A decade ago, then-Vice President Joe Biden shocked the political world and preempted his boss by suddenly declaring his support for gay marriage — one of the country's most contentious issues — on national television. But not everyone was surprised.
Biden's signature will burnish his legacy as a champion of equality at a time when the LGBTQ community is anxious to safeguard legal changes from that has used incendiary rhetoric, particularly against transgender people.
If there's a feeling of anticlimax, it's because the politics of marriage have shifted as dramatically as Biden predicted.
As Obama's vice president, Biden shared the same stance. In 1996, he had voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented federal recognition of same-sex unions. “When you came in tonight, you met Michael and Sonny and their two beautiful kids," he said to Biden. "And I wonder if you can just sort of talk in a frank, honest way about your own personal views as it relates to marriage equality.”“All you got to do is look in the eyes of those kids," he said. "And no one can wonder, no one can wonder whether or not they are cared for and nurtured and loved and reinforced. And folks, what’s happening is, everybody is beginning to see it.
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