Carter was the first president to move the needle, albeit slowly, on gay rightsJimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, stood out for his early support for pro-gay legislation and his embrace of LGBTQ advocates, historians say.
When Jimmy Carter was president from 1977 to 1981, gays and lesbians were unable to obtain government security clearance, same-sex intimacy was illegal in at least two dozen states, and gay marriage was no more than a radical pipe dream. Moreover, political support for LGBTQ causes was still largely taboo for politicians on both sides of the aisle.
But Carter, a Southern Democrat and devout Baptist, stood out for his early support for pro-gay legislation and his embrace of LGBTQ advocates. “If we’re looking at the federal or White House response to LGBTQ issues, the first time we see it is under Carter, which I think in the mid-’70s is incredibly brave,” said Michael Bronski, a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Harvard University and the author of “A Queer History of the United States for Young People. “It would have been just as easy for him not to say anything.”
In 1976, when Carter, a former Georgia governor, was running for president, he voiced his support for legislation that is controversial even among some of today’s politicians. The measure, known as the Equality Act, sought to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (An updated version of the bill, which included a ban on gender-identity discrimination, passed the House in 2021 but stalled in the Senate.)
Asked about the Equality Act at a news conference in May 1976, Carter said, “I will certainly sign it, because I don’t think it’s right to single out homosexuals for special abuse or special harassment,” according to the National Archives. Several days after his public comments, Carter’s team reiterated his stance on the controversial issue in a statement, citing his previous comments on passing anti-discrimination laws.
“As President, I can assure you that all policies of the federal government would reflect this commitment,” he told Philadelphia Gay News in March 1976, according to a copy of the release on the National Archives website.
Later that year, civil rights pioneer Harvey Milk endorsed
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