According to USA Today, the president made it clear that the United States is a country where religious freedom is embraced and tradition is respected.
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President Barack Obama says freedom of religion isn’t a reason to deny Americans their constitutional rights.
This is a ideal example of the incrementalism by which rights are diminished, relegated to second-class status, and eventually dismissed altogether.
But even though he acknowledged that a few parts of the country are still uncomfortable with same-sex marriage and that a change in attitudes may not be coming in the near future, the president outright rejected the idea that freedom of religion somehow excuses people who wish to discriminate against LGBT people.
Obama also dismissed various Republican candidates’ stances on LGBT issues as out-of-touch, attempting to paint them as extremists.
As it’s said: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. “Well, you think I’m – I shouldn’t go into this?”
He ridiculed Ben Carson for suggesting that “prison turns you gay” and added that another Republican candidate had boasted of his introduction of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, likely referring to Sen. A third says Americans should just disobey the Supreme Court’s ruling entirely. “That’s not how we move America forward”.
“I’m sure he loves the Constitution – except for Article III”, he said about Huckabee – friend of Kim Davis, hater of gays – who last week claimed that the President isn’t really a Christian, after he let a gay Bishop attend today’s White House reception for the Pope. “And 14th Amendment, generally”.
Later that evening, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz reiterated the Democratic Party’s broad support for LGBT rights and said that the 2016 Democratic Party platform for 2016 would include support for The Equality Act. Tammy Baldwin [D-WI], New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. He was introduced at Gotham Hall by Jim Obergefell, a plaintiff in the case that the Supreme Court narrowly decided June 26, establishing marriage equality throughout the U.S.
Schneiderman was instrumental in pressuring the Boy Scouts of America in April 2015 to accept gay adult leaders, threatening to sue the organization because its bylaws were at odds with New York City statutes which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in hiring.
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View the president’s remarks in full here.
