Chicago- August 02, 2024
Joe Biden has taken a swipe at Barack Obama’s administration after he stepped out of the race to become the Democrats’ presidential nominee.
The US president on Tuesday referred to an incident in 2012 when he appeared to have forced Mr Obama to change his stance on same-sex marriage.
Mr Biden was asked by reporters outside the White House about his “legacy for LGBTQ Americans”.
“Well, I’m really proud of my position,” he said. “I was the first guy to come out for gay marriage. Remember that little problem with the Obama administration?”
In 2012, then vice-president Mr Biden announced on television that he supported same-sex marriage before Mr Obama had committed to the policy in public.
“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, and women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying men and women, are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press show.
“Quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”
The abrupt change in stance from Mr Biden effectively forced Mr Obama to announce, three days later, that he also supported gay marriage.
