Joe Biden Snarks at Moderator Grilling Him on LGBTQ Record: ‘You’re a Lovely Person’

Tommy ChristopherSep 21st, 2019, 2:49 pm
 

Former Vice President Joe Biden took exception to some questioning at an LGBTQ forum, telling the moderator “You’re a lovely person” when she asked about a past positive remark in which Biden said that current VP Mike Pence was “decent.”

On Friday, Democratic candidates participated in an LGBTQ forum in Iowa, moderated in part by Cedar Rapids Gazette columnist Lyz Lenz. One particular part of their exchange is getting a lot of attention.

Lenz packed a lot into her second question for Biden.

“In 1994, you did vote for ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and in 1996 you voted for the Defense of Marriage Act,” Lenz said, noting “You did vote to repeal both of those, but you have also praised Vice President Mike Pence as a ‘decent guy’.”

A chorus of boos and hisses went up from the audience.

“You’re a lovely person,” Biden remarked.

“Just asking the questions that people want to know,” Lenz replied.

“All right, fire away,” Biden said.

“So I guess it goes without saying Pence is opposed to LGBTQ rights, so the question that rises from these is, how can LGBTQ people trust that you won’t compromise on issues that put them at risk, in order to reach across the aisle to people like Pence?”

Lenz similarly asked Senator Kamala Harris how she could be trusted on LGBTQ issies, but did not ask the same of Elizabeth Warren despite Warren’s much more recent opposition to trans rights.

Biden responded by citing his famous statement in favor of gay marriage in 2012, telling Lenz “I didn’t have to evolve,” and recounting what his father taught him about same-sex relationships.

“He said ‘Joey it’s simple, they love each other. That’s the only question. The only question’,” Biden said.

“By the way, to refer to someone on the other team, not to do anything to compromise, as being decent, it’s just a matter, a way in which you usually speak when you’re trying to get things done,” Biden said, regarding his Pence remark.

“I still call President Trump ‘president,’ but I don’t think he’s all that decent,” Biden added.

“well I think it’s just an issue because he has not been decent to a whole swath of Americans,” Lenz said, to which Biden replied “Nor has Trump.”

Biden then added “By the way, we should outlaw, nationally, the conversion therapy. There should be a law against it, period, and I have proposed that for a long time.”

Lenz later tweeted that Biden ribbed her again as they left the stage. “As I was walking off the stage with @JoeBiden he said to me dryly, You’re a real sweetheart.'” Lenz wrote, and then changed her Twitter name to “Lyz a real sweetheart”.

Biden did refer to Pence as a “decent guy” this past February in what he later explained was a “foreign policy context,” and in response to backlash over the remark,  said “there is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President.”

Both “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act were Clinton-era compromises that were sold as a way to head off more extreme measures by Republicans, such as an outright ban on gay people in the military or a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality. There’s considerable disagreement about DOMA, but DADT was proposed by then-Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) explicitly as a way to end the ban on gay people in the military.

At the time, Biden said “I have no doubt there are homosexuals who serve in the military, and that this won’t have a major impact,” and added “Republicans have decided this is the new communism.”

Both policies were ended under the presidency of Barack Obama. The Defense of Marriage Act was struck down by the Supreme Court, and DADT was repealed in 2010.

Biden has also consistently voted against constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, in favor of adding sexual orientation to hate crimes legislation.

Watch Biden’s full appearance at the forum above, via Logo.

Tags: