--- title: State of the Union 2015: Transgender description: Obama was the first President ever to use the word "transgender" in his State of the Union. canonical: https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-21T03:22:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:44:09.967Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Made History By Using This Word in the State of the Union og:description: It came when he urged "respect human dignity" og:url: https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ebf6cc1dc1e7152/69877aed35ba6f09bfc069dd/2015-01-21t021624z_1190695064_tb3eb1l0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3100 og:image:height: 1744 og:image:alt: U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner watch as U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 20, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Made History By Using This Word in the State of the Union twitter:description: It came when he urged "respect human dignity" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ebf6cc1dc1e7152/69877aed35ba6f09bfc069dd/2015-01-21t021624z_1190695064_tb3eb1l0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Made History By Using This Word in the State of the Union > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f075d593-a385-44f7-9e23-dcd6882d2a25&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 21, 2015 3:22 AM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 20, 2015. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 20, 2015. Larry Downing—Reuters  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 21, 2015 3:22 AM UTC There were over 6,000 words in President Obama’s State of the Union address, but he made history Tuesday night when he used just one of them: transgender. In a section of [the speech](http://time.com/3675705/full-text-state-union-2015/) in which he noted that Americans “respect human dignity,” Obama included the word along with lesbians, gays and bisexuals: --- > “” --- People immediately took to Twitter to note that Obama was the first President ever to use this word his State of the Union. His mention of transgender people in the [widely-watched](http://time.com/3674318/state-union-nielsen-ratings/) annual address comes at [the end of a year that raised unprecedented awareness](http://time.com/3663170/golden-globes-2015-transparent-jill-soloway-leelah-alcorn/), leading TIME’s Katy Steinmetz to wonder if American culture has arrived at the “[transgender tipping point](http://time.com/135480/transgender-tipping-point/).” Obama’s use of the words “lesbian” and “bisexual” were also firsts. This is not the first time Obama has made history with the words in a major speech. He was the first president to [address gay rights](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-invokes-gay-rights-in-inaugural-address/2013/01/21/78bbc410-6409-11e2-b84d-21c7b65985ee%5Fstory.html) during an inauguration during his second inaugural address and the first to [support same-sex marriage](http://swampland.time.com/2012/05/09/obama-endorses-gay-marriage-i-think-same-sex-couples-should-be-able-to-get-married/). _Read next:_ [_Here’s the Full Text of President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union_](http://time.com/3675705/full-text-state-union-2015/?xid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/"},"headline":"Obama Made History By Using This Word in the State of the Union","datePublished":"2015-01-21T03:22:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:44:09.967Z","description":"Obama was the first President ever to use the word \"transgender\" in his State of the Union.","url":"https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/","keywords":["State of the Union 2015","state of the union","Transgender"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ebf6cc1dc1e7152/69877aed35ba6f09bfc069dd/2015-01-21t021624z_1190695064_tb3eb1l0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ebf6cc1dc1e7152/69877aed35ba6f09bfc069dd/2015-01-21t021624z_1190695064_tb3eb1l0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner watch as U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 20, 2015.","caption":"U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner watch as U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 20, 2015.","creditText":"Larry Downing—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union-2015/","name":"State of the Union 2015"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3675798/state-union-transgender/","name":"Obama Made History By Using This Word in the State of the Union"}}]}] ```