• Leahy withholds amendment to include LGBT couples in immigration reform

    By Carrie Dann, NBC News

    Acknowledging that it would jeopardize the passage of a sweeping immigration reform bill, a top ally of LGBT rights advocates will not call for a committee vote on an amendment that would include the spouses of LGBT individuals with the same standing as heterosexual couples in immigration law. 

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy announced "with a heavy heart" that he would withhold his amendment during the final hours of the committee's negotiations on the immigration bill. 

    "I do not want to be the senator who asks Americans to choose between the love of their life and love of their country," he said in his opening remarks on the amendment, for which gay rights advocates had heavily lobbied in the weeks leading up to the marathon markup session.

    Republican members of the Gang of Eight had made clear in the days before the vote that the LGBT provisions - if included - would be a dealbreaker for GOP supporters of the delicate bipartisan compromise. But gay rights organizations said the inclusion of the protections for LGBT individuals is a crucial social justice issue. 

    The Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights group, called opposition to Leahy's proposal "deplorable" and vowed to keep up the fight on the Senate floor. 

    "We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people," the organization said in a statement. "We will continue to work hard to include bi-national same-sex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform." 

    Rachel Tiven, the president of immigrant advocacy group Immigration Equality, said “there should be shame on both sides of the political aisle" for the move. 

    "Despite widespread support from business, labor, faith, Latino and Asian-American advocates, Senators abandoned LGBT families without a vote," she said. 

    South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Gang of Eight negotiators, affirmed that the amendment would fracture the "strong but fragile coalition" nurtured by the bipartisan group. 

    "When it comes to passing this immigration bill, to interject a redefinition of marriage would be a bridge too far," he said. 

    Before Leahy announced the withholding of the amendment, Gang of Eight members Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer, both Democrats with strong records of supporting gay rights, each expressed anguish at the prospect of voting against the measure to preserve the chances of passage of the larger bill. 

    "I believe this is the wrong moment. This is the wrong bill," said Durbin. 

    Schumer acknowledged that current immigration policy towards LGBT foreign nationals amounts to  "rank discrimination"

    But, he added, "I cannot support this amendment if it would bring down this bill." 

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said that she believes there is a "very good chance" that the Supreme Court will find the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional this summer, largely addressing the concerns of the LGBT community when it comes to protections for binational couples.

    "I am for what Sen. Leahy is proposing," she added. "I would just implore you to hold off on this amendment at this time."

  • Obama: Gay marriage 'doesn't weaken families, it strengthens families'

    Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images

    President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign fundraiser May 14, 2012 at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.

    By NBC's Ali Weinberg

     

    NEW YORK, N.Y. – Speaking at an event for the first time since announcing his support for same-sex marriage, President Obama said his position was part of his campaign philosophy, rooted, he said, in “the basic idea that I want everybody treated fairly in this country.”

    “So much of this has to do with a belief that not only are we all in this together but all of us are equal in terms of dignity, in terms of respect,” the president said to the cheers of 200 people -- including singer Ricky Martin and actress Eva Longoria -- at the Rubin Museum of Art in downtown New York City. 

    Consistent with that belief, Obama continued, “the announcement I made last week about my views on marriage equality.”

    “We have never gone wrong when we expanded rights and responsibilities to everybody,” he said. “That doesn't weaken families, it strengthens families.”

    The event was co-hosted by Martin, the Democratic National Committee’s LGBT Leadership Council and the Futuro Fund, a Latino get-out-the-vote organization affiliated with the Obama campaign.

    Obama also seemed to turn a word commonly associated with conservative social issues – “values” – on its head, saying that he too believes “values” are a key factor in this election.

    “It's been said that this election is going to be about values and I absolutely agree,” he said. “It's about the economic values we have, the values that I believe are what makes America so special.”

    While this appearance was more about framing his own policies than those of his opponents, the president did seek to define Mitt Romney as an empty vessel of Congressional Republicans, contrasting him with his 2008 presidential opponent John McCain whom he suggested was a more independent thinker.

    “We've got a very clear contrast this time. John McCain believed in climate change and believed in immigration reform. On some issues there was a sense of independence. What we've got this time out is a candidate who said he’d basically rubber-stamp a Republican Congress who wants us to go backwards and not forwards on a whole range of issues.”

    Obama urged his LGBT supporters to stay active, warning them against what he called the outsized influence of outside spending groups who have a simple but powerful message.

    “Their message is simple: You're frustrated, you're angry and it's Obama’s fault,” he said.

  • White House seeks to further gay rights through foreign policy

    By NBC's Shawna Thomas

     

    The White House announced further efforts Tuesday to consider the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in its foreign policy decision-making.

    In a memo released today, President Obama directed all "agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons." In short, it means the U.S. will now evaluate how countries treat its LGBT citizens in its foreign policy.

    In the memo, the president refers to his speech at the United Nations earlier this year where he said, "No country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere."

    And in an effort to highlight this move, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a human rights policy speech in Geneva, Switzerland in honor of Human Rights Day. "Gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights," said the secretary. 

    The White House outlines several steps agencies will take in protecting LGBT rights abroad:

    • Combat the criminalization of LGBT status or conduct abroad. 
    • Protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers. 
    • Leverage foreign assistance to protect human rights and advance nondiscrimination. 
    • Ensure swift and meaningful U.S. responses to human rights abuses of LGBT persons abroad. 
    • Engage International Organizations in the fight against LGBT discrimination.
    • Report on progress.