Apparently Obama took over the white house domain one minute after swearing in.

A look at the civil rights sections is pretty amazing — the LGBT section comes second, but is longer and more comprehensive than the section for race.  Complete text below the jump.

In keeping with his political stance during the campaign for the presidency, he’s for repealing DOMA and for civil unions.  This means that being married anywhere will give acces to the  federal recognition of marriage, leaving recognition by individual states behind.

Support for the LGBT Community

“While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”– Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

• Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.
• Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees’ domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.
• Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
• Repeal Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.
• Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
• Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma — too often tied to homophobia — that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.
• Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

Hat tip to Tammy Bruce for catching the quick changeroo for the white house home page.

The Justices of the California Supreme Court

Earlier this year, the California Supreme Court added a special section to their website:  High Profile Cases (I highly recommended for reading brilliant briefs from some of the friends of the court and angels for marriage equality).

Really, it was mostly the marriage cases.

Today, in an effort to make what people are interested in even more accessible, the webmaster for the California Supreme Court has this section on their front page:

New Cases, New Front Page

Prop. 8 Supreme Court Filings

• KAREN L. STRAUSS, et al., Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
  (the want-to-get-married couples’ case)
• ROBIN TYLER, et al., Petitioners v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, et al.
  (the want-to-preserve-their marriage couple’s case)
• CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al. Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
  (the Cities & Counties v. the State case)

California Courts: Courts: Supreme Court.

Bravo for the webmaster for drawing attention to the important cases both in the past and today.  Making this information more accessible and easier to find is a boon of the internet era.

A gracenote:   when clicking on the documents from the front page, the URL displays the path name as being under the high profile cases.

So on and on it goes…

ABC believes their viewers can read. And would like to read a pilot script.

Yes, ABC is letting mere mortals peer under the hood. They’ve actually posted a PDF of their script online.

Jon Harmon Feldman wrote the script. You can tell he’s well known in television circles because the front page of the script calls it “Untitled Jon Feldman Project.”

If you’re looking to spec a show and Big Shots gets picked up, you have a sample straight from the source. Free.
It would be cool if other shows on ABC — and other networks — would publish their pilots. And other episodes. Let’s hope this is a trend that continues for telly-philes and aspiring and working television writers wanting to know more about how a show works from page to screen.