Jul 1, 2008 / 19:00 pm
Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, on Thursday told the Democratic National Committee’s Gay and Lesbian Caucus that her husband wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and reverse the rule on homosexuals in the military.
In her speech, she also compared homosexual advocacy groups with the civil rights movement, referring to events “from Selma to Stonewall” as a progression of justice.
Cybercast News Service reports that Michelle Obama began her speech by praising the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down anti-sodomy laws. Because of the decision, she said, "same-sex couples would never again be persecuted through the use of criminal law."
“We are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall,” she said. Selma, Alabama was the starting point of a famous civil rights movement, while The Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village, New York, was where a 1969 gay and lesbian riot against police officers marked what many believe to be a turning point in the homosexual rights movement.
Michelle Obama said her husband supports “a world where federal laws don't discriminate against same-sex relationships” and he advocates equal treatment for “any relationship recognized under state law.”