President Obama Affirms His Support for the Freedom to Marry

Join us in thanking President Obama for his leadership in supporting marriage equality.

Capital Champions Honoring Barney Frank

NSD's 2012 Capital Champions will honor our founder, Congressman Barney Frank, for his 40 years of public service and to celebrate his retirement from Congress. Join us!

President Obama Affirms His Support for the Freedom to Marry
Capital Champions Honoring Barney Frank

Latest News

Mitt Romney is a Bully and So Is His Senior Advisor
Press Release | May 11, 2012

In the May issue of GQ magazine, a profile of Mitt Romney's senior advisor Eric Fehrnstrom sheds light on Fehrnstrom's shady past.  In a 1992 story Fehrnstrom wrote for the Boston Herald, he outed a transgender woman who had just been elected to her first term in the Massachusetts state legislature. National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director, Jerame Davis, had the following response:

"Mitt Romney's a bully and now we know his senior advisor, Eric "Etch-A-Sketch" Ferhnstrom is one too. Fehrnstrom, Romney's version of Karl Rove, Ferhnstrom doesn't have the excuse of youth to explain his outing of a transgender legislator in 1992. He was a reporter for the Boston Globe who sources describe as 'gleeful' when he discovered the woman's birth certificate that proved she had been born male.

"This only goes to prove once again how closely Romney has aligned himself with anti-LGBT severe conservatives. Romney may attempt to erase his far right positions, as Fehrnstrom infamously suggested, but the facts remain clear. Whether he's allowing a gay staffer to be harangued from his position by the religious right, viciously attacking a gay student during his time at prep school, doubling down on his opposition to LGBT relationship recognition, or demanding a McCarthy-style investigation of LGBT people, Mitt Romney's anti-LGBT positions are now etched in stone."

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Gay Republicans Shamelessly Attack Obama for His Support of LGBT Equality
Press Release | May 9, 2012

Today, after President Obama's historic endorsement of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, gay Republican groups launched vicious attacks on the President's embrace of equality calling it "cold comfort" and comparing the President to former Vice President Dick Cheney. One group said the announcement was, "offensive and callous" while the other said it was "hardly a profile in courage." National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Jerame Davis issued the following response:

"These groups are truly shameless in their desperate attempt to provide cover for the atrociously regressive positions held by the GOP and Mitt Romney. Just today, Mitt Romney came out singing the party line expressing his complete opposition to marriage equality and civil unions. And just to drive home the point, the RNC provided Chairman Reince Priebus as a backup singer warbling the same broken tune. 

"But to invoke the name of Dick Cheney in their attacks is just surreal. Cheney was, by most accounts, the most powerful vice president in history. He had the power to order torture, wire-tapping, and got us into two wars - yet he did absolutely nothing to advance LGBT equality with that power in the entire eight years he was in office. When George Bush and Ken Mehlman - himself a closeted gay man at the time - concocted their scheme to advance a federal marriage amendment for political gain, Cheney sat idly by and did nothing to stop it.

"President Obama has done real work to advance LGBT equality and today's statement only adds to that sterling resume. What's offensive and callous is demeaning his record by comparing it to the deliberate harm caused by Republicans like Mitt Romney and Dick Cheney."

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President Obama Affirms His Support of the Freedom to Marry
Press Release | May 9, 2012

In an interview with ABC News' Robin Roberts, President Obama expressed his clear support for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director, Jerame Davis, issued the following statement:

"We applaud the President for completing his 'evolution' in support of the freedom to marry and becoming the first sitting president ever to endorse marriage equality for same-sex couples. The President joins a long and growing list of Democrats who support the freedom to marry. On days like today, I am proud to be a Democrat.

"The President's endorsement of the freedom to marry stands in stark contrast to the position of Mitt Romney. Romney, who signed the National Organization for Marriage's hateful anti-LGBT pledge, opposes marriage equality and supports a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage between same-sex couples. No longer can GOP homophobes like Romney hide behind the pretense that they share President Obama's position on the freedom to marry.

"Though many have been waiting for this day to arrive, our fight is not complete. Election day is 180 days from today and we have to redouble our efforts and prove that the President's support of marriage will not cost him at the ballot box. National Stonewall Democrats stands will be fighting every day from now until November to ensure it doesn't."

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Vice President Joe Biden is "Comfortable" with Freedom to Marry; Time for President to Embrace Marriage Equality
Press Release | May 6, 2012

Today, on NBC's Meet the Press, Vice President Joe Biden said, "I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights," which is being touted in the media as an endorsement of marriage equality. National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director Jerame Davis issued the following statement:

"We are proud of Vice President Joe Biden for his strong statement in support of giving our relationships the dignity and respect they deserve. On the heels of Mitt Romney's reprehensible treatment of his only gay staffer in the midst of an onslaught of attacks from the bigoted wing of the GOP, the Vice President's statement underlines the contrast between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to LGBT equality.

"While not a direct endorsement of marriage equality, the Vice President's statement is promising. What we really need now is for President Obama to take a stand in support of the freedom to marry and bring to bear the full weight of his Administration to make it reality."

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