Obama: Men Need Gay Friends and Role Models

Former President Barack Obama said this week that males need to have gay friends to call them out over “ignorant” remarks and to prepare them in case they have a gay or “non-binary” son.

Obama made the comments on his wife Michelle’s “IMO” podcast, which she co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.

When the discussion turned to raising young men, Obama said boys need “exposure” to all sorts of male role models, who can sometimes shed “perspective” on their own dad.

“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,” the former president said. “No matter how good the dad is, he can’t be everything. And that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad, right?”

Continuing, Obama recalled having a gay professor he was close with, who he said called him out on his “ignorant” remarks.

Gay friends, Obama continued, can prepare a male for a future gay or “non-binary” son.