This petition, at the White House's We the People website
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Fully Legalize Same-Sex Marriage Across The Nation
has now (4:10 PM PT, Sept 27th) reached the threshold number of signatures (5000) for an official Administration response.
If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will review it, make sure it gets to the appropriate policy officials, and issue an official response... All responses will be posted in this section of the We the People platform...
The petition was created on September 22nd, the first day the site was available, by
Colton D
Grosse Pointe, MI
Congratulations!
Here's the full petition.
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Fully Legalize Same-Sex Marriage Across The Nation
Only 6 states, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia, currently legally allow same-sex couples to get married and have the same benefits as heterosexual couples. And also, though these 6 states, plus D.C., allow same-sex marriage, federally, they are not recognized at all, whatsoever. The LGBT community is the last group of people to not get full rights in our nation, the great nation of freedom and opportunity. We the people need to call on President Barack Obama to take a stand as our country's leader, and fully legalize same-sex marriage across the whole nation.
What will happen?
Will they respond in a meaningful way, or will they just blow it off? Will they use this as an opportunity for the President to 'evolve', as he famously said almost a year ago, or will the administration maintain, as the President maintains in the video, that he believes (paraphrasing)
Separate (aka Civil Unions) Is Really Equal (Enough)
There are two other LGBT-related petitions that have reached the threshold for a White House response, but they are not nearly so interesting, because we already know pretty much what the response will be.
The first, to Repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, has more than 9,000 signatures. Since the Administration already supports the repeal of DOMA, has called on Congress to repeal it, has stated that it is unconstitutional and is no longer defending it in court, there really isn't much they can add.
The second, to End discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, is or soon will be at 5000 signatures and is in a similar position. The Administration has called on Congress to pass ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Still, there are other things they can do on this front: my own petition, which has five -- count 'em -- five signatures (!), is more specific and is something the Administration could act on unilaterally. Here it is:
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Issue an Executive Order barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for federal contractors.
In 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, requiring all defense contracts to include provisions barring private contractors from discrimination as to "race, creed, color or national origin."
We call upon the Administration to issue a similar executive order requiring all federal contracts to include provisions barring private contractors from discrimination with respect to sexual orientation.
URL to sign this petition
If you are interested in a discussion about and pointers to other Kossack petitions please check out this diary from this morning.