Congresswoman Pelosi commemorates the LGBT victims of the Holocaust at the “Friends of the Pink Triangle” ceremony at the Twin Peaks Vista Overlook, Calif. (Courtesy of Nancy Pelosi’s office).

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic minority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, is accepting an award from the Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth at the nonprofit group’s 20th Anniversary Gala on Friday evening.

Also being honored are Edie Windsor, whose lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in March, and Andrew Stern, the chief operating officer of NARAL Pro-Choice NY.

“We are thrilled to be honoring Congresswoman Pelosi for her decades of heroic leadership and advocacy on behalf of the GLBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS,” said David Kilmnick, chief executive officer of LIGALY. “This year’s honorees represent some of the most important voices in the movement for GLBT equality.”

Pelosi’s district office is in San Francisco, a leading city in the modern gay rights movement and the first in then nation to elect an openly gay politician—Bay Shore native Harvey Milk.

Pelosi, Windsor and Stern will receive the honors before a crowd of more than 400 local civic, political and business leaders at Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park.

Democratic members of LI’s congressional delegation—including Reps. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) and Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola)—will be on hand to show their leader around.

President Barack Obama gave his first State of the Union address of his second term Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013.

President Barack Obama laid out more than a dozen new initiatives Tuesday in the first State of the Union address of his second term, packing an array of issues into the hour-long speech, including four—climate change, immigration, veterans and gun control—of particular importantance to Long Islanders, a few of whom were in the audience.

Obama started off flat while discussing his budget and tax reform proposals, but he worked his way up to an emotional plea for Congress to enact new restrictions on firearms sales to reduce the number of gun deaths nationwide. He sounded encouraged by current immigration reform talks among lawmakers, but the president oscilated between urging the Republican leaders in the House of Representatives to negotiate a compromise on the upcoming deficit reduction plan known as sequestration, and threatening to use executive orders if Congress doesn’t act on global warming.

“We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen, were all just a freak coincidence,” Obama said, referring in part to the Oct. 29 hurricane-nor’easter hybrid that ravaged LI and the Northeast. ”Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science—and act before it’s too late.”

The president remained vague on most of his proposals, choosing to paint a broad picture of the goals he’s setting for the year to come, but did get into some specifics while discussing immigration and, to a lesser degree, gun control.

“Senators of both parties are working together on tough new laws to prevent anyone from buying guns for resale to criminals,” the president said, before rallying for a vote on the bill. ”Police chiefs are asking our help to get weapons of war and massive ammunition magazines off our streets, because these police chiefs, they’re tired of seeing their guys and gals being outgunned.”

Among those top cops was John Aresta, the Malverne village police chief, whose uncle was among six murdered in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre. He was invited to attend by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola), whose husband was killed and son injured in the same shooting spree that launched her to the national stage to advocate for gun control.

“I personally don’t see a reason why anybody would need a 30-round clip or a 10-round clip for an assault rifle,” Aresta had told Fox Business News  last month shortly after New York State passed sweeping new gun control laws in the wake of the Newtown elementary school massacre in December.

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford), the lone Republican among LI’s five-member Congressional delegation, wrote on Twitter that he was disapointed in Obama’s lack of focus on unemployment and deficit reduction, but co-authored an op-ed in Politico expressing support for ensuring background checks for all  gun purchases, with the exception of gifts between family members or temporary transfers for hunters. He noted national estimates that only four in 10 gun buyers are subject to such checks.

New York City got two mentions. Obama first touted the heroic nurses who evacuated newborn babies from the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan during Sandy, signaling Menchu Sanchez by name. She was seated next to First Lady Michelle Obama. He later extolled the benefits of P-Tech in Brooklyn, a collaboration between New York Public Schools, the City University of New York and IBM, where students graduate with a high school diploma and an associate’s degree in computers or engineering—a model he wants emulated nationwide.

The emphasis on improving education to better the economy dovetailed with his reasons for supporting immigration, a hotly debated issue on LI, where undocumented Hispanic immigrant day laborers have repeatedly been victims of Suffolk County hate crimes in recent years.

“Our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants,” Obama said, emphasizing that reform must include stronger border security, cutting waiting periods, attracting highly skilled engineers and ”establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship—a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and … learning English.”

But some immigration issues are easier to solve than others. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) invited as his guests Dania and Nick Marvos, a Little Neck couple who were in the process of adopting a 1-year-old boy named Ari from Russia until two months ago when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning American adoptions of Russian children. The move was widely seen as retaliation for a recently passed U.S. law punishing Russian human rights violators.

