President Adds ‘We’ve Made Some Useful Contributions’ and Says He ‘Could Not Be Prouder’
President Barack Obama handed credit for the expansion of civil rights for LGBT people during his tenure as president to “individual activists” who stood up and came out to their friends, family, and co-workers. He said he could not be “prouder” of the transformation that’s taken place in our society that his administration was able to “help the movement advance.”
“I’ve said before, we’ve made some useful contributions, but the primary heroes in this stage of our growth as a democracy and society are all the individual activists, and sons and daughters, couples who courageously said, ‘This is who I am, and I’m proud of it.’ That opened people’s minds, and opened their hearts. And eventiually, laws caught up.”
“I don’t think it’s something that’s reversible,” he said of advancements, because of how “young people” have embraced equality. But he also warned there are fights left to wage, including on rights for transgender people.
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Washington Blade Chief Political & White House reporter Chris Johnson asked Pres. Obama the question. He later jokingly posted this tweet:
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