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Obama Mentions Gay Rights For The First Time Ever In An Inaugural Address

President Barack Obama added a historic first mention of gay rights in his inauguration speech today. A quick search of the speeches ranging from Obama's 2008 address to Jimmy Carter's in 1977 contain no mention.

Here's the paragraph in his speech:


In a speech that focused on themes of equality, Obama made special mention of the Stonewall gay-rights riots, equating them with watershed moments in the equal-rights struggles of blacks and women. In 1969, the New York City bar Stonewall became synonymous with the birth of the gay-rights movement after a police raid targeting gays led to violent clashes.

Obama compared Stonewall to Seneca Falls — home to the first women's rights convention in 1848 — and Selma, the town in Alabama where civil-rights supporters were beaten in 1965 during voting-rights marches.

"We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth," he said.

Obama's bold pronouncement comes in a year during which the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide on two high-profile cases involving gay marriage. The Court will hear arguments on March 26 and 27 on legal challenges to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8.

In his speech, Obama added a nod to some of the other goals he intends to pursue in a second-term agenda — voting rights, immigration reform, and gun control:

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Los Angeles Times

Inauguration 2013: Obama hints at greater gay marriage support

WASHINGTON -- President Obama must decide next month whether to endorse gay marriage as an equal right under the Constitution; in his inaugural address, he sounded as though he had made up his mind.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said.

During the last year, the president has said he personally supports gay marriage but that the issue needs to be decided on a state by state basis. Currently, nine states authorize same-sex marriages, 41 do not.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two gay marriage cases in late March, and both pose questions about equal rights for same-sex couples.

In one case from New York, the justices will decide whether legally married gay couples are entitled to equal benefits under federal law. Obama’s lawyers have joined with gay rights advocates in arguing that the court should strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act that forbids federal authorities from recognizing a same-sex marriage.

In the second case concerning California’s Proposition 8, the court will consider the much broader question of whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry. So far, the administration has not weighed in on the question. And because it is a state case, the Justice Department could stand aside and not take part.

The administration has until late February to decide whether to file a brief in the California case and take a stand on whether the Constitution gives gays and lesbians an equal right to marry. Lawyers close to the administration say the final decision will be made at the White House, not the Justice Department.

But all nine justices were seated near to President Obama as he spoke Monday, and he endorsed the principle that “our gay brothers and sisters” are entitled to be “treated like anyone else under the law.”