PRRI Survey: 72% of Americans Support LGBT Non-discrimination Protections

It what comprises bad news for the Trump/Pence regime and its war against LGBT Americans and the Christofascists (many of whom are also white supremacists) make up the GOP base, a new Public Religion Research Institute ("PRRI") survey shows 72% of Americans support LGBT equality under the civil laws and support laws that would protect LGBT people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing.  In short, everything the Christofasists and their political whores in the GOP oppose.  Indeed, even in deep red states, more than 60% of voters support LGBT protections and raise the question of how much longer the GOP can ignore the popular will as that party prostitutes itself to Christofascists who embrace ignorance and have made hate and bigotry the face of Christianity to many in America (40% of the under 30 generation has left religion and cite anti-LGBT extremism as a leading cause for their exodus).  A piece in The Advocate looks at the survey findings.  Here are highlights:

There is broad support for LGBTQ equality across the U.S., despite how polarized the nation is on many other issues, according to survey results released today by the Public Religion Research Institute.

The survey, conducted from March through December of last year, found an overwhelming majority of respondents favoring inclusive nondiscrimination laws, while support for equal marriage rights is at an all-time high. There is majority opposition to allowing small businesses to refuse service to gay and lesbian customers, but that opposition has waned somewhat.

“Seventy-two percent of Americans — including majorities of both political parties, religious groups, and nearly every major demographic group — favor laws that would protect LGBT people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing,” notes a PRRI press release. The level of support has remained largely stable since PRRI began asking the question in 2011. “Support for LGBT rights continues to be strong and expansive in all 50 states. Issues that in the recent past demarcated major political and religious fault lines now find broad agreement,” PRRI founder and CEO Robert P. Jones said in the release. In most states and the District of Columbia, at least two-thirds of survey respondents of respondents favor for nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people (the PRRI survey uses the term LGBT rather than LGBTQ). At its lowest levels, support dips below two-thirds in of Alaska (59 percent), Montana (62 percent), Louisiana (63 percent), Oklahoma (63 percent), Kentucky (64 percent), Alabama (64 percent), Wyoming (64 percent), West Virginia (64 percent), Tennessee (65 percent), and Arkansas (66 percent). This support comes when only 21 states have laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; Virginia will join this group in July. The Equality Act, which would ban such discrimination nationwide, is stalled in Congress; the House has passed it, but the Senate has not voted on it and appears unlikely to, and Donald Trump has said he would not sign it. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, has endorsed it and said he would make it a priority, a stance shared by all those who sought the Democratic nomination. PRRI also noted that the intensity of support for marriage equality has risen, while the intensity of opposition has waned. Support is greater among women than men, among Democrats and independents than Republicans, and among younger people, although the 2019 survey marked the first time a majority of people age 65 and older — 51 percent — supported equal marriage rights. The survey was conducted via telephone, with more than 40,000 interviews on specific issues. PRRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that conducts independent research at the intersection of religion, culture, and public policy.

The Christofascist are fighting a losing battle and the GOP is stupidly casting its lot with a dwindling portion of the population base.  

Log Cabin Republicans Refuse to Endorse Trump

Proving that even the self-loathing gays at the Log Cabin Republicans ("LCR") have limits to the level of self-degradation in which they will participate, the LCR have refused to endorse Donald Trump for president.  The main motivation?  Seemingly Trump's alliance with leading Christofascists who have made a lucrative career denigrating LGBT individuals and striving to block any advancement of LGBT equality under the civil laws.  The Advocate looks at the LRC's refusal to endorse Trump.  Here are excerpts:

After endorsing John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012, the Log Cabin Republicans are declining to endorse the Republicans' 2016 nominee for president, Donald Trump.

The nation's most prominent LGBT Republican organization released a statement on Saturday that acknowledged the conflicting nature of Trump's LGBT positions.

