Sean Penn recently told reporters he hopes to screen Milk for President Barack Obama at the White House.

The actor, who recently won an Oscar for portraying gay rights icon Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s biopic, told Breitbart that “eventually we are hoping for a White House screening.”

The article reads:

As California’s Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether to annul a referendum that banned same-sex marriages last years, Penn said he expected the movie would weigh on the debate.

“I think this film will be one of the steps forward,” Penn told reporters. “It will be part of the dialogue.”

“But I think things are going to go forward with or without it,” said Penn, who made an impassioned plea as he received his his second best-actor Oscar for opponents of gay marriage to rethink their positions.

“I was once asked to tell the difference between luxury and necessity for a human being. The right to equality for all, including homosexuals, is of course a necessity.

“That’s why this right will become a reality and I think in its own way this film will be part of that.”

“This train has left,” Penn added, saying “the need for tolerance, equality and so on is on the move, and will go on.”

Now only two months into 2009, the Victory Fund has endorsed seven more candidates, bringing the year’s total number of endorsees to 17. These endorsees include Shane Cohn, a 28-year-old first-time candidate running for the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, and Robert Garcia, who seeks a seat on the Long Beach, CA City Council.

Here’s a run-down of the new round of endorsements:

Shane Cohn - St. Louis Board of Aldermen

Shane Cohn is young, motivated and ready to serve the people of St. Louis as the next alderman for District 25. The 28-year-old Cohn has already acquired valuable experience that defies his years. He currently serves on the board of the local neighborhood business association as well as on the board of the National Conference for Community and Justice in St. Louis — one of the oldest and most respected human relations organizations in the area.

Robert Garcia – Long Beach City Council

Currently a faculty member and dean of student affairs at Long Beach City College, Robert is one of six candidates vying for a a seat on the Long Beach City Council. Despite all his competition, Robert has emerged as the front runner because of his ability to pick up key endorsements and raise money. This is a major opportunity for the LGBT community. If elected, Robert would become the second openly gay person (along with Gerry Schipske) to serve on the body.

John Duran- West Hollywood City Council

During his eight years on the West Hollywood City Council, John has engaged in vocal pro-LGBT activism. A former board president of Equality California, he helped lead the fundraising efforts to defeat Proposition 8. In January, he received the 2009 Keeper of the Dream Award by the City of West Hollywood for his “extraordinary leadership in bringing to light the struggles of various groups in West Hollywood through advocacy for civil and human rights, especially marriage equality.”

Anthony Niedwiecki – Oakland Park, Florida City Commission

Anthony is a law professor and an outspoken LGBT advocate who also serves as vice president and co-founder of a national LGBT organization called Fight OUT Loud, a which helps LGBT individuals who face discrimination. He assisted in an effort to have anti-gay Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle removed from office and worked with the local transgender community to expand local anti-discrimination efforts. Anthony is a strong fundraiser, a passionate gay-rights advocate and has a solid team behind him.

Scott Hall – Jacksonville City Council Alderman

Scott Hall cares deeply for his community in Jacksonville — and the residents know it. Based on his extensive community involvement, several local leaders actively encouraged him to run for the seat on the Jacksonville Board of Aldermen. In addition to his support for the community at-large, Scott has also worked for the LGBT community. He’s actively lobbied his state legislator to create civil unions in Illinois and asked the local government to add sexual orientation to Jacksonville’s anti-discrimination policy, a move he would support as an alderman.

Adam Ebbin – Virginia State House of Delegates

As the only out legislator in the state, Adam Ebbin stands as one of LGBT Virginian’s greatest voices in the fight for equality. Virginia isn’t known for its LGBT-friendly state legislature, but Adam has served as a voice for the community amid a less-than-hospitable environment.  He provides a strong presence in Virginia whose presence is invaluable to LGBT Virginia residents.

Jeffrey Prang – West Hollywood City Council

Mayor Jeff Prang has provided strong leadership on the West Hollywood City Council since 1997. Not only has Jeff supported services for local residents living with HIV/AIDS and supported one of the nation’s first transgender non-discrimination ordinances in the nation, he’s also fought for the rights of all LGBT Californians. Jeff successfully lobbied the state legislature and Board of Equalization to change state legislation to extend domestic partnership benefits to city employees, especially for retirement and medical benefits.

Jeffrey S. Crowley, MPH, has been named Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, the White House announced today.  Crowley is currently Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.

“Jeffrey Crowley brings the experience and expertise that will help our nation address the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and help my administration develop policies that will serve Americans with disabilities,” said President Obama.

Crowley has served as Deputy Executive Director at the National Association of People with AIDS.  He earned his Master of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

The LGBT community’s Presidential Appointments Project recommended Crowley for the appointment.

Nitzan Horowitz was sworn into Israel’s parliament, known as Knesset, on Tuesday. This makes him only the second gay man in Israel’s history to be elected to parliament. Though early in his career in the Knesset, Horowitz has already promised to propose legislation that would allow any couple (regardless of sex) to obtain a civil union or marriage.

365 Gay reports:

Currently only a rabbi can perform a marriage in Israel. A bill already before the Knesset would allow civil marriage, but only for opposite-sex couples.

It’s doubtful Horowitz bill will get far in the Knesset.  This month’s election saw large gains by conservatives, including the small-but-powerful religious parties.

Nevertheless, Horowitz said he is hopeful of a dialogue in the parliament.

Michigan Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, has raised doubts regarding the timing of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Levin, who supports a repeal and voted against the military’s ban on gay service members when it was originally passed in 1993, cites the failing economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as higher priorities on the national agenda. His comments have been met with relative support from Service Members Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group dedicated to repealing the ban.

Gay City News reports:

Saying he remains optimistic that congressional action could come this year, Aubrey Sarvis, SLDN’s executive director, told Gay City News, “I reconcile my optimism fairly easily with [Levin's] remarks.”

In his comments to NPR, Levin also said, “I’m gonna be working with colleagues to see how much support there is for it. And where along the process we can take that issue up.”

Sarvis emphasized that Levin supports action in the current Congress.

California Democratic Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, who is preparing to reintroduce legislation to end the policy in the next several weeks, was quoted in the NPR report saying her bill remained an important goal, but may face delays given that Congress is “triaging the effects of very bad tax policy from the Bush administration… [and] people are losing their homes and their jobs.”

SLDN’s Sarvis, in a telephone interview with Gay City News after the NPR story surfaced, said that his group’s recommendation to the Obama administration is that it roll a change in policy into its revisions to the Defense Department appropriations bill originally introduced in the waning days of the Bush presidency. Congress will likely take up the new administration’s budget proposals by late April, and defense is currently slated to be the first area of scrutiny.