Obama Working Hard to Court Gay Vote

The White House is pushing strongly for pro-gay initiatives, as President Barack Obama seeks to shore up support among the gay and lesbian community, Politico reports. With his approval ratings stuck in the low 40s, Obama is going to need every gay and lesbian vote he can get.

The president’s decision to jettison the ban on gays in the military and to abandon the effort to keep the Defense of Marriage act were big pluses as far as gay activists are concerned. Obama also has signed a strong new hate-crimes law, required equal health treatment for gay patients, and allocated big money to HIV-AIDS research and patient care.

“I think they’re doing incredibly well,” Brian Moulton, chief counsel for the Human Rights Campaign, told Politico. “I think they’ve been putting out a lot of strong proposals to move equality forward.”