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READ: Obama's Signing Statement on Defense Bill, Anti-Gay Chaplains

2013 NDAA Obama Signing Statement

President Barack Obama has signed the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act after issuing several public veto threats. But the President has issued a written "signing statement" that lists several objections, including Republican-backed amendments that obstruct his plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects.

The signing statement also objects to a "conscience" provision which Republican members claim would protect "chaplains from being forced to perform same-sex marriages or take other actions that might offend their religious beliefs." The President called that provision "unnecessary and ill-advised."

Section 533 is an unnecessary and ill-advised provision, as the military already appropriately protects the freedom of conscience of chaplains and service members. The Secretary of Defense will ensure that the implementing regulations do not permit or condone discriminatory actions that compromise good order and discipline or otherwise violate military codes of conduct. My Administration remains fully committed to continuing the successful implementation of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and to protecting the rights of gay and lesbian service members; Section 533 will not alter that.

"Obama signed this year's defense authorization bill while traveling in Hawaii, after he resumed his family vacation Tuesday following Congressional passage of legislation to avert the so-called 'fiscal cliff'," adds Politico.

Anti-Gay Black Republican Rep. Tim Scott to Replace SC's DeMint

As expected, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will name Rep. Tim Scott to fill Jim DeMint’s Senate seat today, reports The New York Times. Scott made history in 2010 as the first Black Republican elected to Congress from South Carolina in more than a century

Scott will also become the only Black in the Senate. That accomplishment would allegedly be "a considerable boost to a party often criticized for its lack of diversity." adds MSNBC.

Scott is a Tea Party favorite who suggested last year that the President should be impeached if he raises the debt ceiling. Scott is stridently anti-gay and opposes a woman's right to choose, the labor movement and other progressive causes. Scott  opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The former state representative also supported the GOP-dominated state legislature's proposal to slash the state's entire HIV/AIDS budget, including funding to the critical AIDS Drug Assistance Program. South Carolina has the 8th highest HIV rate in the nation. New seroconversions in the Carolinas are disproportionately black and young black gay/bisexual men. With friends like these ...

Scott was named to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee two weeks ago. Scott represents the 1st District along the state's southern coast.  If appointed he would become the first Black Republican senator since Massachusetts' Sen. Edward Brooke retired in the late 1970s. To date, only six Blacks have ever served in the Senate. The last Black senator was Illinois' Roland Burris.

Scott is a bachelor and has never been married. South Carolina's other anti-gay senator, Lindsey Graham, is also a bachelor. Interesting.

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Anti-Gay Black Republican Rep. Tim Scott to Replace SC Sen. DeMint?

Two interesting political developments from South Carolina. Anti-gay social conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, described as a "favorite of the 'tea party' and Fox News", has announced that he will resign in January to head the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Sen. DeMint was reelected to a second term in 2010. The 61-year-old senator had announced earlier that he would not seek a third term. DeMint said he is taking the Heritage job because he sees it as a vehicle to popularize conservative ideas in a way that connects with a broader public. "This is an urgent time," the senator said, "because we saw in the last election we were not able to communicate conservative ideas that win elections."

DeMint––who infamously has said that same-sex marriage is "destructive" to society and gays are "immoral"––led the opposition against  Mari Carmen Aponte, the Obama Administration's pro-LGBT ambassador to El Salvador. DeMint also vocally opposed Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor' confirmation––as well as that of Washington D.C. Superior Court. Judge Marisa Demeo, one of President Obama’s first openly LGBT appointees.

DeMint's resignation means that South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley will appoint a replacement to "serve until a 2014 special election," adds The Washington Post.

DeMint "has made it known" that he wants to be replaced by Rep. Tim Scott, reports The Hill. Scott made history in 2010 as the first Black Republican elected to Congress from South Carolina in more than a century. Scott is an anti-gay Tea Party favorite.

Haley and Scott have a good relationship, according to sources, though it's unclear how willing she would be to listen to DeMint, who officially stayed neutral during her gubernatorial primary but quietly supported then-Rep. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) in the race. A spokesman for DeMint denied that the senator has pushed Scott.

Scott is stridently anti-gay and opposes a woman's right to choose, the labor movement and other progressive causes.  Scott  opposes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

The former state representative also supported the GOP-dominated state legislature's proposal to slash the state's entire HIV/AIDS budget, including funding to the critical AIDS Drug Assistance Program. South Carolina has the 8th highest HIV rate in the nation. New seroconversions in the Carolinas are disproportionately black and young black gay/bisexual men. With friends like these ...

