PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:37): I rise today to enthusiastically congratulate the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, and to add my own hope to the President's own agenda of hope, that his demonstrated commitment to the gay and lesbian communities translates to real changes in the lives of gays and lesbians in the United States. When I stood at a function last November and saw the call on CNN that the then senator Obama was now President-elect Obama, I felt, as I imagine we all felt, that we were witnessing a pivotal moment in world history.

Of course, the inauguration of the first African-American president is so important for that country's black community, and for ethnically diverse communities around the world. This is, after all, a community that battled for civil rights within the past half century and against slavery 100 years before that, and for the first time in too long we saw a US president being elected on a message of hope, on the promise of a better, brighter future for the world. Instead of stooping to the mud slinging of old, President Obama stayed above the gutter politics of his opponents and ran a campaign that was, above everything else, optimistic about the future and optimistic about change and about bringing about better lives through change. I have great hope.

From the day President Obama was sworn in, the official White House website included a series of initiatives that will affect the LGBT community under the banner 'civil rights'. A quote from President Obama on the website says:

While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of the LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core this issue is about who we are as Americans, it is about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.

From there the site goes on to outline a number of initiatives that he will pursue as president.

Last year in this place I spoke of Matthew Shepard's death at the hands of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson—a crime obviously motivated by bigotry and hate. But, neither man was charged with a hate crime because neither Wyoming nor the United States currently have legislation to cover hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation. I also spoke of the fight to have such legislation enacted, with President Bush stating that he would never sign such a law into effect.

Riding on the promise of change, Obama has promised to pass the Matthew Shepard Act so that gay hate crimes are covered under federal legislation. This is a much needed change, especially when one considers the fact that hate crimes against those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community rose by 24 per cent from 2006 to May 2008. Similar to debates we are now having in South Australia, federally the United States is looking to expand its Employment Non-Discrimination Act to encompass anti-discrimination provisions for sexual orientation—a move that President Obama supports.

Such a commitment follows from his days as an Illinois state senator, when Obama sponsored legislation that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Whilst I am disappointed that President Obama has stated that he does not support gay marriage, I am indeed pleased that the White House website outlines his support for full civil unions and federal rights for LGBT couples, as well as his opposition to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He has also stated his commitment to expanding adoption rights so that adoption is a viable form of family creation for all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.

One of the peculiarities of the US military has been the 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy, which President Obama has vowed to repeal. Just for a start, more than 300 language experts have been fired because of this ridiculous policy, more than 50 of them being fluent in Arabic. Sexual orientation is a bizarre barometer of ability to serve in the military, and I am not surprised that someone as logical as the United States' new President is working to get rid of the craziness that is 'Don't ask, don't tell'.

President Obama has shown himself to be a thoughtful, logical, intelligent man and these policies reflect that. He has already acted, and I refer, for example, to his lifting of the so-called 'global gag rule'—the nonsensical rule which banned any foreign aid funding from being distributed to any groups that promote or perform abortions, which is something I will expand on at a later date.

I join all those people from around the globe who have offered their congratulations to President Obama and who share his message of hope—hope that leads to change for a better world.