Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay and Lesbian Rights
Gay and lesbian rights have been a hot topic in government and society in recent years. People are very curious as to what Barack Obama stances are regarding gay and lesbian rights since he is the new president and the LGBT community is looking to Barack Obama to grant them gay and lesbian rights. Despite being a developed nation and a super power of the western world, the United States has not always supported all gay and lesbian rights therefore Barack Obama’s views, policies, stances, and agenda regarding gay and lesbian rights is a hot topic right now. When Barack Obama was an Illinois Senator, he supported gay and lesbian rights and sponsored legislation that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Barack Obama and Joe Biden have stated that they plan on strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section. Barack Obama also supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti discrimination laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. A very important matter in gay and lesbian rights is regarding the United States Military and the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. Barack Obama is for repealing the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, stating that the key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to ser
ve. One of the biggest issues in gay and lesbian rights is the issue of Gay Marriage and Civil Unions. Barack Obama has stated that he supports civil unions, and he is against gay marriage. He has also stated while he does not support gay marriage, he has left the matter up to individual states to decide whether or not they would recognize gay and lesbian marriages. In gay and lesbian rights, many do not wish to give gays the right to adopt, however Barack Obama has stated his support for gay and lesbian adoption and agrees that adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation must be secured.
Human Right Campaign
Within the LGBT community, the Human Rights Campaign (the largest LGBT organization) Barack Obama has a fairly good standing based on his policies and views regarding gay and lesbian rights. Every two years the Human Rights Campaign issues a scorecard for members of the Senate based on their sponsorship and voting on key issues regarding gay and lesbian rights; Barack Obama scored 89%.