While explaining how his gay college professor influenced him during his young adulthood, former President Barack Obama presses the importance of boys having diverse male role models — be they straight or queer, rich or less-than, Black or White, doesn’t matter. His wife, Michelle Obama agrees and suggests that parents urge their boys to seek interests other than sports.
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The former president made his claims while appearing on the July 16 episode of the ‘IMO’ podcast, hosted by Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson. The conversation began as the former POTUS discussed raising “emotionally intelligent” young men. He continued to explain why boys need male figures other than their fathers in their lives.
Barack first began recalling how he enjoyed visiting Michelle at her house when they were dating and seeing the variety of male relatives in her family. He said they each showed masculinity in their own ways. He continued:
“And that’s one of the things that I think a lot of times boys need, is, not just exposure to one guy, one dad, no matter how good the dad. He can’t be everything. And that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad right?”
Barack Obama Recalls Gay College Professor Influencing Him During Young Adulthood
Barack Obama went on to share how one of his “favorite” professors in college was an “openly gay” man. He proceeded to recall how the professor would call him out for “saying stuff that was ignorant” when he first enrolled in his class.
Barack began his argument that young boys and men need LGBTQIA+ friends and role models to display kindness and empathy. He said they can even help kids who might want to come out as gay or non-binary. He added:
“You need that, to show empathy and kindness. And by the way, you need that person in your friend group, so that if you then have a boy who is gay or non-binary or whatever, they have somebody that they can go, ‘Okay, I’m not alone in this,’ right? So that, I think, is creating that community. I know it’s corny, but that’s what they need.”
Additionally, Michelle Obama agreed with her husband and urged parents to expose their children to interests other than sports. She said:
“They need to have other outlets. They have to be able to learn how to be more than just the sport that they care about. And while they get great skills in sports, and they learn a whole lot of traits, it isn’t music. It’s not language. It’s not social in certain ways. And so, I think we owe it to our boys to be very deliberate about saying enough with sports and let’s try some other things.”
Barack Obama Criticizes Progressive Parents
Barack also slammed progressives for wanting to leave boys behind while “rightly” trying to “level” the playing field for girls. He shared:
“I will say, as quote-unquote progressives, Democrats, progressive parents, enlightened ones, we’ve made that mistake sometimes in terms of our rhetoric, where it’s like we’re constantly talking about it, you know, what’s going on with the boys instead of what’s right with them. And that’s been a mistake. And I think people are starting to recognize that.”
Barack also called it “promising” that young men are starting to realize that there are various ways in which one can be a “good, strong, successful, happy man.” However, he did point out the criticism that the younger generation gets for ditching parts of the “old models” of manhood, like chivalry.
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