[T}he Log Cabin Republicans have long emphasized that we are not a single-issue organization, nor are our members single-issue voters. Even if we were, rhetoric alone regarding LGBT issues does not equate to doctrine. As Mr. Trump spoke positively about the LGBT community in the United States, he concurrently surrounded himself with senior advisors with a record of opposing LGBT equality, and committed himself to supporting legislation such as the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act” that Log Cabin Republicans opposes."

As Log Cabin pointed out, Trump supports "religious discrimination" legislation that would allow LGBT people to be refused service based on religious grounds. Trump also picked the man associated with Indiana's "turn away the gays" bill, anti-gay governor Mike Pence, as his running mate. Unlike Hillary Clinton, Trump is opposed to marriage equality and has been silent on the so-called Equality Act, which would ban housing and employment discrimination against LGBT people.

Would MLK Have Supported Marriage Equality?

Martin Luther King's widow, Coretta Scott King, made it clear before her death that she supported LGBT equality.  Moreover, she stated that her late husband would have supported the movement for LGBT equality.  What King himself thought we will likely never know with definitive certainty.  He was shot down in 1968 and never really expressed his views on LGBT equality, although one of his right hand men,  Bayard Rustin, was a gay man.  I believe that King would support today's movement for LGBT equality.  Today, while driving between the law firm offices today, I heard most of King's truly amazing speech when he came out against the Vietnam War (I love satellite radio). Based on his compassion for and statements about the Vietnamese people, I believe that he would have supported LGBT equality for similar reasons.  My blogger and activist friend, Rev. Irene Monroe, who I met at the 2008 LGBT blogger summit in Washington, D.C., has a piece in The Advocate that looks at this question.  Here are excerpts:

This Martin Luther King Jr. holiday reminds me how Alabama has always been a troubling state when it comes to upholding the civil rights of its denizens.

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights activism began in the unwelcoming “Heart of Dixie” in 1955 when on a cold December evening, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger, birthing the Montgomery bus boycott. The boycott was the first of what would be many historic marches and protests that would catapult King onto a national stage. His acts of civil disobedience in the 1950s and 1960s helped elevate the country’s moral consciousness as Alabama struggled with theirs. Sadly, in 2016, Alabama is still struggling.

When, on January 8, the Mobile County Probate Office resumed issuance of marriage licenses, I was asked by an editor, “What would be MLK’s thoughts about the modern LGBTQ movement and the place of people of color in it?” As I comb through numerous books and essays learning more about King’s philandering, his sexist attitude about women at home and in the movement, and his relationship with Bayard Rustin, I too wonder, Would King today be a public advocate for LGBTQ rights?

King’s now-deceased wife would say yes.

In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said LGBTQ equality and civil rights were the same. 

“I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King’s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people,” she said.

Speculations on what King's views would be vary within African-American LGBTQ communities. But an overwhelming number in these communities look more to Bayard Rustin — then and now — than to King as a spokesman for supporting our civil rights.

“I tend not to worry much about what MLK would do. I tend to look at someone such as Bayard Rustin as one prime driving force in civil rights and other activism. Rustin was there before World War II. And he never wavered, always looking for something new. It was Rustin who schooled King in Gandhi’s ideas. Rustin has simply said that the GLBT movement is the inheritor of civil rights activism in the U.S. I’ll stick with Bayard,” a blogger wrote me.

In the civil rights movement, Rustin was always the man behind the scenes, and a large part of that had to due with the fact that he was gay. Because of their own homophobia, many African-American ministers involved in the civil rights movement would have nothing to do with Rustin, and they intentionally spread rumors that King was gay because of his close friendship with Rustin.

We must understand King within the historical context of the homophobic black church; because of his association with it, I cannot envision him endorsing marriage equality. But I, like so many within the African-American community — straight or gay — cannot fathom King marching against same-sex marriage as his youngest daughter, Rev. Bernice King, did.

King was assassinated over a year before the Stonewall riots. Gay rights had not reached the level of being a bona fide national issue yet, and for King to have made a major public pronouncement regarding LGBTQ rights would have been historically premature. Note the flak he took even for speaking out against the Vietnam War — it was charged that he was overstepping his role and the war was not his issue.

