During a first-of-its-kind sit down with progressive bloggers at the White House this afternoon, President Obama told AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay that he didn’t think the LGBT community’s “disillusionment and disappointment” in his approach to issues like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was justified, saying “I guess my attitude is that we have been as vocal, as supportive of the LGBT community as any President in history.”

Speaking directly to the DADT issue, Obama reiterated that the policy “is not just harmful to the brave men and women who are serving…but it doesn’t serve our interests.” “I think that the best way to overturn it is for Congress to act,” he insisted, revealing that he asked Log Cabin Republicans’ executive director R. Clarke Cooper, who attended yesterday’s top level meeting about ending the ban, to “Get me those votes.” After district court judge Virginia Phillips ruled the ban unconstitutional and barred the Pentagon from enforcing the policy, LGBT advocates urged Obama to agree with her interpretation of the law and refuse to appeal her decision. The administration, however, is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the injunction and reverse the ruling, insisting that it was bound to defend existing law.

During the sit down, Obama avoided Sudbay’s question about the constitutionality of the policy since “I’m not sitting on the Supreme Court,” he said. “And I’ve got to be careful, as President of the United States, to make sure that when I’m making pronouncements about laws that Congress passed I don’t do so just off the top of my head.” But he also hinted that he understood the community’s frustration with the pace of change, recalling how African American civil rights leaders responded to similar arguments about “patience and time”:

Now, I say that as somebody who appreciates that the LGBT community very legitimately feels these issues in very personal terms. So it’s not my place to counsel patience. One of my favorite pieces of literature is “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and Dr. King had to battle people counseling patience and time. And he rightly said that time is neutral. And things don’t automatically get better unless people push to try to get things better.

So I don’t begrudge the LGBT community pushing, but the flip side of it is that this notion somehow that this administration has been a source of disappointment to the LGBT community, as opposed to a stalwart ally of the LGBT community, I think is wrong.

Responding to Sudbay’s question about the growing support for same-sex marriage, Obama reiterated his belief in civil unions but conceded that “attitudes evolve, including mine.” “And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about…while I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about,” he said.

For a full transcript of Obama’s remarks, click here.

A handful of conservative “family values” organizations have embarked on a bus tour across Iowa, urging voters to oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges who overturned an Iowa statute banning same-sex marriage in April 2009. Prominent Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have endorsed the campaign and Reps. Steven King (R-IA) and Louis Gohmert (R-TX) are making personal appearances on tour. Santorum is expected to also join the bus later this week.

And while the politicians enveloped their opposition to same-sex marriage in democracy — allowing Iowans to vote on the issue — Arisha Michelle Hatch of Prop 8 Trial Tracker got a better taste of the kind of constituency this whose-who of conservative politics is attracting. As it turns out, the relatively small crowds have no qualms about “revealing their views on man/animal marriage, disease-carrying nasty gays, and sodomy-marriage.” Below are some highlights:

RON: “[Gay people] don’t do anything for society. They’re only a drain on society, so much so that the medical profession recognizes that they’re a disease carrying nasty threat to society and are not allowed to donate blood. That’s my position.”

DAVE: “Can I marry your camera? I mean, I really like cameras. I love cameras. Okay? Can I marry my camera? …Triangles and squares, round pegs and square pegs, man and woman, okay?…Why not marry goats, why not marry my camera…”

DON: “Sodomy causes AIDS, okay? And AIDS is a serious problem in this nation as well as around the world.

Watch it:

As of October 4th, the Iowa Poll found that “44 percent of Iowans who plan to vote in the election say they’ll vote ‘yes’ [to retain] to all three justices. Forty percent will vote to remove the judges, while 16 percent say they want to retain some.”

In April 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a District Court’s ruling that the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman “violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.” “We are firmly convinced the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from the institution of civil marriage does not substantially further any important governmental objective,” Justice Mark S. Cady wrote for the Iowa court. “The legislature has excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification.”

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that President Obama has appointed upwards of 150 openly gay officials less than half way through his first term in office, surpassing “the previous high of about 140 reached during two full terms under President Bill Clinton.” Shin Inouye, a spokesperson for Obama said the president “is proud that his appointments reflect the diversity of the American public.” “He is committed to appointing highly qualified individuals for each post,” Inouye said. “We have made a record number of openly LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) appointments and we are confident that this number will only continue to grow.”

For some, that may prove to be too much to handle, however. Today, KTBB AM600 host Garth Maier in Tyler, Texas responded to the AP report by asking his radio listeners and the morning show viewers of a local NBC affiliate if “the acceptance of homosexuality, pushed hard by the gay rights activists, will it be the fall of this country?“:

BOB BRACKEEN: A record number of openly gay appointees in the Obama administration. And there are other gay men and women who perhaps wish to keep their lives secret who also are in the Obama administration, perhaps as judges as well. [...]

GARTH MAIER: President Obama very aggressive with his appointment of homosexuals. Christian conservatives of course criticizing Obama for upholding what is considered by many an immoral lifestyle….What do you think, the acceptance of homosexuality, pushed hard by the gay rights activists, will it be the fall of this country? [...]

CALLER 1: We know that there are more gays in Washington, DC than there is in San Francisco or Southern Florida or anywhere in this nation. There are double, trust me, three times as many gays in Washington, DC than there is in San Francisco. So if he hired a bunch of them, probably because all anyone was there to work. So you need help, you need help! [...]

CALLER 2: I think the whole issue of homosexuality is overblown. We seem to be so conscious about being politically correct. According to most of the statistics homosexuals occupy just 7% of the population, so why do we spend 30% of our time talking about it? [...]

MAIER: Will the acceptance of homosexuality in this society be the downfall of America?….Will it be that destroys American society as we know it right now? You see it everywhere accepted at every level and certainly in the entertainment industry since the late 1980s, all over, gay characters in television shows, in the movies, so on and so forth. [...]

BRACKEEN: Again, the last caller, hit the nail on the head, Garth. Obviously the mainstream media, Hollywood caters to less than 10% of the population. They have a very strong voice in this country. Politically and in pop culture as well.

Watch it:

Maier has a history of anti-gay remarks and innuendo. During Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court, for instance, Maier reported “there have been numerous question about her own sexuality” and asked, “does it matter to you?” “Considering perhaps a justice on the high court, being a homosexual. Does the sexual orientation of a Supreme Court nominee matter to you?” “I’m curious to see if any of the conservatives will raise questions about her orientation and see if she’ll answer questions about it,” he added.

Calls to KTBB and Maier were not immediately returned.