Today, the Obama campaign launched a new effort to rally lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender voters for the President’s reelection. The “LGBT Americans for Obama” website features blog posts, pride merchandise, and upcoming LGBT-related campaign events. On a conference call this morning, outgoing HRC president Joe Solmonese highlighted Obama’s accomplishments and his hopes for the future:
SOLMONESE: I think that collective understanding of where we’re going is how we’re really going to shape the agenda for the next administration. Obviously, we have landmark issues that we need to continue to address, continue to move on, like the repeal of DOMA, like the passage of a fully inclusive ENDA.
So, that’s the kind of ongoing conversation that we’ll have. I think one of the things that we all recognize, and I think the president recognizes this, and we saw this during the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ is that the makeup of Congress is going to have a lot to do with that. And that is why those fights and the fight that we do everything we can to take back an LGBT-friendly House of Representatives are going to have a lot to do with how that agenda gets shaped. And hold what we have in the Senate, and hopefully add to those numbers.
Despite that brief mention of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the call avoided discussing the President’s refusal to sign an executive order that would protect LGBT employees of federal contractors from discrimination. Still, in the wake of Obama’s recent endorsement of marriage equality, the campaign has incredible momentum to energize LGBT voters. Accompanying the launch is a video touting Obama’s support on LGBT issues, narrated by Glee‘s Jane Lynch:
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