The Washington Blade interviews President Joe Biden in an Oval Office sit-down that was the first for an LGBTQ newspaper
Washington Blade’s Christopher Kane interviews President Biden in the Oval Office (Photo by Michael Key/Washington Blade)
CHRISTOPHER KANE | Washington Blade
Reprinted here courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association
Writing about President Joe Biden’s legacy is difficult without the distance and time required to assess a leader of his stature. But what becomes clear from talking with him is the extent to which his views on LGBTQ rights come from the heart.
Biden leads an administration that has been hailed as the most pro-LGBTQ in American history, achieving major milestones in the struggle to expand freedoms and protections for the community.
Meanwhile, conservative elected officials at the local, state and national levels have led an all-out assault against LGBTQ Americans — especially those who are transgender, and especially transgender youth, who face an uncertain future with Donald Trump promising to strip them of their rights and reverse the gains of the past four years if he is elected in November.
Biden shared his thoughts and reflections on these subjects and more in an exclusive wide-ranging sit-down interview with the Washington Blade on Sept. 12 in the Oval Office. It marked the first time an LGBTQ newspaper has conducted an exclusive interview with a sitting U.S. president.
Looking back on the movement, the president repeatedly expressed his admiration for the “men and women who broke the back of the prejudice, or began to break the back,” starting with those involved in the nascent movement for gay rights that was kicked off in earnest with the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
They “took their lives in their own hands,” Biden said. “Not a joke. It took enormous courage, enormous courage. And that’s why I’ve spent some time also trying to memorialize that,” first as vice president in 2016 when President Barack Obama designated a new
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