Following a Monday speech at Boston College's School of Law, President Obama's senior domestic policy aide implicitly acknowledged that she differed with Obama on the issue of gay marriage. Or did she?
Melody Barnes is the President’s Domestic Policy Adviser and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, which coordinates the domestic policy-making process in the White House. Barnes reportedly told a gathering of students that she sympathized with a questioner who expressed support for marriage equality, attendees tell the Huffington Post.
"Paul Sousa, a co-founder of the GLBT rights organization Equal Rep, and the individual who asked Barnes the question, described the scene this way. "I ended with this, 'I know there isn't much you can say right now because it's your job to defend President Obama even if he is wrong on a domestic policy stance. What I would like to know is - whether or not you support equal civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian Americans and if so, are you speaking or will you speak with President Obama on this civil rights matter?' For her response, Ms. Barnes did state that she supports marriage equality and can appreciate the frustration that our community is feeling. She [said she] is trying to move the ball forward with other action items (DOMA, DADT, ENDA)."
An "anonymous" White House disagrees with Sousa's account and maintains Barnes stayed on message. Sousa, the Facebook-based activist who is one of the organizers behind the online LGBT donor boycott of the Democratic National Committee, now says there is "proof" the anonymous staffer "lied".
John Aravosis at AMERICABlog: "It's been 4 days. Why has the video of the event not been released publicly? You'd think it was a scandal that a White House official might have been support of the g-a-y-s."
Before working for the White House and the Obama campaign, Meldoy Barnes was an official at the Center for American Progress, the progressive think tank that publishes Think Progress. It's probably not a stretch to imagine Barnes is pro-marriage equality. But is she advising the White House to move quicker on gay rights such as ENDA and DADT? And why the big mystery about what she said Monday?
Comments