Biden calls same-sex marriage the ‘civil rights issue of our day’ in Philadelphia
Vice President Joe Biden greets a young spectator as he marches in an Independence Day parade, Friday, July 4, 2014, in Philadelphia. The annual Fourth of July event includes music, speeches and a reading of excerpts from the Declaration of Independence. (Matt Rourke/AP Photo)
Standing in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted 238 years ago, Vice President Joe Biden said today we celebrate the constant march towards achieving the country’s founding principles.
“We have a lot more to do to fulfill the promise and the meaning of the Declarlation. But the landmark events we celebrate today make it clear that the narrow-minded and reactionary forces of the past and the present will never prevail in America,” Biden said.
The event honored the 60th anniversary of the landmark ruling on school desegregation, Brown v. Board of Education and the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
Biden called same-sex marriage “the civil rights issue of our day.”
“Ultimately that’s what we are celebrating today,” he said, “the expansion of the notion that all men are created equal.”
Following the ceremony, Biden joined the 4th of July parade through Center City.
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