“Had [King] lived long enough, he would have taken some form of enlightened viewpoint regarding gay/lesbian rights,” a friend told me emphatically. “Personally, I speculate that probably he and his wife had private conversations regarding this issue, and I believe that Coretta’s unwavering support of GLBT rights throughout the rest of her life reflects the direction of those discussions.”

Julian Bond: 1940-2015

At the National Equality March in 2009 I had the please of hearing Julian Bond speak.   After the event, I got to speak with him one on one (we had a new camera and the husband accidentally deleted the photo of us together - yes, there was a fight!).   Being of a certain age, I remember Julian Bond well.  I also have the privilege of being friends with one of his cousins who lives locally.  I was very saddened to learn of his passing. The New York Times looks at Julian Bond's life and achievements. Here are highlights:

Julian Bond, a charismatic figure of the 1960s civil rights movement, a lightning rod of the anti-Vietnam War campaign and a lifelong champion of equal rights, notably as chairman of the N.A.A.C.P., died on Saturday night in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. He was 75.

He died after a brief illness, the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement Sunday morning. His wife, Pamela Sue Horowitz, said Mr. Bond suffered from vascular disease, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Bond was one of the original leaders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee while he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was the committee’s communications director for five years and deftly guided the national news media toward stories of violence and discrimination as the committee challenged legal segregation in the South’s public facilities.

He gradually moved from the militancy of the student group to the leadership of the establishmentarian N.A.A.C.P. Along the way, Mr. Bond was a writer, poet, television commentator, lecturer and college teacher, and persistent opponent of the stubborn remnants of white supremacy.

He also served for 20 years in the Georgia General Assembly, mostly in conspicuous isolation from white colleagues who saw him as an interloper and a rabble-rouser.

Mr. Bond’s wit, cool personality and youthful face — he was often called dashing, handsome and urbane — became familiar to millions of television viewers in the 1960s and 1970s. On the strength of his personality and quick intellect, he moved to the center of the civil rights action in Atlanta, the unofficial capital of the movement, at the height of the struggle for racial equality in the early 1960s.

Moving beyond demonstrations, Mr. Bond became a founder, with Morris Dees, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy organization in Montgomery, Ala. Mr. Bond was its president from 1971 to 1979 and remained on its board for the rest of his life.

When he was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965, along with seven other black members, furious white members of the House refused to let him take his seat, accusing him of disloyalty. He was already well known because of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s stand against the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War.

That touched off a national drama that ended in 1966 when the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ordered the State Assembly to seat him, saying it had denied him freedom of speech.

As a lawmaker, he sponsored bills to establish a sickle cell anemia testing program and to provide low-interest home loans to low-income Georgians. He also helped create a majority-black congressional district in Atlanta.

Horace Julian Bond was born on Jan. 14, 1940, in Nashville, to Horace Mann Bond and the former Julia Washington. The family moved to Pennsylvania five years later, when Mr. Bond’s father became the first African-American president of his alma mater, Lincoln University.

Julian Bond’s great-grandmother Jane Bond was the slave mistress of a Kentucky farmer. Julian’s grandfather James Bond, one of Jane Bond’s sons, was educated at Berea and Oberlin Colleges and became a clergyman. His son Horace Mann Bond expected his own son Julian to follow in his footsteps as an educator, but the young man was attracted instead to journalism and political activism.

Mr. Bond devoted most of the 1960s to the protest movement and activist politics, including campaigns to register black voters. Both he and Mr. Lewis left the student committee after its leadership was taken over by black power advocates who forced whites out of the organization.

He prospered on the lecture circuit the rest of his life. He became a regular commentator in print and on television, including as host of “America’s Black Forum,” then the oldest black-owned television program in syndication. His most unusual television appearance was in April 1977, when he hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live.”

In later years, he taught at Harvard, Williams, Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a distinguished scholar in residence at American University in Washington and a professor of history at the University of Virginia, where he was co-director of the oral history project Explorations in Black Leadership.

