Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
Barack Obama's Lesbian Aunt Sparked His Evolution on LGBTQ+ Rights
f word, of which he is now "ashamed."In his new memoir A Promised Land, the former president discussed his evolution of views toward LGBTQ+ people, and he credited members of the community for "opening my heart" toward their rights.One of those people was his great-aunt Arlene.
She was the sister of his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who also went by "Toot." Arlene, who was a lesbian, showed Obama firsthand the stigma that LGBTQ+ people face in their daily lives.“I grew up in the 70s, a time when LGBTQ life was far less visible to those outside the community, so that Toot’s sister (and one of my favorite relatives), Aunt Arlene, felt obliged to introduce her partner of 20 years as ‘my close friend Marge’ whenever she visited us in.
