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LGBT News Obama had an aunt who was lesbian, but hid it.

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by DecentOne, Nov 24, 2020.

  1. DecentOne

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    Saw this news post:
    https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/11/barack-obama-admits-used-anti-gay-slurs-taking-office/

    If she came to visit his family when he was in Hawaii, that would have been 1972-1975 era. He was pre-teen or early teen. Only a few years after Stonewall, and she was of an older generation. So sad that she (or her partner) didn’t feel comfortable coming out to him.

    Glad to hear him say he realized saying slurs was wrong... though it took him until college. I wonder if he would have stopped earlier (or never started) if he knew his aunt’s orientation.
     
  2. Tightrope

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    There are two discussions here. One is Obama is apologizing for using anti-gay slurs. That's great. There's the situation with his aunt probably being a lesbian and not coming out. I'd say, like you said, it's sadder if she had a partner she was concealing. If she did not, I don't find it as pressing.

    I feel that we can't go back in time or posthumously and say what people in a completely different context should have done. I don't think we need to lord over this issue. In more recent years, Kevin Spacey came out, but probably only so because of the scandal that broke. On the internet, more militant folks expressed disappointment in the way he came out. Why are people even judging the right way to go about this type of event? It's a personal choice, in my view, and one of the biggest factors should be if or when a person has a partner in their life. It would be sad if a person were stashing a partner away somewhere out of view. If a person is undecided about it or sowing wild oats, I don't feel anyone is entitled to an explanation. But that's me.