Read the full piece.  Bond spoke out forcefully for LBGT equality  and, unlike black pastors who act as water carries for former segregationist, Bond never let the smoke screen of religion distract his focus from civil rights for all.  I am saddened by his passing.

Hillary Clinton Looks to the Future in Pride Statement

As the Republican presidential candidates, both announced and unannounced, seemingly compete to see who can most denigrate LGBT Americans and most thoroughly prostitute themselves to the Christofascists, Hillary Clinton has released a statement recognizing Pride Month which looks to the future and the further battles to be won.  Of her formally announced competitors, none has as yet released any statement recognizing pride month.  The Washington Blade has details.  Here are highlights:

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday past advances made by the LGBT community should be recognized during Pride celebrations this month, but noted that more work remains.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Monday past advances made by the LGBT community should be recognized during Pride celebrations this month, but noted that more work remains.

In an exclusive statement to the Washington Blade, the former secretary of state recognized June as Pride month, calling for a rededication to complete the work of improving the lives of people everywhere.

“Each June, we honor the contributions of the LGBTQ community and proudly reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that every member of the American family can live, work, and marry the person they love without enduring discrimination or prejudice,” Clinton said. “As we celebrate the hard-fought progress that has been made toward advancing the rights of LGBTQ Americans, we must also recognize that this work is far from finished. I hope that each and every one of us will dedicate ourselves to building a future in which every person can live in dignity, free from violence or fear, free to be themselves, free to live up to their God-given potential no matter where they live or who they are — this month and every month.”

Clinton made the statement on the same day she issued a message via Twitter hinting that, like many LGBT Americans, she’s awaiting good news from the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. This month, justices are expected to issue a decision on whether same-sex couples have a right to marry nationwide.

In an exclusive statement to the Washington Blade, the former secretary of state recognized June as Pride month, calling for a rededication to complete the work of improving the lives of people everywhere.

Clinton made the statement on the same day she issued a message via Twitter hinting that, like many LGBT Americans, she’s awaiting good news from the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. This month, justices are expected to issue a decision on whether same-sex couples have a right to marry nationwide.

As of the time of this posting, neither former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley nor U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) — other Democratic candidates in the race — had issued statements this year recognizing June as Pride month, nor had any of the Republican presidential candidates.

Clinton, who enjoys considerable support in the LGBT community, issued the statement shortly after calling on the Supreme Court to issue a nationwide ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. She’s also spoken out against religious freedom measures in Indiana and Arkansas seen to enable discrimination against LGBT people.

Lady Gaga’s Dazzling Second Act

I will not try to pretend that I am not a huge fan of Lady Gaga.  While I liked some of her early hits, I became a die hard fan at the National Equality March in the fall of 2009 when she spoke to the gathered crowd of well over 250,000 attendees (see the photo above).  Thanks to my press credentials for The Bilerico Project, the husband and I got to hear her speak from about 20 feet away. And that was hardly the first or last of her efforts on behalf of the LGBT community.  But I digress.  Now, Gaga, who some labeled as a "has been" has silenced her critics and risen like a phoenix and shown her talents to a far wider audience.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the phenomenon.   Here are excerpts:

Lady Gaga might be pop culture’s most surprising phoenix.  It wasn’t even a year ago that we had ruled her career dead. Her high-concept, haute-pretentious album, ARTPOP, was a commercial and critical disaster. (Albeit one I predict will be deemed “underrated” in the years to come—“Gypsy” is a legitimately excellent song.) Pop music’s most reliable hitmaker had fallen prey to her own artistic ambition and exhausting pop art persona. Consumers had rendered their verdict: over it.

But from the ashes of ARTPOP, Gaga is rising amid a string of shrewd, unexpected career decisions. The result? Culture’s craziest kook has reinvented herself as a bit of a classic entertainer. First was a Grammy-winning album of standards with Tony Bennett. Then a ferociously delivered tribute to The Sound of Music at the Oscars. And now, the news that she’s been cast as the lead in the next season of American Horror Story.

If you’ve seen any of Lady Gaga’s epic music videos—especially the monologue opener to “Marry the Night”—you already know that Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, the NYU-trained theater nerd who would become Lady Gaga, is a seriously talented actress.

