George W Bush’s daughter tried to convince him to support gay rights
NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 18: Former President of the United States George W. Bush and daughter Barbara Bush attend the 2015 Father Of The Year Luncheon Awards at the New York Hilton on June 18, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images)
George W Bush’s daughter Barbra has revealed that she tried to convince her dad to support LGBT rights.
President Bush was a notorious opponent of LGBT rights during his time in office, with his administration battling against legal recognition for same-sex couples and defending a ban on gay people in the military.
But the Republican leader’s views were not always shared by his family members.
Former first daughter Barbra Bush revealed her confrontation with her dad in new book Sisters First, written alongside her sister Jenna.
In the book, she reveals arguing with her father about gay people’s rights, when she was aged 16.
(Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg-Pool/Getty Images)
She said: “I believed that one conversation would be all it took to change is mind.”
Ms Bush added that while she believed her father was generally “accepting and tolerant” of others, he was “not comfortable with the idea of gay marriage and its implications”.
Barbara explained that her dad remained calm during the clash, but she ended up storming off after getting annoyed by his inflexibility.
She said: “My dad may not have changed his mind that evening, but neither did he try to change mine.”
Barbara eventually went public for her support for equality in 2011, aged 29.
In the video, released three years after her father’s departure from the White House, she said :”I am Barbara Bush and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality.”
Bush was not the only child of a prominent Republican politician to come out for equality.
John McCain has rapidly shifted his stance on LGBT issues, surprising many given his personal and strong opposition to repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the past.
His shift on the issue has been partly attributed to lobbying from his daughter Meghan McCain, an LGBT rights advocate who sits on the board of rights charity GLAAD.
He is now softer than most Republicans on LGBT rights, and won praise in 2016 when he helped block his colleagues from using defence legislation as a proxy to pare back Obama’s LGBT rights protections.
The Senator was also behind an effort to block Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military.
McCain vowed to defend LGBT people after the Orlando massacre, saying: “To all those visited by fear in the aftermath of this attack, including the citizens of Orlando and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community across the nation, I can only say we must not and will not give in to fear.
“We must resist and defeat this evil – together.”
