At this afternoon’s LGBT Pride Month Reception at the White House, President Obama was introduced by nine-year-old twins Zea and Luna, third graders from California who have two moms. The girls had written letters to the President about the need for gun safety, funding for education, and marriage equality, because their two moms “are just as good as other parents. They love us a lot.” Watch below (along with the President’s remarks).
The range of topics concerning the girls takes on added significance given that tomorrow is the six-month anniversary of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Kudos to them for their courage in writing to the President and for speaking to what I can only imagine was a somewhat daunting crowd.
Also in the audience, and acknowledged by the President, was 14-year-old Madison, a boy from North Dakota whose moms Valerie and Diane have been together for 37 years and had written to Obama about marriage equality.
President Obama has been a supporter of LGBT parents even before he was a supporter of marriage equality. He made a personal phone call in 2007 to Janice Langbehn, who, with her three children, was denied access to her dying partner and the children’s other mother, Lisa Pond. The tragedy helped motivate Obama to revise hospital visitation rules to allow same-sex partners. And when he did “evolve” on marriage equality, he said he was motivated in part by same-sex couples who are raising kids together—some of whom were friends of his own daughters.
Of course, the separation of powers means we can’t read anything into the President’s remarks to gain insight on the imminent Supreme Court marriage equality rulings. Still, his remarks, and the reception itself, are a sign of great progress.