Michelle Obama Ran From Security to Celebrate Gay Marriage on White House Lawn
When the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land federally, thousands flocked to the rainbow-lit White House to celebrate the news. Little did they know, First Lady Michelle Obama was fighting to join the party.
As she shared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and in her new memoir Becoming, Obama was watching the coverage and realized she needed to do more to truly experience the historic moment.
"When you’re in the residence, there’s so much bulletproof glass that sometimes you don’t hear what’s going on outside," she recalled.
"We were having dinner, and we know there was a celebration happening but we didn’t realize that thousands of people were gathering in front of the White House at that time to celebrate. And my staff was calling me, everybody was celebrating, people were crying, and I thought, I want to be in that!"
President Obama said he wasn't able to join her, and Sasha begged off too, busy watching TV. Daughter Malia, on the other hand, was persuaded to go along, and the two set off, immediately running into Secret Service.
"We rushed down the stairs, and you can see the agent thinking, why are they running?" Obama said. "He doesn't quite know what to do, so he starts following us, and I'm like (to Malia), 'Run fast, run faster!'"
Her plan fell apart as she realized the door leading out to the lawn was locked, and the one security agent they had outpaced was now behind them and was not alone, but rather joined by other security officials who were also all quite perplexed by the sudden attempt to flee 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
When it was brought to her attention she was going to be capture on camera in front of the nation were she to carry out her plan, and after she assessed her casual attire, bare feet, and lack of makeup, she decided he had a point.
"But eventually, the happy new is that we got out," she shared.
"It took 15 minutes to get outside. We stood along with all the cheering crowd, off to the side, mind you, so no one would see us, with security surrounding us. And we tried to have our tender, mother-daughter moment. But we just took it in. I held her tight, and my feeling was, we are moving forward. Change is happening."
Watch her tell the tale below.
And if that wasn't enough to make you miss having her and her family in the White House, check out the video the show put together looking back at some of her most inspiring, entertaining, and notable moments.