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by GoPride.com News Staff

Los Angeles, CA — The Advocate announced its endorsement of President Barack Obama on Friday. Its the first presidential endorsement by the country's oldest gay glossy in more than three decades.

Citing the president's statement in favor of marriage equality to ABC News on May 9 and his record on LGBT rights, The Advocate editor-in-chief Matthew Breen said President Obama "has made it clear that he is a transformational leader and our best choice for president."

"Never has the substantial progress in equal rights and treatment of LGBT people been more at risk than in this presidential contest," writes Breen. "This election presents a choice between starkly opposing futures. Barack Obama is a leader of undeniable accomplishment, vision, and integrity on LGBT rights. His opponent, Mitt Romney, betrays equality on numerous issues and aligns himself with a faction of the Republican Party that does not include equality among its declared ideals."

Additional excerpts from the endorsement:

"Obama may be the most prominent man on the planet ever, given the pervasiveness of modern media and his anomalous and historic nature as the first black American president; he is surely the single most recognizable head of state on the globe. By virtue of his unique position, his endorsement of marriage equality is not merely rhetoric. His words constitute action. On the very face of it, his statement is enormous, and has the power to move millions in a way that a statement from no other person could have."

The Advocate noted President Obama has appointed more LGBTs to leadership positions than any other president in history, launched a national resource center for LGBT elders, ensured insurance exchanges can not deny coverage to someone LGBT under the Affordable Care Act, and directed hospitals receiving federal funds to allow partner visitation rights, among many other achievements.

Breen said Obama can easily be contrasted with his opponent on LGBT rights.

"The GOP abandoned core values of limited government and federalism in exchange for demonizing rhetoric and repressive legislation over who can marry, what kind of sex to have, and whether women are equal to men. No candidate beholden to this party can be an LGBT champion. While there are Republicans demonstrating independence, and who defy the GOP's positions on these issues in pursuit of the greater good, Romney is not among them.

"Obama has demonstrated through both word and deed that he is capable of understanding and tackling the issues, with foresight and intellect, that affect a minority population, particularly the last group of people it's still legally permissible to deny rights to in the United States."

The Advocate last endorsed a political candidate in 1977. 

Read The Advocate's full President Barack Obama endorsement here.

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