Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Joe Tom Easley, Gay Rights Activist Whose Marriage Made The Times, Dies at 81
nytimes.comJoe Tom Easley, the gay rights activist and lawyer who worked to repeal the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and whose 2003 wedding was among the first same-sex unions announced in The New York Times, died on Feb.
13 at a hospital in Miami Beach. He was 81. The cause was complications of lung disease, Mr. Easley’s husband, Peter Freiberg, said on Tuesday.
Mr. Easley, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, spent years fighting for the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” which was enacted in 1993 by President Bill Clinton and allowed gays to serve in the military under the condition that they keep their sexuality a secret.
In 2010, President Barack Obama signed away the policy. Mr. Easley was a chairman of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that sought to end discrimination against gay military personnel and to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
