Within hours of taking office, U.S. President Barack Obama posted his agenda on the White House website. This included an extensive Civil Rights platform that incorporated six different areas for GLBT law reform and two for HIV/AIDS prevention.

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As laid out on the White House website, President Barack Obama declared he would:

• Expand hate crime statues to include hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity
• Pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and protect workers from unfair dismissal on the basis of sexual orientation
• Allow civil unions and thus ‘ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples
• Oppose a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage
• Repeal the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy against gays in the military
• Provide adoption rights to same-sex couples

The President also pledged HIV/AIDS prevention programs, including age-appropriate sex education and needle exchanges. To combat the rising infection rates among women, he announced the Microbicide Development Act to speed the process for getting microbicides that prevent HIV transmission onto the market.

The President’s support for GLBT rights has angered many conservative Christian groups, with the Chairman of the American Family Association saying the President believed ‘homosexuals deserve special rights’ and CovenantNews.com claiming, ‘Civil officials who approve of homosexuality, make the civil government a vile cesspool from which the abominations vomit out across the land.’

However, the reaction among GLBT rights groups has been overwhelmingly positive. Trevor R. Thomas, the Deputy Director of Communications at The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest GLBT rights group, said that the change in administrations meant the possibility of unprecedented reforms.

‘The election of Barack Obama removed a major roadblock to the expansion of LGBT equality in America. With the Bush Administration’s frequent veto threats no longer an issue, and with more fair-minded lawmakers in the U.S. Congress than ever, the stage is set to begin moving long-sought legislation to protect LGBT health, safety, jobs and other basic rights; equalize LGBT access to federal benefits and protections; repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and more.’

The HRC will spearhead a progressive lobbying campaign to enact federal GLBT rights legislation and will also continue to focus on the various state battles, most notably California and Proposition 8.

On March 5, the Supreme Court will begin to hear oral arguments against the passing of Proposition 8, a voter initiative that banned same-sex marriage.

‘There is no denying, as the dust settles from these defeats, that we have been injured – but we will not soon give up,’ said Thomas of the Proposition 8 vote. ‘We know that progress is possible. In 2000, California voters approved Proposition 22, which barred legal recognition of same-sex marriages by a margin of 61.4 percent to 38.6 percent. This year, Proposition 8 was rejected by 48 percent of Californians. So, what have we learned? People that know us are more likely to support our march for equality. History is on our side, as public opinion and the voice of the voters suggests. It is only a matter of time before we undo this loss and add more states to the march for equality.’

With a new President in the White House and a change of Congress, the march may soon turn to a sprint.