While there is cause for much celebration today  for the LGBT community in India, today’s landmark ruling only applies to the New Delhi… the nation’s capital. But it is progress…

Update: Contrary to initial reports, it appears the ruling DOES apply nation-wide.

The Delhi High Court ruled that treating consensual gay sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India’s constitution. The ruling, the first of its kind in India, is not binding outside New Delhi.

Hours after the ruling was issued dozens of members of New Delhi’s gay community — some with rainbows painted on their faces and others holding signs that read “Queer and loving it” — gathered in the heart of the capital to celebrate.

…

But some religious leaders quickly criticized the ruling. “This Western culture cannot be permitted in our country,” said Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, a leading Muslim cleric in the northern city of Lucknow.

Sex between people of the same gender has been illegal in India since a British colonial era law was issued in the 1860s classifying it as “against the order of nature.” According to the law, gay sex is punishable by 10 years in prison.

New Delhi is home to over 300 million people, nearly one quarter the entire population of India, so yeah, it’s definitely progress.

Bay Area photographer Bill Wilson spoke briefly with Michelle Obama at an event he covered in San Francisco yesterday, kicking off the United We Serve program. Wilson, who is gay and recently married to his partner of 22 years by Mayor Gavin Newsom, told the First Lady we need to get rid of DOMA. The exchange via The Petrelis Files below:

Bill Wilson: My husband and I have been together 23 years. We need to get rid of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Michelle Obama: I agree.

Bill Wilson: We need it done now.

Michelle Obama: It will be.

Bill Wilson: I really want to be able to support him.

Michelle Obama: As well you should!

Bill Wilson: We really do want him to succeed.

Michelle Obama: I’ll tell him.

(At this point she leaned over to give me a hug.)

As she stepped away I said, “We were married by the Mayor last year.”

Michelle Obama: Give your husband a hug from me.

I met Bill recently covering the GLAAD Media Awards and am glad he was able to speak to Michelle Obama on behalf of the gay community. Is it possible we have a “fierce advocate” in the White House after all?

In what is perhaps further efforts to placate the LGBT community over the recent DOMA brief controversy, the White House announced it is now considering adding same-sex marriages, unions and partnerships to the the 2010 Census data. From the Wall Street Journal:

The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count. The bureau historically hasn’t released same-sex marriage data.

…

The Census Bureau has long collected data on same-sex marriages when people chose to report it. White House officials said the previous administration interpreted the federal Defense of Marriage Act as prohibiting the release of the data. The Obama administration has abandoned that interpretation.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs addressed the WSJ report at the White House press briefing today and went on to answer a question on DADT.

Is it me is or is there a subtle shift in tone (towards the positive) on how Gibbs handles questions related to LGBT issues?

Speaking on authority from the White House, John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, spoke with the Advocate about the recent outrage over the Obama administration’s defense of DOMA, as well as other LGBT legislative priorities…

On recent controversy over the administration’s defense of DOMA:

This president took a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and he does not get to decide and choose which laws he enforces. He has to enforce the laws that have been enacted appropriately and that he has inherited. It would be wrong for me or any of our community to advise him to lie or to shirk his responsibility. He’s doing his job. He has made clear that he stands for the repeal of DOMA. It will be part of this administration’s agenda to accomplish that act. We ought not waste energy and angst attacking him when we should be focusing the energy and effort on getting 218 votes in the house and 60 votes in the Senate, and that’s where we ought to target the energy and the strength of this community and this president is with us, this is our agenda and it’s his agenda.

Again no mention of the incest and underage marriage cases cited in the DOMA defense. Our anger is not out of angst, nor is it a waste of energy. Until the administration takes action on these issues, we should not be silent.

On hate crimes, ENDA, DADT and DOMA:

We have four broad legislative goals that we want to accomplish and legislation is one of these things where you’ve got to move when the opportunity strikes, so I’m going to list them in an order but it’s not necessarily going to go one, two, three, four. Obviously, I think the first opportunity is hate crimes and we’re hopeful that we can get that passed this week. We’re going to try, but if not, we’re going to keep at it until we get it passed. The second one ENDA, we want to secure that passage of ENDA, and third is we want to repeal legislatively “don’t ask don’t tell,” and fourth, we want to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

When asked about DADT later in the interview, Berry walks back his opinion on the passage of hate crimes legislation…

We don’t have the votes to do Hate Crimes right now, we don’t have the votes to do ENDA, how are we going [to get “don’t ask, don’t tell]?

And all of this before the “sun sets on this administration.”

Well, there you have it. That’s likely the most official response we are going to get. And dammit, it’s not good enough, not good enough at all. But it’s what we’ve all come to expect now from the Obama administraiton. I’ve skipped the parts of the interview focusing on granting more rights to gay Federal employees. But I’m not a federal employee. Nor is the vast majority of LGBT Americans. Any legislation should target EVERYONE in the LGBT community, not just at the federal level.