Only two days after signing the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill into law, President Obama today signed an extension to the Ryan White Act which provides assistance and support to nearly half a million people suffering from HIV/AIDS.

“If we want to be a global leader in combatting HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it,” Obama said at the White House before signing a bill to extend the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. Begun in 1990, the program provides medical care, medication and support services to about half a million people, most of them low-income.

The bill is named for an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion at age 13. White went on to fight AIDS-related discrimination against him and others like him and help educate the country about the disease. He died in April 1990 at the age of 18.

His mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, attended the signing ceremony, as did several members of Congress and HIV/AIDS activists.

Obama also said he will be finalizing an order on Monday that will lift the HIV immigration and travel ban that has been in place for 20 years.

Video of the ceremony below…

My friends… it was a very good week. First hate crimes and now this. It gives one hope for the future. Let’s hope the vote in Maine doesn’t erase all that.

Gay rights activist Cleve Jones and Joe Solmonese of HRC appeared on Hardball on the eve of the National Equality March to discuss Obama’s commitment to the LGBT community. Watch:

Update: Newsmax has removed the article, but an archived version is available here.

John L. Perry, a newspaper editor who served on the White House staffs of both LBJ and Carter, wrote in his column for rightwing news site Newsmax that the U.S. military may be considering a “bloodless” coup to overthrow President Obama.

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America’s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the “Obama problem.” Don’t dismiss it as unrealistic.

America isn’t the Third World. If a military coup does occur here it will be civilized. That it has never happened doesn’t mean it wont. Describing what may be afoot is not to advocate it.

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Will the day come when patriotic general and flag officers sit down with the president, or with those who control him, and work out the national equivalent of a “family intervention,” with some form of limited, shared responsibility?

Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars. Having bonded with his twin teleprompters, the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.

Military intervention is what Obama’s exponentially accelerating agenda for “fundamental change” toward a Marxist state is inviting upon America. A coup is not an ideal option, but Obama’s radical ideal is not acceptable or reversible.

While Perry is sure to make it clear he is not “advocating” an overthrow of the government, he is trumpeting the notion to all that drink the kool-aid, I mean tea, and to them it makes no difference.

Expect this to be making the rounds in the MSM tomorrow.

The White House announced today that San Francisco civil rights leader Harvey Milk will be honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. From the White House press release:

Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live their lives openly and believed coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve social equality. Milk, alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor.  Milk is revered nationally and globally as a pioneer of the LGBT civil rights movement for his exceptional leadership and dedication to equal rights.

The Victory Fund which advocates on behalf of LGBT leaders responded to the news:

“We are thrilled President Obama is honoring Harvey Milk with the Medal of Freedom.  He’s an American hero and trailblazer whose election more than 30 years ago triggered a political awakening that inspires us still today.  This recognition sends an important message about how critical political leadership will be in making all Americans equal in the eyes of the law,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund.

Stuart Milk echoed Wolfe’s praise, saying, “The President’s action today touches the core of our very human hearts and my uncle would be so proud of this high honor.  His election was, for him, a beginning–a chance to make real change.  That change is happening, but we still have so far to go.  I hope this recognition inspires LGBT Americans everywhere to heed Harvey’s call to run for office, to serve openly, to live proudly with authenticity and to demand the equality that we all deserve.”

Harvey’s nephew Stuart Milk will be at the White House to accept the honor on August 12. Other recipients include openly lesbian tennis legend Bill Jean King and LGBT ally Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.