From revelatory turns by Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, and Kathy Bates to theater of the absurd moments that have become the series’ calling card, American Horror Story is a home for go-for-broke performances, fearless characterization, and deranged storytelling that makes the casting of Lady Gaga on its next season both obvious and inspired. She is going to be so freaking good on this show.

More, the exuberant reaction the casting has already sparked reveals just how slick and successful Lady Gaga’s transformation over this past year has been. In many ways, between her embracing of Hollywood glamour and almost schmaltzy promotion of old Hollywood standards, Lady Gaga has become the modern-day Bette Midler.

Smartly, after being bruised by the ARTPOP failure, Gaga is focusing the conversation on one essential thing: her irrefutable talent. 

Hers is an excellent voice on Cheek to Cheek, her album with Tony Bennett. Crooning classics like “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “Anything Goes” showcase that voice in ways that her heavily—and often brilliantly—produced pop songs often mask. They illuminate something that the effortlessness of Gaga’s talents often make you forget: that in order to make the perfect pop song—and “Bad Romance,” “Poker Face,” and a handful of others are perfect pop songs—you need to have crazy-impressive vocal chops. Gaga is an incredible singer.

And should you have doubted that latter point at all, her performance at the Oscars was more than enough to change your mind. In just 10 minutes, Gaga changed the way the world saw her, all while staying true to the singular directive that has driven all of her career success: take goddamned risks. 

She absolutely nailed it. Immediately, and continuing on in the days since, her performance was ruled as the highlight of the Oscars. People couldn’t stop talking about her voice, and how unbelievably talented she was. Gaga was back, but she was different. She wasn’t just a pop star. She was a talent.

I for one wish Gaga the best of luck and hope she continues to confound her past critics.  I also hope she continues her dedication to LGBT equality.

Ann Dearsley-Vernon: Making Your Mark- Starting the Sit-Ins

Ann Dearsley-Vernon (at far left) and 2 friends at the Women's College of North Carolina gave up their seats to African-American students at Woolworth's in Greensboro,NC, it helped to launch the sit-in movement in 1960 (Photo: National Civil Rights Museum)

As I have noted in various posts, what helped me beyond measure in rebuilding my social life and finding self-acceptance after coming out was to become involved in LGBT rights organizations.  Among the first endeavors that I involved my self was the Legends Committee for Equality Virginia.  The first honoree of the now annual Legends Gala was Ann Dearsley-Vernon, a wonderful LGBT equality ally and one who was in involved in the civil rights movement in the 1960's when she was a college student.  With the attention again being refocused on those days thanks to the movie "Selma" local WVEC -TV 13 recently carried a story on Ann and her courage and willingness to do what was right (I deem it a true honor to count Ann as a friend).  Here are excerpts:

Today, Ann Dearsley-Vernon is 76 years old. A stroke two years ago slowed her walking and her speech, but the memories of how she helped make history during the Civil Rights movement are still clear as day.

In 1960, when America was embroiled in the Civil Rights movement, Ann and a couple of friends from Greensboro Women's College walked into a Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina up to the lunch counter to eat.  Ann was a graduate student in fine arts.

They noticed African-American students were not being served. Ann and her friends gave up their seats to African-American students.

This incident went down in the history books as helping to launch the sit-in movement -- a series of non-violent protests at other eateries across the South that refused to serve African-Americans. It rejuvenated Civil Rights efforts led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"We had no idea it would be so important,"Ann said. "We thought it was the right thing to do."

Sticking to their principles led to tensions mounting at the Woolworth lunch counter. Ann and her friends were yelled at and were threatened by people who were angry at what they did. Ann says someone even pressed a knife against her back.

"At the time it was very scary," Ann said.  She and her friends were escorted out of Woolworth by a group of African-American student-athletes from the NC A&T football team, who linked arms to protect them.

Ann moved to Norfolk in 1973, becoming a key figure in the arts community. She also became heavily involved in community programs that encouraged celebrating diversity and eliminating prejudice, winning several awards for her work.

