Vice President Joe Biden praised the LGBT community’s work and gave some advice in his Oct. 3 keynote address at the 19th annual Human Rights Campaign Fund national dinner in Washington, D.C.
He also “shrugged at the possibility” of his own run for the White House in the upcoming elections, according to an NBC News report:
While Biden seemed dismissive of his own White House ambitions, the crowd was vocal in their support, with at least one noticeable interruption urging the vice president to make a 2016 run. Biden laughed off shouts that he should run for president.
Biden dedicated the majority of his speech to praise the LGBT community’s work, and offer advice for their future endeavors. The vice president urged the activists to spread the message of workplace discrimination — something he said most Americans don’t realize still exists. …
In a departure from the topic of the evening, Biden spoke out on the need for people to be “free from violence” and urged the crowd to “speak up” on that issue in addition to their traditional advocacy work.
Biden said the work of HRC has benefited not just LGBT people but also their friends and family, by eliminating the stigma of supporting the LGBT community in moves toward equality.
“You left the Supreme Court no choice, no choice what so ever,” Biden said of this year’s landmark decision that made same-sex marriage legal across the U.S.
Biden has delayed deciding on a White House run since the end of summer, slowed both by the death of his son and by Hillary Clinton’s position in the field. But the vice president is widely expected to announce his intentions by the end of the month.
Speaking before Biden, HRC President Chad Griffin called for activating the LGBT vote in order to elect an equality-minded candidate as opposed to some of the Republican contenders who he called, “wackadoo extremists.”
“The good news is we all have a say in what happens next November,” Griffin said as a person in the crowd yelled, “Run, Joe, run!”
