PROVINCETOWN, Mass. — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday credited gay rights advocates for advancing the “civil rights of every straight American.”
Appearing at a campaign stop at the Pilgrim Monument and Museum in this popular LGBT destination township at the tip of Cape Cod, Biden said that if he had to use “one adjective” to describe the LGBT community, it would be “courage.’
“You have summoned the courage to speak out, to come out,” Biden told the crowd of around 300 people, many wearing gay pride symbols. “We owe you.”
“You are freeing the soul of the American people,” he added.
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On May 6, Biden trumped President Barack Obama when he revealed his support for same-sex marriage during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Biden’s disclosure propelled Obama to “evolve” his position on same-sex marriage, and in an interview just days later, Obama came out in support of marriage equality in an interview with ABC News.
Since the Administration’s high profile announcements, marriage equality for gays and lesbians has been included in a major political party platform for the first time in U.S. history.
Earlier this month, a committee of more than 100 Democrats unanimously approved a version of their party’s platform that includes a plank endorsing marriage equality as well as other pro-LGBT language.
Biden, a long-time supporter of the LGBT community, has publicly voiced his opposition to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and was a vocal leader in efforts that led to the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the now repealed ban on openly gay service members.