We Remember Jimmy Carter & His Pro-LGBT Record

January 3, 2025
HANK ORSO

Flashback Friday Remembers Jimmy Carter & His Pro-LGBT Record

Gentlemen, we lost one of the very good ones. Former president and Nobel Prize winner Jimmy Carter died on Sunday following almost a year in hospice care. His wife, Roselyn, died last year. For those of us of a certain age, we look back fondly on Carter's staunch record on human rights, how he was shafted by DC insiders out of a second term due to the county's condition at the end of the seventies coupled with the Iran hostage situation, and the post-presidential work that solidified him as not only the longest-living president but one of the greatest and most influential. Oh, and that awesome Playboy interview! He's the president the GOP loves to hate because of his "woke radicalism," not to mention his often pro-gay stance, so we love him all the more.

Rest In Power ️
POTUS JIMMY CARTER 39
Thank you for 100 years of service to our nation. Veteran, @USNavy .
You are now America’s angel on high, whose inspiration God’s goodness in works.
Human rights, @Habitat_org build homes, and proclaiming June #BlackMusicMonth.
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— ArtOnArtsBlog (@ArTallks) December 29, 2024

All of us at the Human Rights Campaign feel an immense loss with the passing of former President Jimmy Carter,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “In recent years, he became a prominent voice in support of LGBTQ+ rights, speaking out for marriage equality at a time when most national leaders in the U.S. still opposed it. For decades after he left the White House, he continued to make public service his enduring priority through his work with Habitat for Humanity and the Carter Presidential Center, cementing his reputation as a champion for human rights and as one of the all time great former presidents. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and all who mourn him. (As reported in The Advocate.)

President Carter was the first president to have LGBTQ+ activists meet with members of his staff in his White House, on March 26, 1977. While he was not present at the meeting, being away at Camp David on other affairs, his long-time advisor, Midge Costanza, met with members of the National Gay Task Force to discuss the condition of members of the community in various aspects of American life.

Throughout their three-hour meeting, Costanza and the NGTF discussed discrimination in federal hiring processes and in the U.S. military, oppression in and out of the workplace, and inequitable federal laws.
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— White House History (@WhiteHouseHstry) June 17, 2020

Campaigning on behalf of Jerry Brown for governor of California in 1978 he came out publically against Prop 6, "The Briggs Initiative," which sought to bar community members from becoming teachers in public schools.

Carter's embrace of the LGBTQ+ community ramped up after he lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan. The Advocate shares this answer in an interview he gave to them in 2005 when asked why his deeply-held Christian beliefs didn't clash with his pro-gay stance:

I'm a worshipper of Jesus Christ, who never mentioned homosexuals in any way — certainly not in a deleterious fashion. And when it has been mentioned in the New Testament, it's been combined with things like selfishness or something like that. So I've never looked upon it as any sort of reason to condemn a person. I think it's an inherent characteristic just like other things that we do with our lives.

Jimmy Carter was the first presidential contender to actively seek support of the gay community in 1976, sending his family out as surrogates. In his reelection campaign in 1980, the Democratic Party supported a gay rights plank, vowing to end discrimination against homosexuals pic.twitter.com/1d71S8mVqK
— Eric Gonzaba (@EGonzaba) December 29, 2024

It took a while for him to warm up to the idea of marriage equality. In 2006 he thought it should be a states' rights issue. But in 2015 when the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges making marriage equality the law of the land, he voiced his approval.

The Advocate also reported that Carter left his beloved Southern Baptist church over its "rigid" doctrine, especially regarding the role of women in leadership roles and its treatment of the gay community.

Finally, in 2007, he called for an end to "don't ask, don't tell" in the military, which ended under Obama in 2011, with these words:

The nation's commitment to human rights requires that lawmakers revisit 'don't ask, don't tell,' the current policy that prevents lesbians, gays, and bisexuals from serving openly in our armed forces. 'Don't ask, don't tell' is the only law in America today that regulates a group of citizens, then prohibits them from identifying themselves and speaking up on their own behalf. Gay soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are unable to tell their member of Congress or their commander that the policy is an abject failure, and they are living proof because they will face discharge. Those who defend our liberties and freedoms deserve better.

Thank you, Mr. President.