President Barack Obama is touting his
record on gay rights in a new ad released Wednesday.
The video begins with candidate Obama
pledging his support to the LGBT community.
“When I am President of the United
States, gays and lesbians will have somebody who will fight for equal
rights for them, somebody who opposes 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'
somebody who has fought to make sure that gays and lesbians aren't
discriminated against on the job or hospital visitation, because they
are our brothers and they are our sisters,” he tells a cheering
crowd.
The ad goes on to state that as
president, Obama repealed “Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” signed the
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into
law, appointed more LGBT people to his executive branch than all of
his predecessors combined, expanded hospital visitation rights for
same-sex partners, directed the Justice Department not to defend the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and affirmed his personal support for
marriage equality.
I think that same-sex couples should be
able to get married,” Obama is seen telling ABC News' Robin
Roberts. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.
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