La Presse en Rose

Obama to gay group: 'Still laws to change, hearts to open'
by CNN.com
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama delivered a rousing speech Saturday night to the nation's largest gay rights group, praising the gay community for making strides in equal rights and pledging to deliver on major campaign promises that some say he's left on the back burner.

"For nearly 30 years, you've advocated for those without a voice," Obama said during his address at the dinner for the Human Rights Campaign. "Despite the progress we've made, there are still laws to change and hearts to open."

Obama's speech came as gay rights activists continued to lose patience over the lack of change to key issues for the gay community -- including the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. It comes on the eve of a major gays-rights rally in Washington.

"This fight continues now and I'm here with the simple message: I'm here with you in that fight," Obama told the applauding crowd.

The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement praising the speech, saying it was a "historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the president of the United States. It's simply unprecedented."

Obama called for the repeal of the ban on gays in the military -- the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

"We should not be punishing patriotic Americans who have stepped forward to serve this country," he said. "I'm working with the Pentagon, its leadership and the members of the House and Senate on ending this policy, legislation that has been introduced in the House to make this happen, I will end 'don't ask, don't tell.' That's my commitment to you."

The president said he backed the rights of gay couples, saying they should have the "same rights and responsibilities afforded to any married couple in this country." He said he has urged Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and to pass the Domestic Partners Benefit and Obligations Act.

Obama also touched on protection against hate crimes, noting that legislation was passed in the House this week that expanded the definition of hate crimes to include attacks based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"I can announce that after more than a decade, this bill is set to pass and I will sign it into law," he said.

Obama acknowledged the fact that many in the gay community don't believe government is moving fast enough to address their concerns.

"Many of you don't believe progress is happening. I want to be honest about that because it's important to be honest among friends," he said. "I said this before, I'll repeat it again, it's not important for me to tell you to be patient."

Obama said gay people, like other Americans, are affected by myriad concerns -- namely, the economy and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- and stressed that he's focusing on issues that affect the entire nation.

"While some may wish to define you solely by your sexual orientation or identity alone, you know and I know that none of us want to be defined by one part of what makes us whole," he said. "So I know you want me working on jobs and the economy and all of the other issues that we're dealing with."

Still, Obama said, it's imperative that the gay community continue to pursue the policies they support.

"It's so important that you continue to speak out and you continue to set an example and that you continue to press your leaders, including me, and to make the case all across America," he said.
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The Human Rights Campaign in its statement praised Obama's pledge that "we will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize the relationships between two men or two women."

The group said Obama "made it crystal clear that he is our strongest ally in this fight, that he understands and, in fact, encourages our activism and our voice even when we're impatient with the pace of change.

Sykes is black, gay, 45 and finding humor in it all

by By By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Wanda Sykes has a lot to talk about.

She's an African American who is celebrating the first African-American president. She's a television star discussing her decision to come out. She's a 45-year-old woman dealing with a new wife, two new babies and middle-age spread.

Some people may not want to hear her talk about those topics, but that's their loss. Because for a 90-minute stretch on Saturday night, she is also the funniest person in America.

Taped at a concert in Washington, D.C., I'ma Be Me finds Sykes (who gets her own late-night talk show next month) at the absolute top of her form: smart, blunt, a little combative, but never abrasive. Oh, she can be annoyed and perplexed by the stupidity that surrounds us; that's one of the main sources of her comic energy. But anger is not the driving force in Saturday's special. Sykes seems happy with her life and her choices, and her joy is infectious — and frequently hilarious.

Certainly, for a comedy special, hilarity should count. Sykes gets the crowd laughing early and keeps them laughing to the end, with no significant down time and no cheap tricks. There are stand-ups who will say and do anything to get a laugh. With Sykes, you get the sense she's thought through everything she's saying, and wouldn't be saying it if she didn't believe it to be true.

Is it all in good, family-viewing taste? Of course not, which is why she's on pay cable in a later slot. But if some of the jokes go too far, none of them are offensive just for offense sake.

Transitions, it must be said, are not Sykes' strong point, and she can sometimes stumble her way toward a joke. But once she gets there, she uses everything in her actress's arsenal, from slapstick collapse to facial flexibility, to make it land.

When it comes to the opening target of those jokes, Barack Obama, Sykes has an obvious advantage. She can say things a white comedian probably couldn't, or at least wouldn't. But that wouldn't matter if she didn't offer an original, witty take on the subject.

Making fun both of the president and of our perceptions of what qualifies as "black" behavior, she soars through a fabulous riff linking watermelons, Popeye's and undignified behavior. ("You know what dignified black people hate? Tap dancers. ... 'How we gonna get ahead if she up there looking like Bojangles?' ")

Eventually, Obama gives way to an array of random topics as Sykes makes her way to her other comedy gold mine: her personal life, which she can now discuss with a sweet, open honesty.

There are universally empathetic bits about battling her belly's bulge, raising fussy babies and having a French wife ("I like to say she's French because it sounds nicer than 'white.' "). And it all builds to a prolonged, brilliant segment on being gay and black that puts a racial spin on every coming-out cliché— making us see both with new eyes.

As long as you have that much to say, Wanda, you just keep talking.

Bisexual visibility on National Coming Out Day

By 365gay Newswire

The Bisexual Index, a network of activists, will honor National Coming out Day with badges that can be posted on blogs and social networking sites.

According to Pink News, The Bisexual Index says that the B in LGBT is often silent.

Marcus Morgan, coordinator of the Bisexual Index told Pink News:

“Coming out as bisexual is harder for many people – because of these sort of attitudes towards the validity of bisexuality, the lack of information for bisexuals and the assumptions that get made, it’s like the closet door faces uphill.”

National Coming Out Day is October 12.

The badges can be downloaded here.

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