communications, said he expects Obama to eventually declare his support for gay marriage. And even if that doesn't happen before next year's election, he said the president's other actions on gay rights issued should not be ignored.

"He really has been an incredible champion for the issues that are important to us," Sainz said. "It's fair to say we've made more progress in the past two years than we have in the past 40 years combined."

In his remarks Saturday night, Obama implored the supportive crowd of 3,200 to stand with him in his re-election campaign, declaring: "This is a contest of values."

In R.I., hopes fading for gay marriage bill

If any state would seem poised to approve gay marriage, it’s Rhode Island.
It has an overwhelmingly Democratic Legislature, the nation’s first openly gay House speaker, a governor who strongly supports same-sex marriage, and two New England neighbors that allow gay couples to wed.
Instead, the state is expected this week to approve civil unions, effectively killing gay marriage legislation with an attempted compromise that has provoked strong opposition from both sides of the issue.

While New York injected new life into the gay rights movement Friday by approving same-sex marriage, Rhode Island’s torturous debate underscores the rocky path the issue has taken in New England, a historically liberal region some activists once believed would be a gay marriage bastion by 2012.
Four out of the six New England states allow gay marriage and two, Rhode Island and Maine, do not. And their prospects for approving same-sex marriage are not imminent.
Voters in Maine repealed their gay marriage law in a 2009 referendum, six months after it was signed by the governor, and gay rights activists are still plotting their next steps there. Rhode Island activists on both sides of the divide are fighting the civil union bill and believe gay marriage legislation may not be revived again until next year, at the earliest.
Hopes for passage were crushed in April when Gordon D. Fox, who came out as gay in 2004 and was elected speaker of the House last year, abruptly reversed course, stunning gay rights activists.
Although a supporter of same-sex marriage, he announced that he would back civil unions instead, arguing that marriage legislation was not worth a vote in the House because there was “no realistic chance’’ it would pass in the Senate.
“We were really blindsided by his decision,’’ said Karen L. Loewy, a lawyer at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who called Fox’s reversal “incredibly unfair.’’
Gay marriage opponents are pleased, for the moment.
“I’m very hesitant to call it a victory, because we know there’s a lot of work to do and this is not the kind of thing we would celebrate and gloat over,’’ Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Providence Diocese said yesterday.
“I know this is a very difficult and sometimes painful issue for people who have same-sex attraction. . . . On the other hand, we will resist legislation that we think is improper or harmful to our culture or society.’’
A Public Policy Polling survey in February indicated that 50 percent of Rhode Islanders support gay marriage, while 41 percent oppose it. But lawmakers have turned back gay marriage bills since 1997, Loewy said.
Lincoln D. Chafee, Rhode Island’s independent governor, said the state has been slow to embrace the issue because it has two influential constituencies that tend to hold traditional views on marriage.
Rhode Island, he said, has among the highest percentage of elderly residents, and about 60 percent of its residents are Roman Catholic, more than any other state in the nation.
“The church is very active here in Rhode Island, calling senators and representatives,’’ Chafee said.
In addition, former governor Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican who led Rhode Island from 2003 until January, was a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage.
“We’ve all been frustrated by the slowness of the progress in Rhode Island,’’ Loewy said.
“In particular, once Governor Chafee came into office, there was cause for more optimism.’’
Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, by a court order that took effect in 2004. Connecticut was next, with a court ruling in 2008. The legislatures of Vermont and New Hampshire approved gay marriage in 2009. Iowa and Washington, D.C., also allow same-sex couples to wed. Twenty-nine states have constitutional bans on gay marriage, and 12 others have laws against it.
In Rhode Island, the House approved civil unions in May, and the Senate is planning to take up the measure as soon as tomorrow. Forces on both sides, however, are fighting it.
Gay rights activists say the bill includes overly broad protections for religiously affiliated organizations that could, for example, allow a Catholic hospital to bar a gay man from participating in his partner’s medical decisions.
“It’s Draconian, and it has the potential to harm thousands of gay and lesbian couples in loving, committed relationships,’’ said Ray Sullivan, campaign director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island.
The Catholic Church, meanwhile, is battling civil unions because they amount to “approval of an immoral lifestyle and we know it can lead to the approval of same-sex marriage,’’ Tobin said.
Chafee said he is aware of the concerns, but is inclined to sign the measure. He hopes the major push Governor Andrew Cuomo made to approve same-sex marriage in New York will eventually propel full marriage rights for gays and lesbians in Rhode Island.
But he acknowledges that prospect is now far from reality.
“We’re turning the corner,’’ said the governor. “But it’s been slow.’’

