Barack Obama, Abortion & Gay Rights

OBAMA FOR USA. Abortion

President Obama used a commencement address at the University of Notre Dame on May 17 to call for partisans on each side of the polarizing abortion debate to find ways to respect one another's basic decency and even work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

Gay Rights

On June 17, Mr. Obama signed an administrative memorandum extending some partnership rights to federal workers in same-sex relationships. It allows administration personnel to take leave to care for sick partners and requires the government to recognize their partners as household members when determining overseas housing allocations for State Department employees, among other things.

But several of the nation's most prominent gay and lesbian political leaders quickly attacked the president for failing to extend full health care benefits to the same-sex partners of federal workers, questioning the administration's explanation that it is precluded from doing so by the Defense of Marriage Act, which Mr. Obama during his presidential campaign had vowed to repeal.

Their outcry put the administration on the defensive for an action it had hoped would help address increasing complaints from gay activists who supported Mr. Obama's election but now say he is ignoring the issues he promised to address, like a repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay men and lesbians in the military. Fueling the protest, the president's move came just days after the administration filed a legal brief defending the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act - which defines marriage as between a man and a woman only - in a case challenging the law.

On June 29, President Obama defended his gay-rights policies, telling an audience of gay men and lesbians that he remained committed to overturning the "don't ask, don't tell" rule and that he expected to be judged "not by promises I've made but by the promises that my administration keeps." Mr. Obama made his remarks at a reception in the East Room of the White House to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 uprising that gave rise to the modern gay rights movement.

"I know that many in this room don't believe progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Mr. Obama said. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago. We've been in office six months now. I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration."