For longtime adviser Wolff, it was an emotional moment. And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward," Lynch said.Ī vivid symbol of that inclusive spirit came on the night of the Supreme Court's marriage decision last June, when the White House itself was lit up in rainbow colors.
And Attorney General Loretta Lynch delivered a passionate message directly to transgender people. The Justice Department sued North Carolina over its new law requiring public school students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their biological sex. In this final year, the administration has been even more aggressive, battling for transgender rights. "For if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like everyone else under the law," Obama said, drawing cheers from the crowd on the National Mall. In his second inaugural, Obama wove the push for gay rights into a broader civil rights tapestry, stretching from Seneca Falls and Selma to Stonewall. "In one day, he turned the conventional political wisdom on its head," recalled adviser Wolff.įar from a political liability, the president's embrace of same-sex marriage helped to mobilize young supporters. But even if the president was just mirroring public opinion polls, it was a major step politically.
WHITE HOUSE LIT UP GAY FLAG COLORS FULL
"If Barack Obama had actually laid out in full the LGBT agenda he was going to pursue back in 2008, I think he would never have been elected president," said Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council, which opposes same-sex marriage and other LGBT rights.īy 2012, public sentiment had already shifted in support of gay marriage, according to Pew Research Center (chart below). To conservative critics, the turnaround was a bitter bait-and-switch. "I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama told ABC's Robin Roberts. But after Vice President Joe Biden took the plunge during the re-election campaign four years ago, Obama went on national television to announce that he'd changed his mind, too. When he first ran for president, Obama went only as far as supporting civil unions. "They put LGBT people into 'We the People' on a scale that had never happened before," said attorney Mary Bonauto, who's with the group GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders.Īnd then there was the president's own, very public "evolution" on same-sex marriage. At the same time, the White House was working in countless smaller ways to expand gay rights in housing assistance, hospital visitation and other areas. The administration also angered some gay rights advocates by initially defending a law that barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages, even in states where they were allowed. "Nothing could be further from the truth." "The story that got told was that somehow the president had to be dragged along unwillingly," said Tobias Wolff, who advised Obama on LGBT issues during the presidential campaign and after. They argue that Obama needed to win support from both the military and the Senate before he could make a lasting change. The president's defenders say that what looked like foot-dragging in the push to reverse the "don't ask, don't tell" policy was actually careful groundwork. "It's not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago." "I know that many in this room don't believe progress has come fast enough, and I understand that," Obama said. Obama acknowledged that frustration during his first Pride reception seven years ago.
"They were so intent on not repeating those mistakes that I think they became too cautious." "They didn't want to repeat the mistakes that President Clinton made by trying to move too quickly on gay rights," Socarides said.