“Waiting for news to see if we will be allowed to bring our baby home has been one of the most trying times in our lives,” Dania Mavros said in a statement released by Israel’s office. ”Devastating does not capture the emotional roller coaster that we are enduring every day.”

Congressman Israel said he is negotiating to help the couple complete the adoption process despite the new Russian law in an attempt to save their son-to-be from growing up in an orphanage. Thousands of other cases are also in jeopardy.

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) invited Dina McKenna of Lindenhurst, whose husband, Sgt. William McKenna, died in 2010 of cancer caused by his exposure to toxic fumes from burn pits the military used for disposing of hazardous waste in Iraq. Bishop had laws passed to curtail the use of burn pits and require the Department of Veterans Affairs to improve its treatment of soldiers exposed to them.

“All veterans whose health may have been affected by toxic burn pits must be accounted for and given the health care and support they have earned,” Bishop said in a statement.

Obama’s nod to veterans came as he promised to better defend against cyber attacks, end the more than decade-long war in Afghanistan “by the end of next year,” prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons and isolate North Korea for its provocations in testing nuclear weapons potentially capable of being fitted on inter-continental ballistic missles. He reiterated plans to strengthen U.S. missle defense to block such an attack.

The commander-in-chief also made clear that while the military will not be sending large numbers of troops abroad for Iraq-style occupations, he vaguely referred to special operations forces that will continue to hunt al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and wherever else they may be hiding. He made veiled reference to the continued deployment of predator drones despite recently renewed controversy over their use to kill American citizens working with terrorists, such as Westbury-native Samir Khan, the al-Qaeda propagandist killed in U.S. airstrikes alongside militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen in 2011.

“Where necessary, through a range of capabilities, we will continue to take direct action against those terrorists who pose the gravest threat to Americans,” he said.

President Barack Obama, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, unveiled his long-awaited gun control proposals on Wednesday.

President Barack Obama urged Congress to pass his proposals Wednesday to curtail gun violence in the wake of the Newtown massacre, setting off what may be the fiercest fight of his presidency.

As expected, Obama called on lawmakers to restore the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines as well as pass laws that would require background checks on all guns sales.

“We can’t put this off any longer,” Obama said while flanked by by Vice President Joe Biden and four children who addressed letters to the president shortly after 20 children and six adults were gunned down last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Obama conceded that no law can stop senseless acts of violence completely, and there’s no piece of legislation that will prevent every tragedy from occurring, but said he would use the power of his office to protect children from violence.

“If there’s ever one thing we can do to reduce this violence, if there’s even one life that can be saved, than we’ve got an obligation to try,” said the president, who also signed 23 executive orders on gun control.

Obama’s much-anticipated announcement came in the midst of a heated debate about guns in America that has erupted since the mass killings in Newtown and the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. that claimed the lives of 12 moviegoers and injured more than 70 others.

Gun advocates have been vocal about protecting their Second Amendment rights, arguing that placing limitations on firearms does a disservice to responsible gun owners. Many have said bans on assault weapons won’t do much to put a stop to gun crime because handguns are used in the majority of those instances.

Some of the president’s proposals have the support of many Americans, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll on public support for gun policy. The poll found that 85 percent of Americans are in favor of background checks for private and gun show sales, 55 percent would approve of a ban on assault weapons and 54 percent favor a ban on high-capacity magazines.

The vice president, who said he spoke with more than 200 groups since creating the Newtown task force—including gun advocates, sportsmen and hunters, religious leaders and lawmakers—paid tribute to the families of the Sandy Hook killings and said he was inspired by their strength.

“I have no illusions about what we’re up against or how hard the task is in front of us,” he said. “But I also have never seen the nation’s conscience so shaken by what happened at Sandy Hook. The world has changed, and it’s demanding action.”

While laying out his proposals, Obama said America has a duty to protect innocent children from gun violence, even if mass slayings aren’t totally preventable.

“These are our kids,” he said. “This is what they’re thinking about. And so what we should be thinking about is our responsibility to care for them, and shield them from harm, and give them the tools they need to grow up and do everything that they’re capable of doing—not just to pursue their own dreams, but to help build this country.

“This is our first task as a society, keeping our children safe,” he said. “This is how we will be judged. And their voices should compel us to change.”

