White House Shrinks LGBT Rights Commitments List On Official Site

UPDATE II: There have been two important developments in the story. First. Second.

Hey, President Obama! Where did that famous list of commitments to LGBT rights go on your website? Within five minutes of Obama’s swearing-in, a heavily detailed list of eight promises to us were posted: repeal DADT, support ENDA, expand adoption rights, etc. There’s no mention of DADT or adoption rights or HIV prevention anymore, here’s the two sentences that remain:

President Obama also continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. He supports full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples and opposes a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Compare what’s there now with what was there on Inauguration Day.

UPDATE: The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force has responded to my email.



Hi Joe,

I wanted to let you know that Rea Carey contacted the White House directly about the issue today after you alerted us to your post. Rea was told that they are changing the White House Web site to turn it into a more governance-focused site to reflect progress, as opposed to a campaign and transition site. They said they have taken out many such points throughout the site (not just on LGBT policy issues) as part of this changeover, and are apparently modifying the site over the next few weeks. We will be keeping an eye on it, but if you see changes before we do (or a lack thereof), please let us know. And thank you for calling this to our attention.

Warm regards,

Inga Sarda-Sorensen
Director of Communications
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force