Joe Biden said he gets “more credit for marriage equality” than he deserves. (Scott Varley/MediaNews Group/Torrance Daily Breeze via Getty)
Joe Biden reportedly said he gets “more credit for marriage equality than [he] deserves” at a private fundraiser held on Saturday night (September 28).
The Washington Blade reported that Biden made the comments at a fundraiser for Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign held by gay philanthropist Tim Gill and his husband Scott Miller.
His comments referred to the fact that he famously stepped on the toes of President Obama in 2012 when he announced his own support for same-sex marriage while the President was still officially ‘evolving’ on the issue.
He said in a speech: “I get more credit for marriage equality than I deserve. I didn’t have to evolve very much.
“I told the president I wouldn’t get out ahead of him, but if I got asked the question I couldn’t keep quiet. I wasn’t going to be silent on it.”
He also criticised Trump’s rhetoric, and said the first bill he wanted to sign if he were to become president would be the Equality Act, which would bring in federal anti-discrimination laws on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
He said: “The first bill I want to sign is the Equality Act because today you can be married in a number of states on Saturday and be fired on Monday when you go into work.
“And it’s gotta change. And most people don’t even know that. If we let them know that, we can change the law across the country.”
Joe Biden was criticised for his past voting record at the LGBT+ forum
Despite Biden’s comment that he “didn’t have to evolve very much”, he has recently been criticised for his past voting record.
At the the national 2020 Presidential Candidate Forum on LGBTQ Issues this month, he was called out for his support of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act in the nineties, although he later voted to repeal them, and for calling current Vice President Mike Pence a “decent guy.”
He was also criticised on social media for “sexism” when he answered the female moderator’s questions about his voting record by saying: “You’re a lovely person.”