Michelle Obama won thunderous applause from gay activists and officials Tuesday when she said, “discrimination has no place in a nation founded on the promise of equality.”
Speaking during a Democratic National Convention luncheon for gay delegates and dignitaries, the wife of presidential hopeful Barack Obama recalled how her husband once rallied neighborhood groups by challenging them to transform “the world as it is” into “the world as it should be.”
Michelle Obama asked the predominantly gay audience to join that quest, help her husband win the White House and rejoice as the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed and other gay rights advances are made.
“Barack is running for president because he believes that if we work together and we come together, that we can build that world as it should be,” she said. “We can do it. And he says that in the world as it should be — what does that look like? In the world as it should be, we can work together to repeal laws like DOMA and ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and we can oppose divisive constitutional amendments that would strip civil rights and benefits away from LGBT Americans because discrimination has no place in a nation founded on the promise of equality.”
Michelle Obama also reiterated her husband’s support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other gay measures pending in Congress.
“In the world as it should be, anyone willing to put in an honest day’s work should make a good living and support their family,” she said. “It’s simple. And employers are held accountable for discrimination against LGBT Americans. The federal government fully protects all of us in the world as it should be, including LGBT Americans, especially against hate crimes. That’s the world as it should be.”
Stopped repeatedly mid sentence by applause and cheers of support, she said her husband has long fought for gay civil rights.
“That’s what he did as a state senator,” she said. “Before entering the U.S. Senate, he was a champion of the law that amended the Illinois Human Rights Act in our state to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”
Michelle Obama also noted her husband has long endorsed a complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a stance he adopted during his campaign for U.S. Senate.
“And when he got to the U.S. Senate, he voted to protect our Constitution from the stain of discrimination by voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment,” she said. “He’s also supported in his career full funding for the Ryan White CARE Act and has pledged to implement a national HIV/AIDS strategy to combat the continuing epidemic right here in the United States.”
She encouraged the gay delegates and officials to work together with her husband “to fight and work hard to close the gaps between the two ideas — to make the world as it is and the world as it should be one in the same.”
Because only then, she said, would gay Americans be able to fully enjoy “a life of dignity and freedom.”
Gay activists and delegates praised Michelle Obama’s speech for its supportive message and genuine delivery.
[gay tel-aviv]
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