First Lady Jill Biden praised the Biden administration’s efforts to support the LGBT community while giving the keynote speech at the Los Angeles fundraiser gala for the Human Rights Campaign. She dedicated her entire lecture to drawing historical parallels between Nazi Germany in World War II and “book bans.”
On Saturday, Biden stated, “History shows us that democracies do not collapse overnight.”
She went on, “They go away gradually.” Gently, in silence. a prohibition on books. a ruling from the courts. a “do not speak homosexual” statute. Berlin was reportedly the epicenter of LGBTQ culture in Europe prior to World War II.
People in one group lose their rights. And then still more, still more. The first lady stated, “Until one morning you when you no longer live in a democracy.”
Referencing the 1930s censorship, book burnings, and book bans in Nazi Germany and Austria, Biden compared them to parents who began attending school board meetings regularly in 2021 and voiced their outrage over the presence of explicit and pornographic books in curriculums or school libraries.
The first lady made similar remarks in October of last year and has been an outspoken advocate for the LGBT community.
“America, my friends, we do not prohibit books.” she declared in Arlington, Virginia, during the PFLAG National Convention.
The first lady honored her husband’s LGBT accomplishments on Saturday as well.
“We now have marital equality as a national law, thanks to President Biden. President Biden no longer prohibited gay and bisexual males from donating blood. He has enabled trans Americans to proudly and openly serve in the armed forces. Furthermore, he is adamantly against conversion therapy,” she remarked.
Despite “MAGA radicals,” she emphasized his efforts for the transgender community.
“There are wins in the little things too, things that were unthinkable only a few decades ago: the freedom to move about the street as your true self, coworkers who address you by name and pronouns, and communities that embrace and get you,” stated Biden.
Indeed, the radical members of MAGA are attempting to reverse all of the hard-won advancements that we have gained. They aim to instill fear in us. They want to take away our successes, but we are not going to let them. Your president is not going to allow that. I refuse to allow them. We will engage in combat. And we shall triumph,” she declared.
Biden paid tribute to Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student who committed suicide after overdosing on drugs, during his speech on Saturday night. Some have speculated that Benedict’s death had anything to do with a brawl that happened in a school restroom.
Laws and attitudes have the power to do terrible harm that is irreversible and leaves parents inconsolable. There are innumerable parents who lost LGBTQ children to hate crimes, bullying, and suicide, as well as Sue Benedict. Biden spoke of Benedict as “parents who have loved, supported, and learned from their kids, but who will never experience another tomorrow with them.” “This is our historical chapter, and we have the power to decide how it ends.”
There was an altercation that lasted less than a minute when Benedict allegedly spilled water over two females in the bathroom. The next day, Benedict overdosed and died. Benedict’s death will not be the subject of any charges, according to Tulsa County DA Stephen Kunzweiler’s decision last week. Expected on March 27 is a comprehensive autopsy report.