And President Obama is set to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in a ceremony today at the White House. The sixteen new recipients include the civil rights veteran the Reverend Joseph Lowery, the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the actor Sidney Poitier, the tennis legend Billie Jean King, the Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, and Mary Robinson, the former Irish president and UN high commissioner for human rights. Robinson’s award has come under protest from pro-Israeli government groups opposed to her criticism of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Obama will also posthumously honor Harvey Milk, the gay rights pioneer who was assassinated in 1978.