American corporations, while conservative in their business practices, have long been far ahead of elected officials on gay rights. Companies large and small became early adopters of nondiscrimination policies and domestic partner benefits. Now, many business leaders are voicing their support for the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein endorsed marriage equality in a video for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization based in Washington. Goldman backed the successful effort last year to legalize same-sex marriage in New York state. This year, Maryland and Washington state could become the seventh and eighth states, plus the District of Columbia, where gays can marry.

"America's corporations learned a long time ago that equality is just good business, and is the right thing to do," Blankfein says in the 30-second video.

Other big corporate backers of same-sex marriage include Starbucks, Google, Microsoft, Nike and Alcoa.

And on Tuesday, a pivotal decision is expected in the court case challenging Proposition 8, the California ballot measure that took away marriage rights for same-sex couples months after they gained them. The Los Angeles Times reports that a three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appears to lean toward striking down the ban, but its supporters will almost certainly appeal to the Supreme Court.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Wednesday challenged Republican presidential candidates for standing silent when an audience in front of them booed a gay soldier serving in Iraq. “He is over there in harm's way, risking his life on behalf of every one of us,” Carney said of the soldier who appeared on video at last Thursday’s Republican debate in Orlando to ask about the repeal of the policy that prohibited gay solders like him from serving while publicly acknowledging their sexual orientation. “He asks a legitimate question about `don't ask/don't tell’ and what these candidates might do, because it personally affects him. And there were boos in the audience,” Carney said at Wednesday’s White House news briefing. “There was no response,” Carney added. “No one on the stage said, `Wait a second, regardless of what you believe about this issue, we should thank this soldier, if he's over there risking his life for us.’ … I think that it's an important thing to note, when the job that they are auditioning for is the job of commander in chief.”

With social conservatives Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann grabbing headlines in the Republican presidential primary field, one name doesn't come up very often in the discussion: Fred Karger.

Karger, 61, a California businessman and Republican consultant with catalog-model good looks, isn't your typical candidate, GOP or otherwise. He's the first openly gay candidate for president in any party.

He's also been largely ignored by the conservatives who dominate the presidential primary process. And though he's polling even in some surveys with bigger names, Fox News still won't let him participate in a Thursday debate in Ames, Iowa.

The website LetFredIn.com says Karger has 2 percent support in a recent Harris Poll. While it isn't as much as Romney or Bachmann, or even Herman Cain, it puts him on the same level as Jon Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty, and ahead of Rick Santorum. (Here's Santorum's latest theory about about gays.)

Karger and his attorneys plan to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that says Fox is violating rules governing presidential debates by excluding him.

Karger isn't entirely lacking for national media attention: He's the subject of two recent profiles, one in the Boston Globe, and the other in the Los Angeles Times.

Karger has plenty of Republican credentials: He worked on Ronald Reagan's 1980 and 1984 presidential campaigns, and George H.W. Bush's. More recently, he worked to defeat California's Proposition 8 (an anti-gay marriage ballot measure voters approved in 2008) and helped draw attention to the Mormon Church's financial support of it.

Karger would like Romney and Huntsman, both Mormons, to persuade the church to stop its efforts against gay marriage.

He might have more luck getting elected president.

The Senate will have its chance this weekend to push ahead with immigration law changes and repeal of the "don't ask don't tell" military policy toward gays.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced Thursday night he would seek to limit debate on both measures. Those efforts, expected Saturday, will need 60 votes.

The first vote is expected to occur on the DREAM act, with provides a path to citizenship for children of undocumented aliens. Next is the military policy repeal, and Thursday, supporters were hopeful.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Ind.-Ct.,. a key supporter of repeal, said he was "confident" his side would get the 60 votes. If so, a final vote on the legislation is likely early next week. The House of Representatives passed its version of repeal earlier this week.

Reid also said he would not proceed with an "omnibus" spending bill for the rest of fiscal 2011 favored largely by Democrats. Instead, Senate leaders will try to craft a "continuing resolution" to fund the government, which runs out of money Saturday night. A short term stopgap funding measure is expected.

A New Year's Eve with the U.S. Senate?

Could happen, Democratic leaders suggested Tuesday. The Senate is expected to pass tax cut legislation later Tuesday or Wednesday, then turn to the New START nuclear arms treaty, a plan to keep the government funded through Sept. 30 and possibly repeal of the military "don't ask don't tell" policy on gays.

"Christmas is a week from Saturday," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told a news conference. "I understand that. But I hope Republicans understand it also, because we are going to complete our work, no matter how long it takes, in this Congress."

And remember, said Reid, "there is still Congress after Christmas....Congress ends on Jan. 4th. So we're going to continue working on this stuff until we get it done."

After that, the 111th Congress goes out of business and the 112th Congress is sworn in.

