Sadie, the 11-year-old transgender girl whose handwritten response to President Obama’s inaugural address is going viral. Photo courtesy of Sadie’s family

BY HUFFINGTON POST GAY VOICES

While many in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community were thrilled with President Barack Obama’s mentions of gay and lesbians in his inaugural address, an 11-year-old transgender girl named Sadie wondered why the President didn’t directly address trans people, too.

“Sadie was so proud of President Obama for including the gay community in his inaugural address on Monday; however, she felt like the trans community wasn’t included,” Sage, Sadie’s mother, told The Huffington Post on Tuesday. “That inspired her to write her own ‘speech.'”

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Transgender tween responds to inauguration speech first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray

BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS
Washington Blade

Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray told the Washington Blade shortly after the president delivered his inauguration speech that he expects him to be “vocally supportive of marriage equality for the next four years.” Alexandra Beninda, a transgender member of the D.C. Commission on Human Rights, said she welcomed Obama’s reference to marriage rights for same-sex couples, gays and lesbians, immigration and other issues.

When asked to comment on the lack of trans-specific references in Obama’s speech, Beninda noted an LGBT-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other issues remain “very important.” She said she does not expect Congress to act on the long-stalled measure during the president’s second term. Beninda added, however, she does not rule out the possibility of Obama issuing an executive order that would bar employers from firing their employees based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Read more at Washington Blade

Washington Blade is America’s leading gay news source.

The post D.C. mayor: Obama may ‘vocally’ back gay marriage first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Photo: Maria Belen Perez Gabilondo/AFP/Getty Images

BY LILA SHAPIRO
Huffington Post Gay Voices

During the Inauguration, Meghan Stabler, a transwoman and a member of the Board of Directors for the Human Rights Campaign, was standing on the northwest side of the Capitol steps with a bunch of gay and lesbian people. “We were all waiting for the word gay to come up, and then we heard Stonewall and a few of us had tears in our eyes,” Stabler said on Tuesday, her voice breaking up again recalling the moment. “Then we heard gay,” she added, “and we just lost it.”

“Biden flashed that big smile of his and said, ‘It’s the civil rights issue of my day. I won’t stand by,'” Stratton Pollitzer, who works with a gay rights group in Florida, recounted. He summed up the feeling that many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have expressed since President Obama’s groundbreaking inaugural address: “This is just a moment of pure euphoria.”

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post LGBT community responds to Obama inauguration first appeared on Lesbian.com.

President Barack Obama makes history by highlighting the need for equality and gay rights in his inaugural speech.

The post Go-bama! LGBT rights part of inaugural address first appeared on Lesbian.com.