1106
(0 votes, average 0 out of 5)
Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Jun 30, 2010
Pride month came to a close with the nation’s largest LGBT parades taking place in San Francisco, New York City and Chicago and the nation’s most prominent leaders honoring the community.
At the White House June 22, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden hosted an LGBT Pride reception that was celebratory despite the day’s furor over the remarks of Gen. Stanley A. McCrystal and questions about whether the Afghan commander would be removed from his post.
The reception took place at about 6:15 p.m. in the East Room of the White House, where Obama delivered remarks and greeted about 300 guests, including Harvey Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk, country singer Chely Wright, Mississippi teenager Constance McMillen, and former assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development Roberta Achtenberg.
Arriving to applause, Obama said, “I was going to say welcome to the White House, but you guys seem like you feel right at home. You don’t need me to tell you – it’s the people’s house.”
A number of congressional representatives, including U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Jared Polis, D-Colo., attended the reception. Obama called the gay representatives “fierce warriors.” “They are openly terrific,” he added.
The president’s brief comments focused on activism and everyday people creating change.
“That fact that we’ve got activists here is important because it’s a reminder that change never comes – or at least never begins in Washington,” Obama said. “It begins with acts of compassion – and sometimes defiance – across America. It begins when ordinary people – out of love for a mother or a father, son or daughter, or husband or wife – speak out against injustices that have been accepted for too long. And it begins when these impositions of conscience start opening hearts that had been closed, and when we finally see each other’s humanity, whatever our differences.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also hosted a Pride celebration, which took place mid-day June 22 at the Henderson Auditorium in D.C. and was heavily attended by many State Department employees.
“The purpose of this occasion is to recognize with gratitude the contributions made by LGBT members of the State Department family every single day,” Clinton said. “We celebrate the progress that is being made here in our own country toward advancing the rights of LGBT Americans, and we recognize that there is still a lot of work to be done but that we are moving together in the right direction.”
At the Justice Department June 21, Attorney General Eric Holder presented a Pride program that highlighted the long-awaited enactment of federal hate crimes reform that authorizes Justice to get involved in local hate crimes cases, as well as expands the definition of hate crimes.
“As you all know, up until last fall, there was not a single line in the nearly 225-year history of the U.S. Code that referred explicitly to gender identity,” Holder said. “Today, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act … does just that, finally protecting our nation’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals from the most brutal forms of bias-motivated violence.”
By the end of last week, the speechmaking had yielded to parading – with large-scale celebrations taking place in major metropolises, but also smaller events taking place in a number of mid-size cities and towns. Celebrations this past weekend took place in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as St. Petersburg, Fla., and Omaha, Neb.
