Obama

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama may have made a slow start on gay rights issues, but by the end of his first term his record was such that a news magazine dubbed him the nation's "first gay president." Now activists want more.

Fresh from historic Supreme Court arguments over same-sex unions, advocates want Obama to use his executive powers to fight discrimination at businesses, schools, and military bases and stop waiting for action from a reluctant Congress.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule in June on big issues: the constitutional right to gay marriage and the right of gay married couples to federal benefits. Both are backed by Obama. Read more »

President Obama's references to same-sex marriage and the Stonewall riots in his inauguration speech were hailed by gay men and lesbians, who view them as a watershed in their quest for civil rights.

It is believed to be the first time in U.S. history that an inaugural address discussed both same-sex marriage and gay rights.

FULL COVERAGE: The presidential inauguration

Obama's mention of Stonewall -- a New York City bar that was the scene of violent clashes between police and gay people in 1969 -- stood out Monday. The president equated Stonewall to Seneca Falls, N.Y., home of the women's rights movement, and Selma, the town in Alabama where civil rights supporters were beaten in 1965 as they marched peacefully for voting rights. Read more »

Rev.  Louie Giglio, who had been announced as the pastor to give the benediction at the presidential inauguration, has now pulled himself out of the ceremony, after criticism of his previous anti-gay comments and actions, sources confirmed to ABC News.

Giglio, who is now Pastor at Passion City Church in Georgia and his role at Obama’s second inauguration was first announced Tuesday. But the liberal website Thinkprogress reported Wednesday on audio of Giglioi  delivering a sermon in the mid-1990s in which he said homosexuality is a sin and advocated gay “recovery.”

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A new Gallup Report finds that 71% of LGBT Americans who are registered voters support President Obama for reelection, while 22% support Governor Mitt Romney. From June to September, non-LGBT registered voters preferred Romney to Obama by one percentage point, 47% to 46%. However, when LGBT voters are added to electorate, Obama moves slightly ahead of Romney (47% to 45%).  These findings suggest that the highly Democratic vote of the LGBT population could be enough to swing a very close election toward Obama.

The findings are based on more than 120,000 interviews of adults in the US, which represents the largest representative sample of LGBT men and women ever collected. Key findings include: Read more »