Barack Obama explains why every man needs LGBTQ+ Friends
Former President Barack Obama wants young people to know: a model to follow is not enough.
On Wednesday, while talking in the podcast “Imo” of his wife Michelle Obama, which she is coanfrerion with her brother, Craig Robinson, Barack opened the importance of raising “emotionally intelligent and competent men.”
“Well, first of all, the most important strategy, whether a boy or girl, was to have the right partner,” Barack said on the basis of raising children.
The couple reflected on how their parents had raised them with the tools they had, even if those tools were limited. From there, the conversation changed to the unique challenges of raising children versus raising girls.
“There are some particular problems with children who, as a society, are not addressing,” Barack said.
Tom Williams through Getty Images
He emphasized the need for children to have a “community” of the men to admire, a variety that he noticed for the first time in the first years of dating Michelle.
He remembered how much “he loved” seeing a “group of different men” in his life. To this day, that exhibition is still essential in his eyes.
“That is one of the things that I think children often need,” he said.
Michelle and Barack agreed that having a good father figure is important, but it’s not all. As Michelle said, “it can’t be everything.”
Barack took a step further, sharing a personal story that helped shape his own sense of identity and empathy.
Joel Angel Juárez/The Washington Post through Getty Images
“One of the most valuable things I learned as a guy was that I had a gay professor at the university at a time when openly homosexual people were not in life yet,” he recalled.
That teacher became one of his “favorites”, and was not afraid to “call him” when he said something “ignorant.” For Barack, those moments were essential to build compassion and understanding.
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Then he emphasized how a diverse community also helps LGBTQ+ young people feel seen and supported.
“By the way, you need that person in your group of friends so that if you have a child who is gay or non -binary, or what you have, they have someone who can go, ‘ok, I’m not alone in this,” he said. “That, I think, is to create community. I know it’s cheesy, but it’s what they need.”