Joe Biden: Second Catholic President, First One With Strong LGBTQ Record

President-Elect Joe Biden

Joe Biden, the U.S. President-Elect, is only the second Catholic to rise to the nation’s highest office. But he is the first president who comes to office with a sterling record on LGBTQ issues.

After reviewing Bondings 2.0’s archive, which goes back to 2011, I found the following news items which reveal this faithful Catholic’s strong support of LGBTQ equality. This list contains links to previous posts about Biden’s LGBTQ support, in chronological order from earliest to most recent, and each item contains a short description of the post.

Catholic Vice President Joe Biden: “Who Do You Love?”

Vice President Joe Biden’s stated support of marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the first time a sitting vice president or president has ever done so. He offered one of the simplest and most practical criteria for defining who a person should be allowed to marry: “Who do you love?” (May 2012)

President Obama’s Support of Marriage Equality: Joe Biden’s Role and the Impact on Youth

Just a few days after Biden stated support for marriage equality, President Barack Obama did the same, the first time ever for a U.S. President. Political analysts credited Biden’s early support with moving Obama to do likewise. (May 2012)

Biden: Transgender Equality Is ‘Civil Rights Issue of Our Time’

Vice President of the United States Joe Biden stated that transgender equality is “the civil rights issue of our time.” (November 2012)

Catholics Tweet Their Support for Mike Sam

Biden tweets support for Michael Sam, a University of Missouri football player, who came out as gay as he entered the National Football League (NFL) draft process, potentially becoming the first openly gay NFL athlete. (February 2014)

Vice President Biden Pushes for Passage of Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Biden robustly criticized Congress’ failure to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) which would have provided nationwide employment protections for people based upon their sexual orientation and gender identity. He stated: “It’s close to barbaric” to still being legal to fire someone for these issues. “Pass ENDA now” he demanded, calling it “outrageous we’re even debating this. . . .The single most basic of all human rights is the right to decide who you love, it is the single basic building block…Hate can never never be defended because it’s a so-called ‘cultural norm.’ I’ve had it up to here with cultural norms.” (March 2014)

Remembering the Global Struggle for LGBT “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness”

Biden did not mince words recently when he addressed a “Forum on Global LGBT Human Rights” which he hosted at his residence. Biden spoke about the terrible trend of countries which criminalize and severely penalize, LGBTQ people, saying: “I don’t care what your culture is. Inhumanity is inhumanity is inhumanity. Prejudice is prejudice is prejudice.” (June 2014)

Vice President Joe Biden, a Catholic, Officiates Same-Gender Marriage

Biden officiated at the same-gender marriage of two White House staffers, Brian Mosteller and Joe Mahshie. Biden tweeted a photo of the ceremony, with the message:

“Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”

That photo was retweeted over 38,000 times, including by Jill Biden who commented, “Love is love.” (August 2016)

Former VP Joe Biden Criticizes Anti-Trans Bathroom Law Focus

Once he left office, and before he began running for the presidency, Biden continued to speak out for LGBTQ equality. In what was seen as a criticism of the Trump administration’s rollback of LGBTQ equality measures and also of North Carolina’s HB2, an anti-trans bathroom bill, he stated:

“As much great work as we’ve done, we face some real challenges ahead. We thought things were moving in the right direction. . .But there’s a changing landscape out there, folks, and we have a hell of a lot of work to do.

“Instead of focusing on the fact that 40 percent of the homeless youth on the street are identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [and] rejected by their families out on the street, and what do we do about that, we’re now focusing on whether or not a transgender child, which bathroom they can use.” (March 2017)

Former Vice President Joe Biden Calls for Greater Global LGBT Solidarity

Biden called for people in the U.S. to be in greater solidarity with LGBT people around the world. In a Washington Post op-ed to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, Biden said his father had taught him “everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect.” He continued:

“Progress doesn’t happen by chance. It happens because good people come together and demand change. And any person of conscience, regardless of their religious or partisan beliefs, should be able to agree: Violence against any person, in any form, is intolerable. No one should be killed, tortured, assaulted or harassed because of who they are.” (May 2017)

Former V.P. Joe Biden Promotes LGBT Acceptance ‘As You Are’

The Biden Foundation, started by for the then-former vice president, launched As You Are: A Family and Community Acceptance Campaign. “We’ll use our resources to highlight the harms of family rejection video, and lift up research, best practices, and personal stories to show the importance of family acceptance,” Biden said in a video for the project. (August 2018)

Biden Condemns Polish Towns’ ‘LGBT-Free Zones’

As a presidential candidate, Biden spoke out against towns in Poland which have established themselves “LGBT-free zones.” In tweeting an article about European Union leaders’ condemnation of the Polish proposal, Biden stated: “Let me be clear: LGBTQ+ rights are human rights — and ‘LGBT-free zones’ have no place in the European Union or anywhere in the world.” (August 2020)

These are the stories which Bondings 2.0 followed. If you know of other pro-LGBTQ statements or actions that were made by the U.S.A.’s President-Elect Biden, please reference them in the “Comments” section of this post.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, November 9, 2020