Joe Biden’s calls a gay male married couple ‘mommy and dad’ – and it only gets more bizarre from there
Joe Biden experienced a surreal slip of words by calling a gay couple “mummy and dad” during a live stream. (Screen capture via Twitter)
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, struggling for visibility during the coronavirus pandemic paralysing the US, staged a virtual round table Wednesday where things got… bizarre very quickly.
Addressing the concerns of “young folk” on the Twitter live stream, Biden recounted the time, while vice president, he swung by the home of a gay couple who had two children for an event just before his public support for marriage equality in 2012.
“The way [the children] loved their mummy and dad,” Biden said, “who were in fact strong men, strong people, it just impressed me so much.”
Joe Biden calls a gay male married couple "Mommy and Dad". https://t.co/Ou2ccKwCYH
— Stag ? Moecco (@creezee) March 26, 2020
What in the malarkey did Joe Biden say?
In a gingham shirt and an American flag badge dotting his blazer lapel, Biden spoke to president of the Alabama Young Democrats Josh Coleman, the LGBTQ liaison in Birmingham, Alabama.
Coleman thanked Biden for his “lifelong service to the public” and questioned whether Biden’s “bold” decision to come out in support of marriage equality in 2012 before then-president Barack Obama “furthered the cause” of equality.
Biden made the gaffe as he reflected on an event he went to hosted at the home of a gay couple just days before his public support of equal marriage on NBC‘s Meet The Press.
Alright @TeamJoe, join us for Happy Hour. Watch our virtual round table on the issues that matter to young folks: https://t.co/pFhYghw5dt— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 25, 2020
“Love is love”, Biden said he told event attendants at the time, “and all marriage should be available to anyone whether you’re gay or straight.”
He added that after his public support of equal marriage before Obama, the president gave Biden a hug the morning after and told him: “You told me weren’t going to be quiet and you were right.”
“To me, it’s the civil rights issue of our day, but we have a lot more work to do,” Biden added.
Joe Biden’s bizzare blunder attracts criticism from LGBT+ folk.
Biden’s bizzare blunder drew criticism from LGBT+ people, with detractors perplexed at the slip of words.
calling gay parents "mommy and dad…" joe biden. the most out of touch candidate ever. if we keep pushing him as the guy to face trump, trump's gonna win… https://t.co/dKSyn2tNQ6— Sean (@seanwoodguy) March 25, 2020
joe biden referred to a gay couple as their children’s’ “mommy and dad”…… good bye. i am sent. i am having a stroke.— ???????? ♚?♔ HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEXIE!!! (@tanoamidala) March 25, 2020
R u kidding me… joe Biden referring to a gay couple as “mommy and dad” https://t.co/oKljx75plR
— Nina (@ohhainina) March 26, 2020
Former VP says he ‘didn’t have to evolve at all’ on marriage equality debate.
Biden also reflected on the time he applied for a job in the 1960s to become a country club lifeguard at a swimming pool.
As his dad drove him to the Delaware city hall to collect an application, Biden said, he saw two men in the corner of Rodney Square.
Former US president Barack Obama (R) and vice president Joe Biden react after a heckler is removed from a reception for LGBT Pride Month in the East Room of the White House. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
In well-dressed suits, they “kissed one another and then went their separate ways”, Biden said.
“I looked at my dad and he said, ‘Joey, it’s simple, they love each other.'”
Biden described how he felt he didn’t have to “evolve at all” around marriage equality in 2012, and his family “never thought to be a problem”, and added: “We could never do anything other than embrace the community.”
Joe Biden has a complicated history on LGBT+ rights, voting-wise.
Biden has, throughout his bid to unseat president Donald Trump, found himself fending off questions about his decades-long track record on LGBT+ rights in the past – often during testy television debates.
His support of policies such as ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) have been lighting rods of contention for some LGBT+ advocates.
Bernie Sanders (pictured) and Elizabeth Warren sharply split the LGBT+ vote in Super Tuesday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
From buying a round of beers at Stonewall to the release of an LGBT+ action plan, Biden is determined to reshape his wet newspaper-haired septuagenarian image and court the queer voting bloc.
An NBC News exit poll released in the aftermath of Super Tuesday showed that 42 per cent of LGBT+ voters supported competitor Bernie Sanders, while Biden won just 19 per cent of LGBT+ Democrats’ votes.