Scott was named to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee last week. Scott represents the 1st District along the state's southern coast.  If appointed he would become the first  Black Republican senator since Massachusetts' Sen. Edward Brooke retired in the late 1970s. Scott would also become the only African-American in the next Senate.

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Scott Suggests Impeaching Obama Over Debt
Tim Scott Wins SC Congressional Primary
Anti-Gay Black GOP Scott Poised to Win SC Primary
GOP Senators Block Ambassador to El Salvador
Senate Confirms Lesbian Judge Marisa Demeo
DeMint: Gays Are "Immoral"

DeMint: Soldiers "Fight" for Right to Hate Crimes

NYT Endorses Obama, Applauds His Record on Civil and LGBT Rights

The editorial board of The New York Times has endorsed President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

The Times applauded the President's "many impressive achievements" around the economy, foreign policy, health care and civil rights. The editors called attention to the President's record on LGBT equality and Mitt Romney's opposition to that platform

The military’s odious “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule was finally legislated out of existence, under the Obama administration’s leadership. There are still big hurdles to equality to be brought down, including the Defense of Marriage Act, the outrageous federal law that undermines the rights of gay men and lesbians, even in states that recognize those rights.

Though it took Mr. Obama some time to do it, he overcame his hesitation about same-sex marriage and declared his support. That support has helped spur marriage-equality movements around the country. His Justice Department has also stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act against constitutional challenges.

Mr. Romney opposes same-sex marriage and supports the federal act, which not only denies federal benefits and recognition to same-sex couples but allows states to ignore marriages made in other states. His campaign declared that Mr. Romney would not object if states also banned adoption by same-sex couples and restricted their rights to hospital visitation and other privileges.

The President's re-election was endorsed by the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune in recent days.

VIDEO: Colin Powell Endorses Obama for Second Term

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell broke with the Republican Party once again to endorse President Obama's re-election. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the announcement on CBS This Morning.

"I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I'll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month," said the general, who described Obama as a "transformational figure" in 2008. Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP ...

Powell described his rationale:

"When he took over, the country was in very very difficult straits. We were in the one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising."

Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP ...

Romney Selects Anti-Gay Rep. Paul Ryan as Running Mate

PHOTO: Reuters

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has announced the selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate. The 42-year-old anti-gay congressman is a rockstar in the Republican Party and a favorite of conservatives and the Tea Party.

Ryan chairs the House Budget Committee. Ryan's proposed 2012 budget would have abolished corporate taxes and privatized Social Security and Medicare. The House passed the Ryan budget in June 2011. The bill later died in the Senate.

Ryan has received a "zero" rating from the Human Rights Campaign, reports Paul Schindler at Gay City News.

In 2007, Ryan was one of 35 Republicans to vote for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which at that time only proposed to protect against job bias based on sexual orientation, not gender identity or expression. When Republicans unsuccessfully tried a parliamentary maneuver to shelve the bill prior to its passage –– with what is known as a motion to recommit –– he joined 26 other GOP ENDA supporters in the unsuccessful effort to kill the bill they would vote for just moments later.

In 2004 and 2006, Ryan voted for a federal marriage amendment that would have defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman everywhere in the United States.

In both the 2009-2010 and the 2007-2008 sessions, he voted against hate crimes protections, which became law in 2009. He also did not support repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy in 2010 –– a measure that received votes in both May and December.

Ryan has consistently opposed a woman's right to choose, health care, labor protections and other progressive causes. He also joined the House Republican leadership in opposing LGBT rights in the District of Columbia, supporting a ban on domestic partnerships and gay adoptions.

"The Advocate" Endorses President Obama's Re-Election Campaign

Describing the 2012 election as a "choice between starkly opposing futures," the editors of The Advocate endorsed President Barack Obama's reelection campaign today.

The LGBT news magazine says this is the "first time in decades" that it has endorsed a presidential candidate. "Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest."

By saying aloud, “I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” in a televised interview on ABC, [President Obama] has sparked conversation domestically and internationally. While he is our president at home, globally he’s an icon, a symbol of the promise of America, of the promise of equality.

Obama may be the most prominent man on the planet ever, given the pervasiveness of modern media and his anomalous and historic nature as the first black American president; he is surely the single most recognizable head of state on the globe. By virtue of his unique position, his endorsement of marriage equality is not merely rhetoric. His words constitute action. On the very face of it, his statement is enormous, and has the power to move millions in a way that a statement from no other person could have.

Mitt Romney is described as "betray[ing] equality on numerous issues and aligns himself with a faction of the Republican Party that does not include equality among its declared ideals."

