it s clearing the way for hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples. it s lifting the travel and immigration band for people living with hiv. it s ordering the federal housing authority to not can consider the sexual orientation of people who apply for housing loans. it s expanding the census, even, to make sure that people in same-sex relationships get counted. it s directing u.s. agencies who work with foreign countries to ensure that our humanitarian and diplomatic efforts abroad take into accounts the rights of gay and lesbian people in those other countries. it s supporting states that are trying to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. the administration did not always do that. they didn t, for example, do that before the vote on same-sex marriage rights in new york state.
overcome women having a position in this country, blacks having a second class citizen in this country, latinos have a second class citizen in this country blacks and whites who want to marry having a second class citizenry in this country. it s about time we create a first class citizenry for every american, this should not be a popular vote. this should be something we do now. to me it s ridiculous and offensive that we re still having this debate. it should have been done months if not years ago. on the day that president obama announced that he, too, believes that same-sex couples should have the right to marry in this country, we are joined now by newark mayor, cory booker. mr. mayor, thank you for being here. it s very, very good to see you. it s a little weird to make you sit there and look at three minutes of yourself. it s also weird to hear that, as you called me many other things. i called you, hey, you, for a long part of our adulthood. cory, you were publicly her
everybody equally under the law. i read the 14th amendment clearly. it talks about equal protection under the laws. and thank god jackie robinson wasn t a popular vote, whether he should join and be a professional baseball player. and so to me, this is ?7)xa??r infuriating. that we are still in the 21st century, and we haven t created equality under the law. so i will be fundamentally in the fiber of my being, supportive of equal citizenship for all people under this country. because i know at the end of the day, i would not be here, my family wouldn t have been able to put food on the table for me, if it wasn t for that idea in america.
heart. certainly me, having written for the papers out there all those years. that may not all be celebration, if it s in the castro and we haven t got the prop 8. prop 8. on the same night that barack obama was voted president, california voted to take away existing marriage rights from same-sex couples. the same electorate that gave california to barack obama over john mccain by a 24-point margin, voted by more than four points to take away existing gay couple s marriage rights. and from that perspective, it sounds like that was a surprising vote, but that s perfectly in keeping with the track record with what happens when you take a majority vote on this type of minority rights. after last night s vote against marriage equality in north carolina, the track record for state ride referenda on gay rights is 1 in 33. so in the past 15 years, anti-gay forces have put 34 gay rights and 33 time it has against gay rights. the some time it has not been for a ban on gay people s right w
that more, the less access we have to health care, the less access that women have choices to follow their destiny and that s the part i feel so incredibly strongly about. and i tell my story, because it s not an extraordinary one. that s the thing about the book, self-determination. being raised to be a kid who knew who you wanted to be. it being incredibly unpopular from the moment you told the priest that you wanted to be an altar boy. but self-determination is sort of your listen. know who you are, fight to get it, and that s the most rewarding thing you can do with it. i have this anvil rule. i can t lift an anvil, so i would never apply for a job to like move pullout couches, for example, i can t lift them some of if i wanted to try something that wasn t going to harm me and didn t involve the metaphoric anvil lifting, why shouldn t i be able to? and i think that s why i was so drawn to the gay community and people from color. skin doesn t prevent you from lifting an anvil,