The Jimmy Carter I knew

In 1976, I invited Vietnam Veteran Leonard Matlovich to join me in Florida to campaign for Pennsylvania's governor, Milton Shapp, who was running in the Florida State Democratic primary for president. We were part of a group called "Gays for Shapp." Shapp didn't go very far in his quest for the White House, but his opponent — a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia — did. His name was Jimmy Carter.

During the campaign, there was a debate between the candidates, and at that debate, I had the opportunity to speak with Carter. There was only one question: Where did he stand on nondiscrimination against the gay community? He thought for a while, and it seemed to me that this was a question he hadn't been asked before. After a pause, he simply replied, "I'm against any kind of discrimination." That was the first time any presidential candidate spoke up on LGBTQ+ issues.

Later in the campaign, he backed that statement up in writing and never shied away from the subject. In doing so, he became the first presidential candidate to engage with the LGBTQ+ community. When he became president, his administration was the first to open the White House doors to the LGBTQ+ community. He appointed Midge Costanza as head of his Office of Public Liaison. Under the approval of President Carter, she arranged the first high-level White House meeting with LGBTQ+ leaders.

These were pioneering baby steps, and they were welcomed by a president who considered himself an evangelical Christian.

After leaving the White House, he spoke out against the Briggs Initiative in California, which would bar LGBTQ+ teachers, opposed the Boy Scouts' ban on gay scoutmasters, and even supported marriage equality.

His historic steps as president are chronicled in "The Carter Presidency and Gay Rights" by Harris Dousemetzis. But President Carter best described his actions in an interview in The Advocate in 2005.

Reporter Sean Kennedy asked, "You're a Christian, but you don't have a problem with gay men and lesbians as many other Christians do. Why?" Carter responded, "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, rest in peace, and thank you!