The editorial also notes the Obama Administration's considerable significant accomplishments on LGBT issues.

Also significant are the Obama administration’s actions in support of LGBT equality. In 2009, Obama signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act, and announced the lifting of the ban on HIV-positive green card applicants and visitors to the U.S. He signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the first pro-LGBT federal law in U.S. history. After just two years into office, he had appointed more LGBTs to head commissions and agencies, to ambassadorships, and to senior staff positions than any president, surpassing the entire two-term record of Bill Clinton. He has quadrupled the number of openly gay judges on the federal bench.

ASecretary of State Hillary Clinton’s moving and historic speech to an international audience of the U.N.’s human rights group in Geneva last December, observing the anniversary of the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, made the Obama administration’s perspective very clear, that LGBT rights are human rights. Whereas the George W. Bush administration made its anti-equality position clear to the world by rejecting the United Nations Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, under the Obama administration the U.S. signed the declaration. Obama’s State Department has issued diplomatic passports and provided other benefits to the same-sex partners of foreign service employees.

Flashback to my 2008 cover article for The Advocate on Obama and Clinton. It's great to see that many of the predictions of an Obama presidency have materialized.

Read the full endorsement HERE.

VIDEO: President Obama at White House LGBT Pride Reception

PHOTOS: Reuters

President Obama delivered brief remarks today at the White House's LGBT Pride Month Reception. This was the Administration's fourth annual event and attended by "about 500 people", according to White House pool reports.

Watch it AFTER THE JUMP ...

The President reaffirmed his commitment to marriage equality and listed the many achievements by the Administration, such as repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", signing hate crimes legislation, banning gender identity discrimination in federal employment, ordering hospital visitation rights and its decision to stop defending the odious Defense of Marriage Act.

"Three years ago, I also promised you this," said the President. "I said that even if it took more time than we would like, we would see progress, we would see success, we would see real and lasting change. And together, that’s what we’re witnessing."

The complete video and transcript AFTER THE JUMP ...

NJ Congressman and LGBT Ally Donald Payne Dies at 77

Very sad news to report. New Jersey's Rep. Donald M. Payne has died after a brief battle with colon cancer.

The 77-year-old Democrat was a native of Newark and became New Jersey's first Black congressman in 1988. The 12-term congressman was also the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. President Barack Obama released this statement which reads in part:

"By any standard, Don lived a full and meaningful life. After serving as the first African American President of the National Council of YMCAs, and then several years in local government, Don went on to become the first African American Congressman to represent the state of New Jersey.

"He made it his mission to fight for working families, increase the minimum wage, ensure worker safety, guarantee affordable health care and improve the educational system. He was a leader in US-Africa policy, making enormous contributions towards helping restore democracy and human rights across the continent. Don will be missed, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends during this difficult time."

Rep. Payne was a progressive, a staunch champion of civil, women's and labor rights—and a major LGBT ally. The congressman boasted a 100% Rating from the Human Rights Campaign, supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, opposed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", a federal marriage amendment and the Defense of Marriage Act. Payne was an early supported of marriage equality.

ALASKA: Rise in HIV Cases Traced to Military M4M Online Hookups

A sharp rise in HIV infections around Fairbanks, Alaska has been traced to military men finding sex partners via online hookup sites "like Adam4Adam and Craigslist," according to public health data reported in the Army Times.

The outbreak involves nine cases between Jan. 1, 2011, and Jan. 31, 2012. ... From 2007 through 2010, the number of HIV cases reported in the Fairbanks area was fairly stable at two to four a year, so "this is a very unusual spike," said Susan Jones, a state epidemiology official.

Of the nine people infected in 2011, eight were men who had sex with other men, according to the agency. Seven were either in the Army in Fairbanks or had sexual partners in the military. Most were young. Four were under the age of 20. Seven of the men reported meeting sex partners online.

And:

Last summer, epidemiology workers traveled to Fairbanks to interview the people involved and found that many of them had used websites like Craigslist and Adam2Adam to locate what she described as "anonymous" sex partners in the Fairbanks and Fort Wainwright area.

Sex-seeking Internet sites have been a major conduit for high-risk sex linked to STD infection in the Lower 48, Jones said. This is the only major outbreak associated with them in Alaska she knows of, she said.

The military requires HIV testing of active duty soldiers every two years. That's in addition to mandatory testing before and after deployments. Troops that seroconvert can continue on active duty but cannot serve overseas. The Navy has generally had higher seroconversion rates than other service branches.

In previous years, there were anecdotal reports from HIV+ troops across the military who complained that results of HIV contact tracing and public health investigations were used to dismiss them under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."