President Obama will hold a White House
gay pride reception on June 22.
Invitations for the event were mailed
last week. They say: “The President requests the pleasure of your
company at a reception in celebration of LGBT Pride Month to be held
at The White House.”
The reception begins at 5PM.
Among those invited is openly gay
Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh.
“Who gets an invitation to the White
House,” Pugh said in a video posted Tuesday on Facebook. “I'm
just saying, that's pretty good.”
“It's an honor, really, to represent
the people of the City of Detroit who were not bigots, who accepted
my candidacy for the qualifications I brought to the table and did
not in any way judge or reject me because of who I am,” he added.
Earlier Obama declared June gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride month.
The president used the opportunity to
cheer on lawmakers as they considered repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,” the 1993 law that forbids gay troops from serving openly,
and highlight some of the gay rights initiatives advanced by his
administration.
Saying that “our Nation draws its
strength from our diversity,” Obama called upon Americans to
“observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in
their own lives and everywhere it exits.”