Barack Obama encourages men to have gay friends to be role models and teach their sons ‘empathy'
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Barack Obama believes it takes more than one role model to raise young boys, which is why he has encouraged men to have gay friends.
The 63-year-old former president recently made an appearance on his wife Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson’s podcast 'IMO', where he discussed the importance of raising “emotionally intelligent, competent men.”
“Well, first of all, the most important strategy, whether it was a boy or a girl, was having the right partner,” Barack said about the foundation of raising sons.
Barack Obama explains why men need gay friends
Reflecting on their upbringing, the Obamas noted their parents had done what they could with limited resources before turning the conversation to the distinct challenges of raising boys compared to girls.
“There are some particular issues with boys that as a society we are not addressing,” Barack said.
The Democratic leader then stressed the importance of boys having a diverse “community” of male role models, recalling how he enjoyed visiting Michelle at her house when they were dating and seeing the variety of male relatives in her family who each demonstrated masculinity in their own ways.
"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," Barack expressed. "And that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad right?"
Barack went a step further, revealing a personal experience that played a key role in shaping his identity and deepening his sense of empathy.
“One of the most valuable things I learned as a guy was I had a gay professor in college at a time when openly gay folks still weren’t out in life,” he recalled.
He also shared how one of his favorite professors in college was openly gay and would call him out for "saying stuff that was ignorant" when he first started his class.
The former president then insisted that men need friends from the LGBTQ+ community to model kindness and empathy and to be a role model to their own children, who may come out as gay or non-binary.
"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,” he stated.
Barack Obama bashes progressives for neglecting boys
Somewhere in the episode, Barack Obama, who is father to two daughters, Malia and Sasha, also criticized progressives for overlooking boys while "rightly" working to level the playing field for girls.
"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," he said.
"And that's been a mistake. And I think people are starting to recognize that," he stated.
Barack called it a “promising” sign that young men are starting to recognize there’s no single definition of what it means to be a “good, strong, successful, and happy” man.
However, he expressed criticism of the younger generation for leaving behind some of the good aspects of what the "old models" of manhood contained, such as chivalry.
