During his final news conference from
the White House, President Barack Obama reflected on the gains made
by LGBT activists during his presidency.
“I could not be prouder of the
transformation that's taken place in our society just in the last
decade,” Obama told reporters. “And, [as] I've said before, I
think we made some useful contributions to it, but the primary heroes
in this stage of our growth as a democracy and a society are all the
individual activists and sons and daughters and couples who
courageously said, 'This is who I am and I'm proud of it.'”
Obama credited activists with opening
people's “hearts and minds.” “Eventually, laws caught up,”
he said.
During his two terms in office, Obama
pushed for repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, signed LGBT-inclusive
hate crimes protections, and supported two landmark Supreme Court
decisions that led to nationwide marriage equality.
“I don’t think any of that would
have happened without the activism, in some cases loud and noisy, but
in some cases just quiet and very personal,” Obama
said. “And I think that what we did as an administration was to
help the society to move in a better direction, but to do so in a way
that didn’t create an enormous backlash and was systematic and
respectful of the fact, you know, in some cases these issues were
controversial.”
Obama added that the changes were
durable and likely irreversible by the incoming administration of
President-elect Donald Trump, whose party is openly hostile to LGBT
rights.
“The attitudes of young people, in
particular, have changed,” Obama said. “That doesn't mean there
aren't going to be some fights that are important, legal issues,
issues surrounding transgender persons. There's still going to be
some battles that need to take place.”