If you weren’t able to watch last night’s memorial of Senator Ted Kennedy held at the JFK Library, it really is worth watching. At least as much of it as you can. Among others, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Orrin Hatch, John Culver, and Joseph and Caroline Kennedy all spoke. And Brian Stokes Mitchell performed “The Impossible Dream.” Their words were sobering, sad, moving, and occasionally very funny.
And, notably, Biden spoke of Kennedy’s historic contributions to LGBT rights. Biden said:
I think the legacy of Teddy Kennedy can be measured in no small part as a consequence of how we in America look at one another. How blacks look at whites, how gays look at straights, how straights look at gays. How, how we literally look at one another, and, in turn, how we look at ourselves. Because when you were with him you had to measure yourself against him, and it always required you to be larger than you were inclined to be.
. . . I’ll remember and celebrate his life every single time I see a young adolescent kid coping with rather than cowering from having to make a decision about his sexuality.
Our Vice President spoke freely and honestly about the humanity that motivates our struggle for equality. Wonderful.
Watch and listen to Biden, Hatch, Culver, Mitchell, and the Kennedys.
Joe Biden’s full speech. (The second video will jump directly to his words about us.)
Brian Stokes Mitchell performed a powerful rendition of “The Impossible Dream.” And Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch spoke movingly and respectfully of his life-long battles with Sen. Kennedy.
Former Iowa Representative and Senator John Culver was very funny as he related the story of a short boating excursion with Ted Kennedy that turned into a 24-hour nightmare.
Joseph and Caroline Kennedy of their uncle.
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