One of those awards was the first "legends" award for Ann's work for LGBT equality.  The husband and I saw her during the holidays and she is a great lady.  A truly great lady.   Again, my message to those coming out, especially later in life, is to GET INVOLVED.  It will change your life and you may be lucky enough to meet some incredibly amazing people along the way.  

Obama Describes Being Gay as a "Lifestyle Choice"

As much as he may have "evolved" on same sex marriage and pushed for LGBT rights, Barack Obama still doesn't grasp that being gay is NOT a lifestyle choice.  Or at least not any more of a "choice" than being born black, having blue eyes or being left handed.  Yes, some light skinned blacks my chose to "pass as white", tinted contact lenses can outwardly change eye color and in the past some lefties were forced to learn to write with their right hands.  None of these efforts however, changes one's underlying traits.  So too with sexual orientation.  Thus, it is disappointing that Obama is still using the language favored by our enemies to continue the lie that sexual orientation is a "choice."  Sadly, in their rush to brown nose Obama, many LGBT rights organizations which would condemn the same language if it was uttered by enemies of LGBT equality are giving Obama a pass.  Apparently "access" is more important than the truth.  The Washington Blade looks at the sell out by our self-anointed "leaders."  Here are highlights:

President Obama deviated this week from the language considered acceptable for talking about gay people when he described the lives of same-sex couples as a “lifestyle choice” — but virtually no one cares.

The Washington Blade reached out to various LGBT groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, the National LGBTQ Task Force and GLAAD, to ask whether they objected to Obama’s use of the phrase. None of those groups responded to a request to comment on that language, which is widely considered unacceptable and offensive because it suggests that sexual orientation is a choice.

Obama also said he hopes the Supreme Court makes the “right decision” on pending litigation seeking marriage rights for same-sex couples.

“I’m hopeful the Supreme Court comes to the right decision, but I will tell you, people’s hearts have opened up on this issue,” Obama said. “I think people know that treating folks unfairly, even if you disagree with their lifestyle choice, the fact of the matter is, they’re not bothering you. Let them live their lives, and under the law, they should be treated equally.”

Obama’s faux pas comes the same week that he made history by becoming the first president ever to say the words “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” in a State of the Union address.

LGBT rights groups have taken Republicans to task when GOP officials and political hopefuls have made similar comments. In 2011, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain, then the front-runner in the race to become the Republican presidential nominee, ignited a firestorm of controversy when he said in an interview on “The View” that being gay is a choice.

 I'm sorry, but I don't expect our supposed allies to use the terminology of our enemies.

Presidential Proclamation: LGBT Pride Month

Brace yourself for more spittle flecked hysteria from the Christofascists and claims that Barack Obama is nothing less than demonic.  Why?  Because Barack Obama has signed a presidential proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month.   Worse yet, at least in the minds of the "godly Christian" folk is that Obama acknowledges the struggles faced by LGBT Americans and expresses his support for LGBT equality.  Joe My God provides highlights from the proclamation:

"As progress spreads from State to State, as justice is delivered in the courtroom, and as more of our fellow Americans are treated with dignity and respect -- our Nation becomes not only more accepting, but more equal as well. During Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, we celebrate victories that have affirmed freedom and fairness, and we recommit ourselves to completing the work that remains.

"Last year, supporters of equality celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, a ruling which, at long last, gave loving, committed families the respect and legal protections they deserve. In keeping with this decision, my Administration is extending family and spousal benefits -- from immigration benefits to military family benefits -- to legally married same-sex couples.

"My Administration proudly stands alongside all those who fight for LGBT rights. Here at home, we have strengthened laws against violence toward LGBT Americans, taken action to prevent bullying and harassment, and prohibited discrimination in housing and hospitals. Despite this progress, LGBT workers in too many States can be fired just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; I continue to call on the Congress to correct this injustice by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

"This month, as we mark 45 years since the patrons of the Stonewall Inn defied an unjust policy and awakened a nascent movement, let us honor every brave leader who stood up, sat in, and came out, as well as the allies who supported them along the way. Following their example, let each of us speak for tolerance, justice, and dignity -- because if hearts and minds continue to change over time, laws will too.

