Feministing

In a visit to London, President Obama spoke out against North Carolina’s HB2, addressed an audience member who came out to him as non-binary and expressed concern over the climate for trans and non-binary people in the United States and the UK. In doing so, the president demonstrated how far he has come discussing LGBT issues as well as how far he has to go

Obama has been the most progressive president on LGBT right. He expanded LGBT rights for federal workers through executive order appointed the first trans woman to the White House, and became the first sitting president to endorse marriage equality (after notoriously “evolving” on the issue for a couple of years).

His response to this student demonstrates his growth and continued weaknesses on LGBT issues. He came out against the recent laws targeting LGBTQ people, but stumbled through the rest of his answer. The trend lines are good on this? We’re moving in the right direction? I understand what the president is saying, but his attitude makes me wonder what trends he’s looking at. That anti-LGBTQ
backlash is real, and it seems that our president may have been caught sleeping.