Republicans were aghast. They recalled last year, when the Senate met until Dec. 24, stymied by disagreements over health care legislation.

Please, said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., finish before the holidays. "It is impossible to do all the things that the majority leader laid out...without disrespecting the institution and without disrespeccting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all the Senate," he said.

 

Repeal of the military's "don't ask don't tell" will move as seperate House of Representatives legislation.

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., an Iraq war veteran, Tuesday introduced the bill, and a version is expected in the Senate. The Senate last week failed by three votes to cut off extended debate on legislation that included repeal.

It was not clear when--or if--Murphy's bill would be considered by the full House. Lawmakers hope to wrap up the 111th Congress by the end of this week, and the tax cut and government funding measures are still pending.

Murphy's bill is expected to draw strong support, though. The House in May voted to back repeal as part of a broader defense bill, but the measure has been stuck in the Senate.

And House members feel some urgency--Murphy lost his seat in the November election, and next month, Republicans will control the House.

In introducing the bill, Murphy said, "The time to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell has come. Already, two dozen other nations, including Israel and Great Britain, allow their troops to serve openly with no detriment to unit cohesion.

 

"As an Army veteran of the Iraq War," he said, "I’m insulted by those who claim that our troops are somehow less professional or mission-capable than the troops of these foreign nations. I’m proud to stand with the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the majority of servicemembers and the American public who all support repeal of this discriminatory policy that harms our national security and military readiness."

 

Here's a portion of President Obama's statement, on the Defense Department's report, released minutes ago by the White House:

Today’s report confirms that a strong majority of our military men and women and their families—more than two thirds—are prepared to serve alongside Americans who are openly gay and lesbian.

This report also confirms that, by every measure—from unit cohesion to recruitment and retention to family readiness—we can transition to a new policy in a responsible manner that ensures our military strength and national security.

And for the first time since this law was enacted 17 years ago today, both the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have publicly endorsed ending this policy.

With our nation at war and so many Americans serving on the front lines, our troops and their families deserve the certainty that can only come when an act of Congress ends this discriminatory policy once and for all . . . Today I call on the Senate to act as soon as possible so I can sign this repeal into law this year and ensure that Americans who are willing to risk their lives for their country are treated fairly and equally.

President Obama has joined the national anti-bullying campaign, videotaping a message that acknowledges gay teens' struggles but also the vulnerabilities of all kids who get picked on for being different. In his message, Obama says, "I don’t know what it’s like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough." He said when bullied "it can seem like somehow you brought it on yourself" but that it's important to know, "You didn’t do anything wrong" and that "things will get better." He said society should "dispel the myth that bullying is just a normal rite of passage, that it’s some inevitable part of growing up. It’s not." In the meantime, he urged kids who are bullied to reach out to adults they trust and not to allow themselves to become isolated.

So says White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs this morning after talking with President Obama about yesterday's injunction by a federal judge in San Diego on the military's ban on openly gay service. Obama has been pushing Congress to end the policy anyway.

The administration could just let the ruling stand, or try to end the policy through executive action if the Senate doesn't act soon. Gibbs said Obama has for years considered the ban is "wrong and unjust" and hurts national security but that "we have to figure out an orderly way for it to end."

"The bottom line is this is a policy that is going to end," Gibbs said.

President Barack Obama was heckled at a fund-raising event in California Monday evening by several people protesting the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays in the military.

Obama was praising Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in an event at the California Science Center in Los Angeles when an audience member yelled,”Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell!”
  
“We are going to do that,” Obam said. “Hey, hold on a second, hold on a second.  We are going to do that.”

The audience, who had contributed between $100 and $2.500 each, jumped in to drown out the protester with a chant, “Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!  Yes, we can!”
    
“All right, guys, guys, all right.  I agree, I agree, I agree,” Obama said to the protesters.

”No, no, no, no, listen.  What the young man was talking about was we need to,  we need to repeal `Don’t Ask, Don't Tell,’ which I agree with and which we have begun to do. 
  
“But let me say this:  When you’ve got an ally like Barbara Boxer and you’ve got an ally like me who are standing for the same thing, then you don't know exactly why you’ve got to holler, because we already hear you, all right?  I mean, it would have made more sense to holler that at the people who oppose it. “
  
Undeterred, a protester interrupted Obama again later in his remarks, yelling, “It’s time for equality for all Americans!”

“I’m sorry, do you want to come up here?” Obama said t applause from the audience. “Because can I just say, once again, Barbara and I are supportive of repealing `Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ so I don't know why you’re hollering.”

Kara Rowland, a Washington Times reporter traveling with the president as a representative of the White House press corps, said the protesters were from a group called GetEQUAL, a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender group that also organized protests outside the fundraiser.
  
Rowland said the group was also behind a protest last month at the White House, where activists Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. James Pietrangelo handcuffed themselves to a gate.