In his final press conference, President Obama said he "could not be prouder" of the progress made toward LGBTQ equality during his presidency and added that the laws finally "caught up" to societal change.
"I think we made some useful contributions to it," he said, responding to a question from the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson, "but the primary heros in this stage of our growth as a democracy and a society are all the individual activists and sons and daughters and couples who courageously said, This is who I am and I'm proud of it."
Here's a partial transcript with video below the fold.
I could not be prouder of the transformation that's taken place in our society just in the last decade. And I've said before, I think we made some useful contributions to it, but the primary heroes in this stage of our growth as a democracy and a society are all the individual activists and sons and daughters and couples who courageously said, This is who I am and I'm proud of it. And that opened people's minds and opened their hearts. And eventually laws caught up, but I don't think any of that would have happened without the activism, in some cases loud and noisy, but in some cases just quiet and very personal. And I think that what we did as an administration was to help to -- the society to -- to move in a better direction.
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