First Lady Pool Reports of April 12, 2024

FLOTUS pool report #1 - arrival in Pentagon City

Good morning,

Dr. Biden's motorcade arrived at the Sheraton in Pentagon City at 11:09 am after departing the White House at 11 am.

Drive was uneventful.

FLOTUS is speaking at the Human Rights Campaign's Equality in Action event. Her remarks are set to begin at 11:15 am. They are not being live streamed but pooler will send quotes.

Details below from the Human Rights Campaign:

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

FRIDAY — First Lady Jill Biden to Deliver Remarks at Human Rights Campaign's 'Equality in Action' Event
ARLINGTON, Va. — FRIDAY, April 12 at 11:15 A.M. E.T., First Lady Jill Biden will speak at the Human Rights Campaign's "Equality in Action" event at the Sheraton Pentagon City in Arlington, Va., following the Biden campaign's Out for Biden-Harris LGBTQ+ voter initiative launch this week.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, and Equality in Action is HRC's largest volunteer and board gathering of the year. During the three-day event, participants will hear from speakers about the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, take part in learning and development opportunities and network with other volunteer leaders from around the country.
Today, the Biden-Harris Campaign launched Out for Biden-Harris, an LGBTQ+ campaign initiative to engage and mobilize LGBTQ+ voters, communities and leaders to re-elect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
As a lifelong educator, Dr. Biden has consistently championed making schools safer for students, including LGBTQ+ youth. She has spoken out vehemently against book bans, "the dangerous, cruel practice of conversion therapy," and is committed to addressing youth homelessness, which disproportionately impacts LGBTQ+ young people. The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently fought to advance equality-focused legislation and LGBTQ+ rights. Since taking office, President Biden has lifted the blanket ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, began enforcing non-discrimination laws to protect LGBTQ+ people, and signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law.
WHAT:
First Lady Jill Biden speaks at the Human Rights Campaign's 'Equality in Action' event
WHO:
Dr. Jill Biden, she/her, First Lady of the United States
WHERE:
Sheraton Pentagon City, 900 S. Orme St., Arlington, VA 22204
WHEN:
*Recommended arrival time given security considerations approximately 10:40 a.m.
Remarks begin at 11:15 a.m. April 12

FLOTUS pool report #2 - FLOTUS calls Trump a "bully" and "dangerous"

Jill Biden took the stage at 11:22 am. She was introduced by Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson.

She noted FLOTUS "knew the assignment was showing up in bright yellow this morning."

Robinson: "In a time when our youth still face bullying and harassment, Dr. Biden has worked tirelessly to make our schools places of refuge and support."

Dr. Biden - in a bright yellow skirt suit - was greeted by a prolonged standing ovation with whoops and cheers. There are slightly more than 500 people in the crowd, per the Human Rights Campaign.

FLOTUS: "You just made my morning. I love this energy."

She spoke for about 15 minutes. Highlights were her calling Donald Trump a "bully" and "dangerous."
She urged people to "fight like hell" to give POTUS a second term.

Quotes from speech:

She began her speech with a story she had told many times about how Joe Biden asked her out. Noting this was the 70s and he showed up in his suit.

She noted he proposed five times and she knew it had to be "forever" because Hunter and Beau had lost their mom and sister.

She then moved into her main remarks, telling the crowd of HRC volunteers: "We've made progress, but there's still so much more to do. And we can't and we won't go back and refight the fights of the past."

"This community is under attack. … Rights are being stripped away, freedoms are eroding, more and more state laws are being passed targeting this community."

She then spoke of what the Biden administration had done for the LGBTQ community,

"Just last month, we had to fend off more than 50 anti- gay amendments that Republicans tried to force into the government funding bill."

She noted the amendments would have limited health care and other protections for same sex couples.

"They served only one purpose - to spread hate and fear."

"History teaches us that our rights and our freedoms don't disappear overnight. They disappear slowly, suddenly, silently: a book ban, a court decision, a don't say gay law."

"One group of people loses their rights and then another and then another. Until one morning you wake up and you no longer live in a democracy."

"Laws and attitudes can lead to devastating consequences, harms that cannot be undone that leaves families torn by grief. Like the countless ones who have lost LGBTQ children to suicide, bullying and hate. Parents who have stood by their kids,
love them, learn from them but who will never have another tomorrow with them."

"This is our chapter of history and it's up to us how it ends."

"This isn't the first time that we've been tested. We have faced unspeakable tragedies before -
an assassination in San Francisco, a barren field in Wyoming, a nightclub in Orlando."

"And each time we have persevered."

She then talked about what President Biden has done for the community: marriage equality is now the law of the land, gay men can donate blood, trans Americans can serve in military, and he's against conversion therapy.

She noted that under President Biden the LGBTQ community is "free to walk down the street as your authentic self. Co workers that use your chosen name and pronouns. Kids with two moms or two dads on the playground. Communities that support you - understand you."

"Yet there are forces outside these walls that are trying to erase these hard fought gains, trying to unwind all the progress that we've made.

"They want to take our victories away but we won't let them."

She told the story of how when she was 13 she went to confront a neighborhood kid who was being mean to her little sister Bonnie.

"I had no idea what I was going to say to him. But when he opened the door without thinking I pulled back and punched him right in the face."

"If I could go back in time - with the benefit of age and wisdom - I could probably find a different way to handle the neighborhood bully. Still, my 13 year old self, you know, had this point that's relevant today: when bullies threaten our loved ones, when they strip away our basic rights and deny our basic humanity, when they put our country and our democracy at risk, there's only one thing to do: we fight."

"We have to begin now."

"Donald Trump is a bully. He is dangerous to the LGBTQ community, to our families, to our country and we cannot let him win. We have to fight like hell … until Joe and Kamala have another term:"

"I love you. Your president Joe Biden loves you as well."

The crowd gave her a standing ovation and shouted "four more years."

FLOTUS then spent about 15 minutes working the rope line while Lady Gaga's Born This Way played on repeat. She exited at 11:55 am and her motorcade left at 11:57 pm.

Please note this was a campaign event so there is no official transcript of FLOTUS remarks. Please reach to your pooler with any questions.