At Private Reception, Barack Obama Gets America’s Queers to Laugh + Applaud (At All the Rights They Don’t Have)

Barack Obama‘s little get together for America’s queers is all wrapped up! Chely Wright and Constance McMillen and some activists were there. Obama said “fierce” (referring to Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Jared Polis, of which there are no “fiercer warriors.” And he brought up Janice Langbehn, who saw her long-time partner die at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida because they denied her visitation rights. What Obama didn’t mentiona about Ms. Lengbehn?

“[H]ow Langbehn, who has Multiple Sclerosis, is now in very dire financial trouble because [deceased partner Lisa] Pond was her caregiver and contributed heavily to the two-income family,” relays Karen Ocamb. “Additionally, the Defense of Marriage Act, which candidate Obama promised to repeal, prohibits Langbehn from accessing Pond’s Social Security and other benefits that would help her family.”

So Happy LGBT Pride Month, from a president whose Justice Department continues defending DOMA and DADT.

“Now, look,” the president told his audience. “The fact that we’ve got activists here is important because it’s a reminder that change never comes — or at least never begins in Washington. It begins with acts of compassion -– and sometimes defiance -– across America. It begins when ordinary people –- out of love for a mother or a father, son or daughter, or husband or wife -– speak out against injustices that have been accepted for too long. And it begins when these impositions of conscience start opening hearts that had been closed, and when we finally see each other’s humanity, whatever our differences.”

And do shit about it.