A decade ago, then-Vice President Joe Biden shocked the political world and surprised his boss by suddenly declaring his support for gay marriage — one of the nation’s most controversial issues — on national television.
A small group had attended a private fundraiser with Biden weeks ago in Los Angeles, where he revealed not only his endorsement, but his firm conclusion on the future of same-sex marriage.
He predicted, “Things are changing so quickly that in the near term it will become a political obstacle for someone to say, ‘I oppose gay marriage.’
“Mark my words. And my job – our job – is to keep this momentum going towards the inevitable.
The day Biden predicted may have arrived. He plans to sign legislation on Tuesday, passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress, to protect same-sex unions — even if the Supreme Court has to reconsider, as some fear or hope, its ruling upholding couples’ nationwide right to same sex to marry.
Biden’s signature will burnish his legacy as a champion of equality at a time when the LGBTQ community is anxious to defend legal changes from a right-wing backlash that has used inflammatory rhetoric, particularly against transgender people.
