Biden Says Gay People Tend to Have More Courage Than Most People

President Joe Biden speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center.

Photo: Josh Morgan / USA TODAY NETWORK via IMAGN Images

Written by Daniel Villarreal 

LGBTQ Nation

  

“Most of the openly gay people that have worked with me, that I’ve worked with, the one advantage they have is they tend to have more courage than most people have,” President Joe Biden said in a recent interview while reflecting on LGBTQ+ activists who have fought against violence and discrimination.

Biden reportedly expressed admiration for the “men and women who broke the back of the prejudice or began to break the back,” starting with those who sparked the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.  

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“I was really impressed when I went to Stonewall,” Biden said, speaking of the 7.7-acre area designated as a National Monument in 2016, the nation’s first monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ history. “And I was really impressed talking to the guys who stood up at the time. I think the thing that gets underestimated is the physical and moral courage of the community, the people who broke through, who said, ‘Enough, enough,’ and they risked their lives. Some lost their lives along the way.” 

“[They] took their lives in their own hands,” Biden continued. “Not a joke. It took enormous courage, enormous courage…. Most of the openly gay people that have worked with me, that I’ve worked with, the one advantage they have is they tend to have more courage than most people have. No, I’m serious. I think you guys underestimate that.”

“All the LGBTQ+ people that have worked for me or with me have reinforced my view that it’s not what your sexual preference is, it’s what your intellectual capacity is and what your courage is,” he added. “It’s not like someone wakes up one morning says, ‘You know, I want to be transgender,’ that’s what I want to do. What do they think, people wake up, decide one morning, ‘That’s what I wanted’ — it’s a lot easier being gay, right?”

During the interview, Biden mentioned the many pro-LGBTQ+ actions his administration has taken, including signing the Respect for Marriage Act, appointing high-level out officials and judges, ending the anti-gay blood donation ban, establishing rules to protect LGBTQ+ kids in foster care, and issuing Title IX and Title VII rules to protect queer students and workers.

However, Biden said there’s still more to do to secure full LGBTQ+ equality.

“When a person can get [same-sex] married [and] show up at a restaurant and get thrown out of the restaurant because they’re LGBTQ, that’s wrong,” he said. “That’s why we need the Equality Act. We need to pass it. So, I’m going to be doing everything I can to be part of the outside voices, and I hope my foundations that I will be setting back up will talk about equality across the board.”

The Equality Act would add gender identity and sexual orientation to federal civil rights protections. But to become law, it would need Republican support, at least in the Senate, where it needs 60 out of 100 votes to get past the filibuster.

“I think there are a lot of really good Republicans that I’ve served with, especially in the Senate, who don’t have a prejudiced bone in their body about this but are intimidated,” Biden said. “Because if you take a position, especially in the MAGA Republican Party now, you’re going to be — they’re going to go after you.”

“Trump is a different breed of cat,” Biden said. “I mean, I don’t want to make this political, but everything he’s done has been anti, anti-LGBTQ, I mean, across the board.”

Biden also criticized Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who expressed interest in the nation’s highest court possibly overturning its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, calling Thomas’ view “just pure, simple prejudice.”

“My dad used to say that everyone’s entitled to be treated with dignity,” Biden said, noting that, when he was a teen, he expressed surprise to his father over seeing two men kiss. His father explained, “Joey, it’s simple. They love each other.”

“As a consequence of that, most of the things that I’ve done have related to just [what] I think is basic fairness and basic decency,” Biden said.