Rep. Carolyn McCarty (D-Mineola), a staunch supporter for tighter gun laws, joined the president at the White House for the announcement and said his proposals will “save lives” while challenging Congress to take up the issue.

“Congress must not stand idly by while innocent Americans are killed on a daily basis for no reason,” she said.

Obama’s proposal came one day after New York State passed what many supporters of the bill hailed as the “most comprehensive” gun control legislation in the country. The state was the first in the nation to pass new gun control measures after the Newtown massacre.

The National Rifle Association balked at the proposals and said it will work with members Congress instead.

“Attacking firearms and ignoring children is not a solution to the crisis we face as a nation,” the nation’s largest gun lobby said in a statement after Obama’s announcement. “Only honest, law-abiding gun owners will be affected and our children will remain vulnerable to the inevitability of more tragedy.”

Obama acknowledged that it will be tough sledding to get the bill passed, adding that change will only come if Americans demand it.

“If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, if hunters and sportsmen, if responsible gun owners, if Americans of every background stand up and say, enough; we’ve suffered too much pain and care too much about our children to allow this to continue—then change will come. That’s what it’s going to take,” he said.

President Obama’s gun control proposals. by

Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave his State of the State address in Albany on Wednesday.

The gun control debate got a shot in the arm this week when a school shooting broke out during a White House task force meeting on the issue the day after Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged New York to pass the nation’s toughest firearms regulations.

Proposed re-enactment of the federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that expired in 2004 is at the forefront of the current debate. But pro-gun lobbyists shot down such regulations as an infringement of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Emotions continue to run high on both sides.

“There has got to be some common ground, to not solve every problem but diminish the probability” of future mass shootings, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday. “That’s what this is all about.”

Biden was meeting with a group of hunting organizations when a 16-year-old armed with a shotgun critically wounded a fellow student in a California high school. The task force was formed after a gunman massacred 20 school children and six staffers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. last month.

The National Rifle Association, whose leader has proposed armed guards in every school—although in the latest case, the school’s armed guard was snowed in at home—characterized the meeting as “disappointing” and said it will work with Congress instead.

“No one hunts with an assault rifle,” Cuomo said Wednesday while unveiling his gun-control package. “No one needs 10 bullets to kill a deer. And too many innocent people have died already. End the madness now!”

He proposed banning gun clips manufactured before 1994 that hold more than 10 bullets—hardware used by the Newtown gunman and other mass murderers—modernizing the pistol permitting process to ensure felons and others barred from owning handguns don’t fall through the cracks.

Cuomo also gave a nod to the NRA and conservatives such as state Senate Republican Conference Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who have suggested the gun control conversation falls short without addressing mental health and stricter punishments.

“There is no doubt that illegal guns are a major threat to public safety—but it is not the only one,” Skelos said after Cuomo laid out his plans in his State of the State address. “More frequently we are reading about crimes committed by people with a history of mental illness who may not be getting the treatment they need.”

The governor’s package includes enhanced sentencing guidelines for those convicted of using illegal guns, which mirrors a series of proposals Skelos unveiled last week. Cuomo also plans to propose measures to ensure mental health professionals alert authorities when they become aware a gun owner is likely to cause harm.

In addition, he also wants to close a loophole that allows private gun owners to sell guns to others without the buyer being subject to the background checks they would face when making a purchase from a licensed gun dealer.

On the federal level, New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are calling on Biden to include measures to crackdown on illegal guns and strengthen background checks into his final recommendations.

The senators are pushing bills mandating that states share records on felons, drug abusers and those seriously mentally ill to be used in background checks for gun buyers. They also are pushing a bill cracking down on trafficking firearms into New York.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-Mineola) is also reintroducing her legislation to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines for guns—a bill that is likely to be part of the Newtown task force’s recommendations Tuesday to President Obama.

McCarthy has devoted her political career to combating gun violence after her husband was murdered and son critically injured during the 1993 Long Island Railroad massacre. Rep. Diana Degette (D-Colo), whose district includes the infamous Columbine High School and is adjacent to Aurora—where a gunman murdered 12 people and wounded nearly 60 others at a movie theater last summer—is cosponsoring the legislation.

“These devices are used to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time possible and we owe it to innocent Americans everywhere to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people,” said McCarthy. “We don’t even allow hunters to use them—something’s deeply wrong if we’re protecting game more than we’re protecting innocent human beings.”