By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at a dinner hosted by the Human Rights Campaign, America's largest homosexualist lobby, the group announced yesterday.
Obama is expected to offer remarks at the 13th Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner, which will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Saturday, Oct. 10.
“We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people as brothers and sisters,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese.
U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present the first-ever Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of Matthew Shepard. Sen. Edward “Ted” Kennedy, who succumbed to brain cancer in August, was widely recognized as one of the foremost champions of the homosexual agenda.
The speech is the President's latest token of support for the cause after catching flak for backing down on some homosexualist issues – such as his campaign promise to dismantle the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by executive fiat.
The relationship between HRC's Solmonese and President Obama frayed earlier this year when the Justice Department filed a brief defending DOMA against a lawsuit by a California homosexual couple in June.
“As an American, a civil rights advocate, and a human being, I hold this administration to a higher standard than this brief,” wrote Solmonese in an open letter to Obama. “In the course of your campaign, I became convinced – and I still want to believe – that you do, too. … [T]his brief should not be good enough for you. The question is, Mr. President – do you believe that it's good enough for us?”
When White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters yesterday that Obama would be speaking to the HRC event, one reporter asked why the President had not taken a more aggressive pro-homosexuality stance.
The reporter asked: “Recently we saw this White House issue an executive order banning federal employees from text messaging. Why doesn't the President do something similar with the issue of domestic partnership benefits, especially health care and pension benefits?”
Gibbs interrupted to respond: “Well, the President—the President has been working—I don't have an update on—but we talked about that a few months ago, in terms of extending some benefits.”
In June, Obama signed a presidential memorandum requiring the federal government to provide several spousal benefits to domestic partners of federal employees, including homosexual partners.
Last week, President Obama included homosexual couples raising children as an instance of the “American family” while declaring September 28 National Family Day.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Obama to Give Benefits to Homosexual Partners of Federal Employees
Obama Includes Homosexual Couples in “National Family Day”