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Barack Obama Becomes First US President To Pose For LGBT Magazine Cover (Photos)

Published

9 years ago

November 10, 2015

President Barack Obama’s stance on LGBT issues has landed him on the cover of an LGBT magazine. It has also made him the first sitting US president to be photographed for the cover of an LGBT publication. The President sat down for an interview with OUT magazine, in which he touched on various influences on his relationship with the LGBT community, both before and after taking office, as well as his administration’s accomplishments on LGBT rights. And how watching Sasha and Malia has shown him how attitudes have changed toward homosexuality across generations.
Obama said his mother’s teachings that “every person was of equal worth” inspired his interest in focusing on LGBT rights during his administration, and thanked his openly gay Occidental professor and eventual friend, Dr. Lawrence Goldyn, for directly influencing the way he continues to think about all of these issues. During his 2008 campaign, Obama said he did not support same-sex marriage, a stance which he reiterated on various occasions until 2012. During an interview on ABC in 2012, the President came out in support of the right of same-sex couples to marry, saying he had hesitated on gay marriage, in part, because he thought civil unions would be sufficient.
After taking office, Obama has signed a bill repealing the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, as well as appointed several LGBT individuals to serve in high profile positions within his administration, CNN reports.