President Obama Says Caitlyn Jenner ‘Vanity Fair’ Cover Shows How Far We’ve Come

Even though President Obama started his presidency not supporting gay marriage, things have definitely changed. According to Gossip Cop, Obama appeared during a taping of Logo’s Trailblazer Honors and talked about the topic.

“When this network aired its first show, gay marriage was a political wedge issue used to divide us. Today the majority of Americans live in states where they can get married, no matter who they love.”

Obama also invoked Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair cover in his speech.

“Today ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ is history. We passed the hate crime law that bears Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.’s name. And all you have to do is look at this month’s cover of Vanity Fair to see how America is more accepting of people for who they truly are.”

President Obama has previously complimented Caitlyn Jenner. The Wrap quotes Obama’s comments from earlier this month.

“It takes courage to share your story. Your story matters in the fight for LGBT rights.”

President Obama may be the most powerful LGBT rights supporter in American history. Some in the gay community have often compared his passion for LGBT rights to Martin Luther King Jr.’s passion for civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. However, perhaps it is easy to forget that Bill Clinton passionately defended the LGBT community at a time when they were treated like terrorists, especially because they were blamed for spreading the AIDS virus.

However, even though President Obama has been forgiven for his former views on gay marriage, Bill Clinton hasn’t. He was the one who signed the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) on September 21, 1996 — at a time where the issue had very little support. Many say Bill Clinton signed it in order to appear as a moderate and signing DOMA helped him get re-elected.

According to an article from 2013 in the New York Times, Bill Clinton deeply regrets his decision. The article notes that a president rarely backtracks on an action he took in office and rarely admits it violated the Constitution. However, Clinton’s decision to denounce his 1996 decision represents the fact that society has changed since same-sex marriage was just a niche idea when Clinton signed DOMA.

Despite Bill Clinton’s “mistake,” he, as well as President Obama, have changed the course of gay rights and have made many people who were previously marginalized feel that they are part of society. Just 10 years ago, nobody ever thought a sitting president would be so supportive of a transgender figure such as Caitlyn Jenner.

[Photos by Saul Loeb and Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]