Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have issued statements recognizing Gay Pride month which is observed every June. Clinton’s statement of support may be the first ever from a sitting Secretary of State:

In Recognition of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month 2009
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
June 1, 2009

Forty years ago this month, the gay rights movement began with the Stonewall riots in New York City, as gays and lesbians demanded an end to the persecution they had long endured. Now, after decades of hard work, the fight has grown into a global movement to achieve a world in which all people live free from violence and fear, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

In honor of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month and on behalf of the State Department, I extend our appreciation to the global LGBT community for its courage and determination during the past 40 years, and I offer our support for the significant work that still lies ahead.

At the State Department and throughout the Administration, we are grateful for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees in Washington and around the world. They and their families make many sacrifices to serve our nation. Their contributions are vital to our efforts to establish stability, prosperity and peace worldwide.

Human rights are at the heart of those efforts. Gays and lesbians in many parts of the world live under constant threat of arrest, violence, even torture. The persecution of gays and lesbians is a violation of human rights and an affront to human decency, and it must end. As Secretary of State, I will advance a comprehensive human rights agenda that includes the elimination of violence and discrimination against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Though the road to full equality for LGBT Americans is long, the example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones.
This June, let us recommit ourselves to achieving a world in which all people can live in safety and freedom, no matter who they are or whom they love.

Barack’s statement which appeared later in the also mentions the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER PRIDE MONTH, 2009
– – – – – – –
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born. During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans.

LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities. LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country’s response to the HIV pandemic.

Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before. I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration — in both the White House and the Federal agencies — openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect.

My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world. Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA

While I’m sure the sentiment in these statements is appreciate by the LGBT community, there needs to be discernible progress soon, particularly with regards to DADT. Let’s hope the administration take the opportunity during Pride month demonstrate LGBT support by action, and not simply by words.

Across the nation tomorrow in over 90 cities the LGBT community and their allies will take to the streets as a part of “Day of Decision” events to either protest or celebrate the California Supreme Court’s ruling on Proposition 8. The court will make its decision public at 10am PST with the events occurring the same evening. There are three possible rulings as described on the Day of Decision website:

1) Upholding the anti-gay Proposition 8 in full, including invalidating the 18,000+ same-sex marriages that were solemnized before the proposition’s passage last November 4th;

2) Upholding Proposition 8’s ban on all future same sex marriages, but allowing the 18,000 already conducted to stand; or,

3) Invalidating in its entirety Proposition 8’s discriminatory ban on same sex marriage.

Lesbian and gay activists would consider the upholding of Proposition 8 in whole or part (#1 and #2 above) to be a serious defeat to be met with angry protests.  On the other hand, a complete invalidation of Proposition 8 would lend an immense boost to the already powerful momentum for equality provided by the recent wins for same sex marriage in Iowa and Vermont.

Day of Decision co-founders Andy Thayer and Robin Tyler were on NBC Nightly News last night discussing the upcoming decision.

Visit the Day of Decision website for a complete list of cities and events.

This Memorial day let’s take a moment to honor the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Without their courage and valor we would most certainly not have the freedoms we enjoy today.

But for the LGBT servicemembers who also gave their lives, their service and sacrifice are seldom recognized in the context of who they were. Today I would like to extend a special tribute and thanks to them, for serving in a military and protecting a nation that would so often prefer they did not exist.

Last year I created the Worthy of Sacrifice Project to capture the stories of the LGBT servicemembers who served but never came home, as told by the families, friends and partners they left behind. It was my intention to document those stories ensure that those who served were never forgotten, and to show their sacrifice was no less worthy because of who they were and who they loved.

If you have a story to share, or know someone who does, please visit: WorthyofSacrifice.org

Just as we lacked a strong political voice in the vein of Harvey Milk during the battle to defeat Prop 8, we also lack a voice on the national level to make the moral case for advancing LGBT civil rights. New York Times columnist Frank Rich holds Democrats feet to the fire for not having the courage to drive that message home:

… The Democrats do have the votes to advance the gay civil rights legislation Obama has promised to sign. And they have a serious responsibility to do so. Let’s not forget that “don’t ask” and DOMA both happened on Bill Clinton’s watch and with his approval. Indeed, in the 2008 campaign, Obama’s promise to repeal DOMA outright was a position meant to outflank Hillary Clinton, who favored only a partial revision.

So what’s stopping the Democrats from rectifying that legacy now? As Wolfson said to me last week, they lack “a towering national figure to make the moral case” for full gay civil rights. There’s no one of that stature in Congress now that Ted Kennedy has been sidelined by illness, and the president shows no signs so far of following the example of L.B.J., who championed black civil rights even though he knew it would cost his own party the South. When Obama invoked same-sex marriage in an innocuous joke at the White House correspondents’ dinner two weeks ago — he and his political partner, David Axelrod, went to Iowa to “make it official” — it seemed all the odder that he hasn’t engaged the issue substantively.

…

As [Evan] Wolfson reminds us in his book “Why Marriage Matters,” Dr. King addressed such dawdling in 1963. “For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait,’ ” King wrote. “It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ ”

There is a possibility the White House will find its “voice” on many issues (hopefully DADT in particular) this June which is Pride month. California representative Howard Berman predicted in an interview last week that the White House would be making an announcement on a number of LGBT issues, though declined to give specifics.