Barack Obama will
fight for equal rights for gays just as he fought to
help working-class families overcome poverty, the Democratic
presidential hopeful's wife told a gay Democratic
group.
Recalling his
past work as a community organizer to help struggling
families, Michelle Obama said he would take the same
approach as president.
''Barack believes
that we must fight for the world as it should be, a
world where together we work to reverse discriminatory
laws,'' she said Thursday at a Manhattan fund-raiser
for the Democratic National Committee's Gay and
Lesbian Leadership Council.
Michelle Obama
also drew a connection between the struggles for gay
rights and civil rights.
''We are all only
here because of those who marched and bled and died,
from Selma to Stonewall, in the pursuit of a more perfect
union,'' she said at the event, held days before the
anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots between gays
and New York police, and the city's annual gay pride
parade.
''The world as it
is should be one that rejects discrimination of all
kinds,'' she said.
Touting her
husband's record pushing for workplace discrimination
legislation as an Illinois state senator and his support of
civil unions, Obama noted her husband also had brought
a call for equality to conservative groups, telling
churchgoers they need to combat homophobia in the
black community.
The Illinois
senator opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay
marriage and says states should make their own decisions on
the matter. He has said he's interested in ensuring
that same-sex couples in civil unions get federal
benefits.
His Republican
opponent, John McCain, also opposes a federal
constitutional amendment but worked to ban gay marriage in
his home state of Arizona. McCain supports the
military's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy, while
Obama has called it ''counterproductive.''
Michelle Obama's
speech brought a standing ovation from the crowd of
about 200 donors, who raised about $1.3 million, organizers
said.
Earlier Thursday,
she spoke in Manchester, N.H., and credited Hillary
Rodham Clinton, her husband's rival for the Democratic
nomination, with bringing the concerns of working
families to the forefront of the presidential
campaign.
She heard from
New Hampshire women juggling such work and family concerns
as child care and caring for aging parents. She explained
her husband's plans to expand sick time and paid
family leave, help parents afford child care, and make
sure women get equal pay for equal work.
''We are closer
to this America than ever before, and that's because of
an extraordinary woman who's not in this room but she's
traveling with my husband tomorrow, and that woman is
Hillary Clinton,'' Michelle Obama said to sustained
applause.
''I know that the
folks here in New Hampshire know this better than
anyone because you got to know the candidates up close and
personal, but because of Hillary Clinton's work the
issues of importance to women and working families are
front and center.''
Clinton and
Barack Obama are to make their first public joint appearance
Friday in Unity, N.H. (Samantha Gross, AP)
