World

Obama Faces Armenian and Gay Rights Protesters in Beverly Hills

by cyn.khoo | May 28, 2009 at 11:31 am

137 views | 12 Recommendations | 5 comments

Protesters gathered outside the Beverly Hilton hotel Wednesday night, where President Obama was attending a Democratic Party fundraiser.

A day after the upholding of Proposition 8 in California, which bans gay marriage, one of the protests was meant to encourage Obama to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy barring those who are openly gay to join the US military. Lieutenant Dan Choi, who was issued a discharge from the Army after declaring on national television that he was gay, led a crowd of approximately 100 supporters.

"There is a message that I want to give to Obama," said Choi. "Stop forcing our soldiers to hide. Let them be free to serve."

A protest was also organized by the Armenian Youth Federation, in order to remind Obama of his campaign pledge to recognize the Armenian genocide.

“We are not here to label the President as a Genocide denier, but rather to raise our voices and our concerns regarding his broken promises,” said Arek Santikian, a spokesperson for the AYF. “We also want the president to realize how dissapointed the community is with his ill-advised cut in foreign aid to Armenia.”

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Yellow Guitar

at 13:20 on May 28th, 2009

Politics and protest makes for strange bedfellows.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 14:09 on May 28th, 2009

Thanks for this, cyn.khoo.

QueensHart

at 21:08 on May 28th, 2009

The gay agenda is the least ......THE LEAST ....of the world's problems.

LET US TALK ABOUT SERIOUS ISSUES.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 17:10 on June 1st, 2009

QueensHart, with all due respect, the gay agenda is far from the least of the world's problems. It is significant in that the world has a group of people (human beings) that are oppressed and even murdered for being gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered.

Too, as a resident citizen of the United States (New York) and parent to a gay male youth, I am concerned both for the civil and human rights that rightfully belong to my son and the GLBT community in its entirety. Equal access to education, employment, protection of the law, and equal right to marriage are fundamental rights to be enjoyed by ALL persons. Contrary to what this so-called majority believes, these rights are not exclusive to them. And the idea that any one individual or a group of individuals will 'fight tooth and nail' to oppress the rights of another individual or a group of individuals, is tyranny at its best, and the so-called 'democracy' at its worst.