Biden still trying to decide whether or not to enter presidential race

And Biden said when people were unhappy with the interview, he told them they are “way out of step” and that the American people were closer to his position.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said the Pentagon’s current regulations banning transgender individuals are outdated and has ordered a study aimed at formally ending one of the last gender- or sexuality-based barriers to military service.

Biden’s declaration at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner Saturday goes further than anything the Obama administration has said before, evoking memories of when Biden outpaced President Barack Obama in endorsing gay marriage.

“It means that even when your ears are stuffed with money, you get a little sound that comes through”, Warren said, “and that’s what’s happening here”.

Clinton had been the Human Rights Campaign’s first choice to keynote the dinner, but she turned it down when she was booked on “Saturday Night Live” for the same evening. “I am running for president to end them once and for all“.

So, if Republicans nominate someone unelectable, who would you rather have as president, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, or Al Gore?

Biden then raised transgender issues – a prominent focus of Clinton’s speech as well – by noting that he said previous year that “transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time“. “There’s homophobes still left… majority are running for President, I think“.

Biden also echoed President Obama’s call for legislation to limit gun violence, singling out the need to reinstitute background checks and limits on the size of automatic weapons magazines that were rescinded under President George W. Bush.

“You should run!” a member of the audience shouted loudly.

But does the second-most powerful politician in the country – especially one who spent decades in the Senate before moving into national office – really want to be nothing more than a spoiler in his final race?

The Human Rights Campaign made its first presidential endorsement in 1992, backing Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton cast herself as a champion for their cause. In her speech, she thanked the HRC for helping to change her mind.

“The fundamental bedrock principle that [marriage] exists between a man and a woman, going back into the midst of history as one of the founding, foundational institutions of history and humanity and civilization, and that its primary, principal role during those millennia has been the raising and socializing of children for the society into which they are to become adults”.

She referenced that statement two years later when she released a video saying she backed gay marriage “personally, and as a matter of policy and law”. The vice president has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights since 2011 and many view him as a stronger advocate than Clinton.

While the Equality Act, which is now under review, would ensure equality in the workplace, Biden expressed skepticism that this Congress would pass it. But Biden remained hopeful that if activists worked on the issue, states would take up the fight.