White House Pride Month Celebration 2024: A Parent’s View

First Lady Jill Biden told the crowd gathered for the White House Pride Month Celebration yesterday that “Kids with two moms or two dads at the playground” were among the many triumphs of the LGBTQ community. I was honored to be at the event with my own family; here’s what I saw.

The pillars of the White House portico bore the colors of the rainbow flag as they rose over the crowd of thousands gathered on the South Lawn to celebrate Pride. The day marked the anniversary of three landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases that advanced LGBTQ equality—Lawrence v. Texas (2003), Windsor v. United States (2013), and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).

The three most senior LGBTQ administration officials were in attendance, and all happen to be parents: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Also there was Governor of Colorado (and gay dad) Jared Polis.

And while the event was not as kid-focused as the White House Egg Roll, it welcomed plenty of families with kids, who enjoyed corn hole and other lawn games and getting their faces painted. Award-winning singer and actress Deborah Cox performed for the crowd and local DJ Tryfe spun tunes.

Ashley Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden, told the crowd, “I grew up with two loving parents who told me that I could be anything, and that they would love me.” She spoke of her job as a social worker, and learning from the kids she’s worked with “how important it is for children to feel loved, accepted, and supported.” Yet “too many LGBTQ kids grow up in homes that don’t accept them,” or even if they are, have to hide a piece of themselves or get bullied for it at school. “LGBTQ students deserve to be safe at home, at school, and in their communities, period,” she asserted.

Her parents know that, she continued. “It’s why my dad has built the most pro-equality administration in history.” She also thanked those in the crowd who were working to support LGBTQ youth and LGBTQ people around the country, and urged them to “never, ever give up.” And she noted the origins of Pride itself among the trans women of color like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who “stood up and said, ‘Enough is enough.'”

The First Lady picked up on her daughter’s themes of children and families, saying she was happy to be there “as we celebrate your families—those families you’re born into, the ones you build, and the ones you choose.” She acknowledged, too, that “Sometimes, home is the bonds we build through choice and chance—the communities we create together.”

Sometimes, too, she said:

There are those who see our communities and our families and wish to tear them down. Those who can’t see that the world is so much bigger and more beautiful than they know.

But when our homes are threatened, when they strip away our rights and deny our basic humanity, we say: Not on our watch.

Pride is a celebration. But it’s also a declaration: That we will not be silenced.

She spoke of Joe Biden’s protection of marriage equality via the Respect for Marriage Act; ending the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood; standing against conversion therapy; allowing transgender people to serve in the military; and that very day, pardoning LGBTQ former service members who were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

She shared “small moments” of triumph as well: “Walking down the street without fear. Co-workers who use your chosen name and pronouns. Kids with two moms or two dads at the playground. Celebrating Pride together on the White House South Lawn!”

And she told the kids listening, “You can tell your parents that I said to make sure you enjoy the best lawn in America—eat some good food, run through the grass, do cartwheels, have fun!”

“Yes, outside these gates are those who want to send our country backwards,” she acknowledged, but encouraged attendees to take the spirit of the event with them. “Let it be a reminder that you don’t face these battles alone.”

I can confirm that the grass was lush and green, that the crowd was lively, and that as a queer mom, I felt just a little better about heading back to the rest of the world and trying to make change.