Biden: Our Time: Tribute to a Veep with Steep Support for Us
From the gay community, Vice President Joe Biden deserves an early 70th birthday present, a belated Valentine, and a column in Letters right here in his home state of Delaware.
On the world stage, from eruptions in Egypt, to tribulations in Libya—our Veep with the incredible international bona fides is now multi tasking the middle East meltdowns, while wrestling the domestic alligators: deficits, spending, and nasty attacks from every angle imaginable. He barely has time to breathe, but the Blue Hen from the University of Delaware has always stood with us whether it’s to win Hate Crimes protections or repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
To research this column, I went back to listen to the speeches President Obama delivered in the Rose Garden when we—at long last—won Hate Crimes legislation. There was Joe. Then, at the Interior Department when we finally repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, there was Joe, asking how we’re doing and telling us to keep moving forward. In those videos, whether you focus on the tears pooling in the eyes of Judy Shepard or the decorated veterans shedding tears that splattered their medals, one thing stands out in Delaware pride: Joe. He’s never forgotten us. And he’s always stood with us
Perhaps he put it best before the ban was lifted, when talking about open military service. Said Joe, “I’ve been to Afghanistan; I’ve been to Iraq seven times; I’ve been in the Balkans; I’ve been in these foxholes with these kids, literally in bunkers with them. Let me tell you something, nobody asked anybody else whether they’re gay in those holes, those foxholes. Our allies—the British, the French, all our major allies—gays openly serve. I don’t know the last time an American soldier said to a backup from a Brit, ‘Hey, by the way, let me check. Are you gay? Are you straight?’ This is ridiculous. And by the way, we got a war on our hands we’re trying to end. In the meantime we’re breaking the military—9,000 of these people have been kicked out. This is not a rational policy.”
His personal litany of tragedies would break most men. He got knocked down. He got up again. I’m convinced that’s why he knows us.
After the 2009 inaugural, who among us didn’t want more rapid action on the gay civil rights front? Was the change that we homosexuals could believe in actually within our gay grasp? After eight years of the Clinton compromises and eight more years of Bush-Cheney, the gay civil rights front was indeed a weary lot—but there was a sea change after Obama-Biden: we were weary and simultaneously jubilant. But at the outset of the new administration, the stark realities of an avalanche of issues like ticking time bombs put us in the “Queue.” (Well, at least it was an appropriate letter.) But the entire gay left had to right size our expectations.
Our much-coveted incredible progress, morphed into mere incremental progress—but the proof positive blooms in the photos and the memories of the Rose Garden and in the Interior Department where those long overdue ceremonies took place. With these hard fought victories behind us, I focus today on the Vice President’s home at the US Naval Observatory on majestic Massachusetts Avenue, where, among other official duties, the Veep and his wife Jill welcome their children and grandchildren. I think about family dinners. In my heart, I know that our homo trio of Barney, Tammy, and Jared would be welcome at their table—as would other activists who advance our cause.
On marriage, the Veep has said, “…one of the things I think more Americans are trying to figure is whether or not somehow a gay union is a threat to a heterosexual union. And I find difficulty in figuring how it’s such a threat, if in fact it brings stability, if in fact you have two women who decide to stay with one another for 35 years and are sound and solid in terms of their commitment to one another. I don’t know why we should be frightened of that.... I just keep thinking, what would happen if one of my children had been gay? I don’t know that I’d love him any more, or think that they need any—or they’re entitled to any fewer rights than any other American.”
With no known gay family members, how come Joe and Jill fight for the rights of “hypothetical homosexuals?” It’s called decency—and Joe has it in spades. The takeaway for us is that the 47th Vice President of the United States stood with us whenever we needed him.
Thank heaven Joe’s with us, and no matter how you slice it (for homos or health care). And, as Joe would say, “That’s a big F-ing deal!”
Brent Mundt resides in Washington, DC but lives in Rehoboth Beach.