Obama is NOT calling for an LGBT national holiday

Staff Report

Several national LGBT websites were reporting Monday that President Obama was planning to make June 26, 2016 “National Equality Day” in recognition of LGBT equality. The reports were wrong. A website that spoofs USA Today posted the original report. According to Pink News, a United Kingdom gay website, the fake report said, “the President confirmed in an interview with Marc Maron that he would push Congress to make the holiday a national celebration.”

That interview never happened. However, major sites like Out.com and Towleroad.com jumped on the story. While the story still exists on some websites, both Out and Towleroad have deleted the pages that announced the “story.”

June 26 is indeed an important day for LGBT rights. In 2003, it was the day that SCOTUS ruled in Lawrence v. Texas that anti-gay sodomy law were unconstitutional. And in 2013, June 26 was the day that the court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act in its Windsor decision. Most recently, the court made same-sex marriage legal nationwide in its Obergefell decision, June 26, 2015.

There is an online petition urging Congress to make June 26 a national holiday, but so far, it has few signers.

The Gayly – July 7, 2015 @ 11:15am.