‘You’re in my house!’ Obama shuts down heckler at White House Pride event
Barack Obama has hit back at a heckler during a White House reception for LGBT Pride Month.
The US President and Vice President Joe Biden were hosting an annual Pride reception – which this year comes ahead of an anticipated Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage – when the incident occurred partway through his speech.
Obama was speaking to guests, saying: “Over the years we’ve gathered to celebrate Pride month, I’ve told you that I’m so hopeful about what we can accomplish, I’ve told you that the civil rights of LGBT Americans is…” – at which point, a heckler started to shout about immigration.
The President responded to the consistent heckling, saying: “No, no, no, no, no. Hey, listen, you’re in my house!”, to cheers from the crowd
When the heckler continued to yell slogans including “stop all deportations”, ” Obama told the protester: “You know what? It’s not respectful when you get invited to somebody’s house. You’re not gonna get a good response from me by interrupting me like this. Shame on you.
“You can either stay and be quiet, or we’ll have to take you out.”
As the heckler continues to yell, Obama asks his advisers: “Can we escort this person out? Can we have this person removed please?”
Following the incident, he joked: “As a general rule I am just fine with a few hecklers, but not when I’m up in the house. My attitude is, well if you’re eating the hors d’oeuvres and drinking the booze…”
The Not One More campaign, which calls for open borders, identifies the protester as trans activist Jennicet Gutiérrez.
They told the group: “There is no pride in how LGBTQ and transgender immigrants are treated in this country. If the President wants to celebrate with us, he should release the LGBTQ immigrants locked up in detention centers immediately.”
“President Obama, release all LGBTQ immigrants from detention and stop all deportations.”
