US President Barack Obama has specifically used the words “bisexual” and “transgender” in a State of the Union address for what's said to be the first time in the nation’s history. "That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender," President Obama stated. "We do these things not only because they’re right, but because they make us safer." He later added: "I’ve watched Americans beat back adversity from the Gulf Coast to the Great Plains; from Midwest assembly lines to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard. “I’ve seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in ten Americans call home." Human Rights Campaign says Obama and his administration have consistently and courageously stood up for marriage equality as it has faced Supreme Court scrutiny. The Supreme Court is to consider the issue in coming weeks.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 21st January 2015 - 5:31pm