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WATCH LIVE: White House Conference on Bullying Prevention

The President and First Lady are delivering opening remarks at the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, which began at 1030A/ET in the East Room.

Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

In addition to President and Mrs. Obama, the conference includes Administration officials, teachers, students, parents and community leaders. White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett will lead the morning session. At 1220P/ET there will be a special Facebook LIVE event via the White House Facebook account. Submit your questions HERE.

Watch AFTER THE JUMP ...

White House Releases NHAS Operational Plans, HIV/AIDS Activists "Cautiously" Optimistic"

 

Our new report for the Black AIDS Institute. 

Despite last week's troubling news that the newly elected House Republican leadership was committed to slashing billions in federal spending—including HIV/AIDS funding—there was some good news.  President Obama’s proposed FY 2012 budget drew some praise from AIDS advocates for its modest funding increases to federal AIDS programs during a time when the White House and Congress are under growing pressure to cut spending. 

Included in the FY 2012 budget:  The White House also released detailed operational plans to implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) , the nation's first dedicated road map to fighting the epidemic, released last July. High risk groups include those identified in the NHAS—such as Black Americans, Black men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender persons.

Included in the report are interviews with Cornelius Baker, a member of the Presidential Advisory Council HIV/AIDS (PACHA), White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes and  Director, Office of National AIDS Policy Jeffrey S. Crowley.

Read the full report HERE. 

Also: Black AIDS Institute CEO Phill Wilson makes sense of the ongoing federal budget battle and its impact on HIV/AIDS funding.

Last fall, you may recall that we wrote a four part series for the Institute on NHAS' potential impact on Black America. Read parts 1, 2 , 3 and 4 of our series.

White House Conference Call on FY2012 LGBT HIV/AIDS Funding

White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes and Office of National AIDS Policy Director Jeffrey Crowley lead the conference call. Runs from 10ET to 10:30ish. Will start posting when it's over.

WATCH: Behind the Scenes Signing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal

The White House goes behind the scenes at the signing ceremony of the landmark repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", interviewing Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, who was discharged under the policy and Rep. Patrick Murphy who led the charge in the House of Representatives. White House Domestic Advisor Melody Barnes, who last year at this time made headlines regarding her support of marriage equality, also was interviewed.

Former U.S. Army Lt. Anthony Woods, the Harvard and West Point graduate who earned a Bronze Star after leading an 81-soldier combat unit in Iraq and was later discharged under DADT, can be seen at :30. Watch the video  WHEN YOU JUMP ...

Did a Top Obama Advisor Indicate Support for Marriage Equality?

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?