President Obama may be facing a Congress dominated by unfriendly conservative Republicans—but his State of the Union Tuesday night was full of swagger, compassion, specific agenda items aimed at bolstering the middle class and raising up the poor that the GOP will have difficulty combating.
A core premise of Obama’s speech centered on American values—and while he was articulate in how he spoke of the grit of hurting families in the up and down economy, his specific examples did not include a call for passage of legislation to protect LGBT employees in the workplace, who are specifically targeted for discrimination. He did, however, include for the first time in a State of the Union address references to bisexual and transgender people. (Read the full text of the speech here.)
Obama said:
As Americans, we respect human dignity […] It’s why we continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims – the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace. That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they’re right, but because they make us safer.
National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling was elated:
“It is very heartening that President Obama has chosen to speak up for transgender people in a State of the Union Speech about American values. While other years, he has focused on a laundry lists of policies, mention there would have been important. In those years when we were not mentioned in the State of the Union, the President was still leading the way in advancing policies that have improved and saved transgender lives. Of course, the advancement of those policies is so much more important than a mention in a speech. But make no mistake, the President of the United States condemning persecution against transgender people is pivotal.
It will empower trans people to stand taller and work harder to improve this country for all people. That he has also said bisexual for the first time in a state of the Union Address is very significant as well.
His mention of us makes us know that he meant us when he talked about Americans. When he spoke about children, he meant transgender children too. When he spoke about immigrants, he meant transgender immigrants too. When he talked about service members and veterans, he meant the transgender people too.”