Joe Biden Draws Parallels Between LGBT and Civil Rights Movements at Human Rights Campaign Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Vice President Joe Biden addressed the Human Rights Campaign's Spring Equity Convention on Friday in the nation's capital proclaiming that LGBT Americans are fighting for the same rights to equality that were born 50 years ago in Selma, Alabama.

Biden, who was an early proponent of marriage equality, went on to affirm his support for federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people in an address lauding the progress of the Obama administration on LGBT issues from hate crimes legislation to open and honest military service by gay, lesbian and bisexual service members.

"We have to pass the federal non-discrimination legislation, and we need to pass it now,” said Vice President Biden.

“In most states in this country, a couple who gets married at 10 AM risk being fired from their jobs by noon, and evicted from their home by 2 PM simply for posting their wedding photos on Facebook,” said HRC President Chad Griffin via press release. “The time has come in this country for full federal equality, nothing more, nothing less.”