NY legalizes gay marriage 42 years after Stonewall(Photo-Video)

Champagne corks popped, rainbow flags flapped and crowds embraced and danced in the streets of Manhattan's Greenwich Village as New York became the sixth and largest state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill shortly before midnight Friday, almost 42 years to the day that the modern-day gay rights movement was born amid violent encounters between police and gay activists

at the Stonewall Inn.
Hundreds who gathered inside and outside the landmark bar erupted in celebration after the Republican-led state Senate cast the decisive vote.
Scott Redstone and his partner of 29 years, Steven Knittweis, hugged. And Redstone popped the question. "I said, 'Will you marry me?' And he said, 'Of course!'"
Queens teacher Eugene Lovendusky, 26, who is gay, said he hopes to marry someday.
"I am spellbound. I'm so exhausted and so proud that the New York state Senate finally stood on the right side of history," he said.
He then repeated a chant he had screamed during a protest at a fundraiser for President Barack Obama the previous night: "I am somebody. I deserve full equality."
Alex Kelston, 26, who works in finance in Manhattan, said he hopped in a cab and rushed to the bar when he heard the news.
"This is the place where the movement started, and it's a way to close the loop and celebrate the full equality of gay people in New York," he said.
The so-called Stonewall riots of June 28, 1969, helped spark the equal rights movement for homosexuals. Gay activists had pinned their hopes on a positive vote this week in New York to help regain momentum in other states in light of recent failed attempts.
Amid Friday's celebration, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and bishops around the state released a statement condemning the passage of the law by the Legislature, saying they were "deeply disappointed and troubled."
"Our society must regain what it appears to have lost — a true understanding of the meaning and the place of marriage, as revealed by God, grounded in nature, and respected by America's foundational principles," the statement from the Roman Catholic leader read.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who lobbied for the bill, was mid-sentence at a press conference on the city budget when City Council Speaker Christine Quinn interrupted him to announce it had passed.
The room exploded in cheers from other lawmakers and staff, as Quinn — the first gay person to hold the job — embraced her colleagues and smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
"It's hard to describe the feeling of having the law of your state changed to say that you ... are a full member of the state and that your family is as good as any other family," she said.
In a way, the decision will change everything for her and her partner, Quinn said.
"Tomorrow, my family will gather for my niece's college graduation party, and that'll be a totally different day because we'll get to talk about when our wedding will be and what it'll look like, and what dress Jordan, our grand-niece, will wear as the flower girl. And that's a moment I really thought would never come," she said.
"I really can't really describe what this feels like, but it is one of the best feelings I have ever had in my life," she said.
Bloomberg called the vote "a historic triumph for equality and freedom."
He said he would support the Republicans who voted for the measure Friday, and that he believed their actions were consistent with GOP ideals of liberty and freedom.
"The Republicans who stood up today for those principles I think will long be remembered for their courage, foresight and wisdom," said the mayor, a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent. "Ten, 20, 30 years from now, I believe they will look back on this vote as one of the finest and most proud moments in their life."
Bloomberg, a billionaire who had lobbied in Albany for the measure along with Quinn, has the personal resources to help the Republicans withstand any backlash from their own party.
Celebrities also responded, with Lady Gaga posting on Twitter that she "can't stop crying." The pop star has been urging her 11 million followers to call New York senators in support of the bill.
"The revolution is ours to fight for love, justice+equality. Rejoice NY, and propose. We did it!!!" she also posted.
Talk show host Wendy Williams posted to her Twitter followers as well, saying: "Yay for Gay Marriage! NY, it's about time... jersey we're next! How you doin?"
Meanwhile, the city's official tourism marking agency said the bill was "good news" for the $31 billion industry that it represents.
"Now, more gay couples — and their families and friends — will have an opportunity to celebrate their special day here," said George Fertitta, the CEO of NYC & Co.
In San Francisco, where a march kicked off the city's pride weekend, participants said they were just hearing about what had happened across the country.
"What happened tonight in New York is great, is wonderful, so long as we pick up and keep moving beyond this because a lot more needs to get done," said 26-year-old Kate Lubeck of San Jose.
Pete Weiss of Oakland said he has a lot of good friends in New York who he thinks will take advantage of the new law.
"You'd think California would have been first, but maybe this will spread and we'll be next," the 42-year-old said.
Legalization of gay marriage comes as New York City celebrates gay pride, culminating in a parade on Sunday.
Michael Musto, a columnist for the Village Voice, an alternative weekly, said the timing of the vote "could not be more fortuitous. "
"It's definitely going to be the most exuberant gay pride parade in history," he said.