President Obama Mocks GOP Candidates For Lagging On LGBT Rights

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Speaking at the National Democratic Committee's LGBT Gala last night in New York City, President Obama mocked some of the current crop of Republican White House candidates who seem to be stuck in the past when it comes to same-sex marriage:

“One of their leading candidates argued that going to prison turns you gay,” he said, referring to neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has recently surged in the polls. “Well, you think I'm -- I shouldn’t go into this? No, I mean, I'm just stating the facts.”

“Another candidate boasts that he introduced an amendment to end nationwide marriage equality -- which isn’t even an accomplishment at all. A third says Americans should just disobey the Supreme Court’s ruling entirely. I'm sure he loves the Constitution -- except for Article III. And maybe the Equal Protection Amendment. And the 14th Amendment, generally.”

The President made a point of listing several advances in LGBT rights since he took office such as overturning the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers, his executive order banning workplace discrimination against LGBT individuals employed by the federal government and federal contractors, as well as this year’s Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide.

Obama also chided the GOP world for their chants of "taking their country back." Obama addressed the idea of "taking the country back" to 2008 before he was elected president:

“In their world, everything was terrific back in 2008 when we were in the midst of a spiral into the worst financial crisis and economic crisis since the Great Depression, when unemployment and uninsured rates were rising and when our economy was shedding jobs each month, and we were mired in two wars, hopelessly addicted to foreign oil, and bin Laden was still at large,” Obama said.

“Those were the Golden Years, apparently. And then, I came in and messed it all up.”

Introducing the President for the evening was lead plaintiff in the SCOTUS same-sex marriage case, Jim Obergefell.