Five Times President Obama Made LGBT History

Three years ago today, President Barack Obama voiced his strong support for full marriage equality.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News.

Less than a year after his statement, the Supreme Court heard the historic marriage equality casesUnited States v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry. The Supreme Court would eventually strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and bring marriage equality back to California, leading up to a rapidly changing marriage equality landscape across the county.

While President Obama’s statement was a watershed moment in the fight for nationwide marriage equality, the final decision now lays in the hands of the Supreme Court Justice. Following the hearing ofObergefell v. Hodges last month, the Supreme Court must decide whether the U.S. Constitution allows for states to discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them the right to marry or refusing to recognize their marriages performed in jurisdictions where they are legal.   

President Obama doesn’t just stand on the right side of history when it comes to marriage equality. His statement was just one part of the President’s unwavering and outspoken legacy and support for the LGBTQ community.

In honor of the milestone statement three years ago today, here are five other times President Obama stood up for the LGBT community:

1. In 2009, President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law. The law gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias-motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

2. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed a historic memorandum that protects the visitation and healthcare decision-making rights of LGBT people.

3.  In 2011, the Obama Administration put an end to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a law that prohibited qualified gay and lesbian Americans from serving openly in the armed forces.

4. President Obama made history in 2014 by signing an Executive Order to protect transgender federal employees from workplace discrimination and set strong new standards for federal contractors. With just the stoke of his pen, 14 million more American workers were protected on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

5. President Obama’s State of the Union address this year marked the first time a U.S. President has referenced bisexual or trans people in the annual speech.