Joe Biden catches heat in Seattle over gay rights comment. But context may be key

Seattle might not have made fun of a gay waiter five years ago, but what about a trans waiter?

Joe Biden, the former vice president, caught heat this weekend for comments he made at a fundraiser in Seattle.

Biden said that LGBTQ rights have come a long way, and that five years ago people at a business meeting in Seattle wouldn’t have corrected someone making “fun of a gay waiter.”

Biden was speaking at the home of Roger Nyhus, a political consultant and public relations executive who has been a gay rights activist for 20 years.

Ahead of the fundraiser, and in honor of Pride weekend, Nyhus draped rainbow flags off the balcony of his stately Capitol Hill home (known as "The White House.")

One hundred fifty people paid $1,000 to $2,800 to listen to Biden speak, and when he made the quip about gay waiters, several yelled out, “Not in Seattle!” according to a pool report of the event.

We spoke with Roger Nyhus who said the outrage over this comment was “much ado about nothing.”

“He made a generalized statement about gay life in Seattle five years, and the friendly crowd said, ‘Oh no, that’s not Seattle, we wouldn’t have been like that five years ago,” Nyhus said.

“But others in the room said, ‘But 15 years ago in Seattle, it would have been potentially different,” he continued.

“Let’s not forget that there is discrimination today in Seattle – ask our trans brothers and sisters.”

Nyhus said that Biden seemed a little surprised by the pushback.

“But this is Seattle,” Nyhus said, “and we do live in a very progressive bubble, and we forget that. Others don’t experience that. He experienced that at my home.”

Biden has used the gay waiter line in other cities – in Washington, D.C., for example.

But in Seattle, which has been at the forefront of gay rights for decades, the comment didn't connect.

After all, seven years ago, Seattleites helped push through marriage equality in Washington state. The city elected its first openly gay mayor two years later.

But five years ago is closer to how Biden might see the timeline of gay rights, given the expansion of federal rights for gay couples and employees.

Nyhus provided some historic context to Biden's comment.

“He did talk about how we still have half the country where people can be fired for being gay,” he said. “We’ve made progress, but who sits in the oval office matters, for LGBTQ people and all people, matters.”