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2014 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth." - Barack Obama.

Of course, if Obama was serious about ENDA protections, he would sign an ENDA executive order.

Corporate America: The LGBT Community's Most Powerful Ally

Here in Virginia corporations were not so long ago barred from offering domestic partner insurance benefits unless the corporations were large and basically self-insured.  What changed this?  Large corporations, including Capital One, demanding that the Virginia General Assembly repeal the ban and allow corporations to be competitive in recruiting the best talent and employees.  Another example of corporate America's blow back against anti-gay bigotry is the reason debacle in Arizona where GOP governor Jan Brewer was forced to veto a GOP backed bill.  Sadly, the Virginia GOP still has not gotten the larger message.  A piece in Metro Weekly looks at how corporate America has become, whether for the right reasons or not, become one of the LGBT community's most powerful allies.  Here are highlights:

While the debate over LGBT equality may continue to take place among the general electorate, that debate has reached its conclusion among corporate America. To be anti-gay increasingly means to be anti-business. 

According to Deena Fidas, director of the Workplace Equality Program for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the game-changing moment came when New York lawmakers approved marriage-equality legislation in 2011.

"That was really the first time there was a breakthrough of this being a relative fringe area of corporate support," Fidas tells Metro Weekly, noting that during the fight against Proposition 8 in 2008 only a handful of businesses weighed in. However, thanks to a collaborate effort by a number of LGBT-rights organizations, about 40 businesses from Wall Street to upstate New York publicly voiced their support for the state's same-sex marriage bill.

The tidal shift is apparent with adoption of nondiscrimination policies as well. In 2002, when HRC launched its Corporate Equality Index, which has come to serve as the national benchmark tool on corporate LGBT policies, only 13 businesses achieved a perfect score. In 2014 that number stands at 304 businesses. Among Fortune 500 companies, 91 percent have nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation and 61 percent include gender identity. Sixty-seven percent offer equivalent medical benefits between spouses and partners and 28 percent offer transgender-inclusive health care benefits, including surgical procedures. 

While the adoption of such inclusive policies has been on the rise, major corporations have also now begun to take their views on LGBT-rights out of the boardroom and into the public square. A month before the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act's federal definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, in March 2013, nearly 300 businesses and city governments, including major businesses such as Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Twitter, Starbucks, Morgan Stanley, Google and cities from Baltimore to Los Angeles, filed a brief with the Supreme Court calling for DOMA be struck down as unconstitutional. The brief argued in part that DOMA hurts workplace efficiency and employee morale, and thus forces employers to participate in the injury of their own workforce morale.

[W]hile many of these businesses have expressed a desire to be on the right side of history, their decision to take action on issues of equality is just as much pragmatic.

"As they've learned, there are a lot of very practical implications for businesses when we have uneven laws. There were very material challenges they were having to reconcile with differing state and federal tax systems," Fidas says. "So while there's certainly a more social justice and equality case to be made, there were also these very real administrative costs that were going toward renovating these uneven laws and how they impact the implementation of things like domestic partner benefits." 

But perhaps the greatest example of how powerful an alliance the LGBT community has forged with corporate America came this past February when lawmakers in Arizona approved anti-LGBT legislation that would have effectively made it legal for businesses to turn away customers due to their religious beliefs.

Brewer isn't the first member of a party with deep ties to the business community to find herself siding with equality following pressure from the nation's most profitable companies. Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, whose son is gay, has invested millions of dollars into forging GOP support for issues such as LGBT workplace protections and marriage equality. More than 120 leading U.S. employers have joined HRC's Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness supporting passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

"My interactions with business leaders have shown me that corporations want to attract the broadest pool of talent possible," says Angelo. "When there are exclusionary policies explicitly stated in state laws or constitutions, or the absence of inclusionary policies as part of company policy, they find less of a chance to attract talented workers who also happen to be LGBT."