For all the criticism that gay rights activists have directed at President Barack Obama recently, on Monday he became the first chief executive to mark Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month at the White House.

To applause and cheers, Obama repeated his yet unfulfilled campaign promises to end the military's ban on openly gay service members, expand hate-crimes protections, enact a law to prohibit employment discrimination and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which earlier this month had been defended by his own Justice Department.

"I know many in this room don't believe that progress has come fast enough. And I understand that," Obama said. "I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I've made, but by promises that my administration keeps."

Obama moved to quell some of the concern two weeks ago by granting limited benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees, including relocation expenses and long-term care insurance. However, it didn't include health insurance or survivor benefits, which most married couples take for granted.

Sunday was the 40th anniversary of the birth of the modern gay-rights movement. On June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village. Such raids were once commonplace, and patrons usually dispersed for fear that their sexual orientation would become public. This time they fought back in a riot that lasted for three days.

As if to illustrate the challenges gay people still face, Fort Worth, Texas, police raided a gay nightclub over the weekend, sparking a protest on Sunday. Last week in an e-mail, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis denounced the vandalism of posters for gay pride month at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

The lack of openly gay people in prominient positions in the administration, including the Cabinet, has caused some to wonder whether Obama is really in tune with their concerns. Nancy Sutley, the chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and John Berry, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, are the highest ranking openly gay members of the Obama team.