During an appearance this week on Ellen
DeGeneres' daytime talk show, former First Lady Michelle Obama talked
about evading White House security to celebrate the Supreme Court's
2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
“When you’re in the residence,
there’s so much bulletproof glass that sometimes you don’t hear
what’s going on outside,” Obama said. “And we were having
dinner and we knew 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. Also, we had worked to make sure that the White House
was lit up in the LGBT colors. It was beautiful.”
Obama said that neither then-President
Barack Obama nor daughter Sasha were interested in joining the
celebration outside, but that she did manage to recruit eldest
daughter Malia to join her.
She said that she and Malia used the
stairs to evade security but that a locked door kept them from
exiting the White House. After some time, they managed 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,” Obama
said.