Obama wins gay cash, applause

[Geee]

Daily Caller:

Campaigner-in-chief President Barack Obama scooped up yet more donations at two New York fundraisers Thursday night, and successfully navigated demands by New York gays and lesbians to endorse pending legislation that would grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The main event was a fundraiser at New York’s Sheraton hotel, where roughly 600 gays and lesbians applauded the president as he broadly hinted his support for their priorities, including for changes in marriage rules.

“Discrimination because of somebody’s sexual orientation or gender identity ran counter to who we are as a people, and it’s a violation of the basic tenets on which this nation was founded,” he told the mostly male crowd. “I believe that gay couples deserve the same legal rights as every other couple in this country,” he said, prompting the crowd to give him a standing ovation, whoops and hollers of approval.

Gays and lesbians are an important slice of the president’s shrinking base, partly because middle-class or working class gays and lesbians often serve as political activists, and wealthier gays and lesbians donate heavily.

Nationally, gays and lesbians comprise roughly 4 percent of the voters in presidential races, of which up to one-quarter vote for Republicans because of economic issues.