Former President Barack Obama suggested during an appearance on his wife’s podcast earlier this week that men need gay friends to learn “empathy and kindness” while preparing for potentially fathering a son who identifies as gay or non-binary.
Appearing during an episode of “IMO,” a podcast hosted by former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, the former president discussed with the two how best to raise boys.
At one point during their hour-long discussion, Barack Obama — who noted he was raised by a single mother — suggested that boys need male figures in their lives other than their fathers to provide perspective, and then immediately pivoted to explain the influence one of his gay professors at Occidental College had on him.
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“No matter how good the dad is, he can’t be everything, and then that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad,” Obama said.
“One of the most valuable things I learned as as a guy was I had a gay professor in college, at a time when the gay folks still weren’t out, who became one of my favorite professors and was a great guy and would call me out when I started saying stuff that was ignorant.”
Barack Obama says young boys need a gay man in their life for guidance and that having only a father around isn’t enough.
He believes being around gay men helps boys develop emotional awareness, empathy, and a broader perspective.
Obama recalled that one of his most important… pic.twitter.com/uq4xfXxpSH
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) July 17, 2025
Obama went on to imply that men need gay friends and role models like his professor to learn positive personality traits.
“You need that to show empathy and kindness,” he said. “And by the way, you need that person in your friend group, so that if you then have a boy who’s gay or non-binary or whatever, they have somebody that they can go, ‘OK, I’m not alone in this.'”
In his 2020 memoir A Promised Land, Obama recounted the influence Lawrence Goldyn, his gay European politics professor at Occidental College, had on him.
“Once I got to college and became friends with fellow students and professors who were openly gay, though, I realized the overt discrimination and hate they were subject to, as well as the loneliness and self-doubt that the dominant culture imposed on them,” he wrote. “I felt ashamed of my past behavior — and learned to do better.”
During a 2015 interview with Out magazine — the same year the outlet declared him their “Ally of the Year” — Obama noted he took Goldyn’s class during his freshman year at Occidental College.
“I was probably 18 years old — Lawrence was one of the younger professors — and we became good friends,” Obama told the outlet.
“He went out of his way to advise lesbian, gay, and transgender students at Occidental, and keep in mind, this was 1978. That took a lot of courage, a lot of confidence in who you are and what you stand for.”
Obama, who lit up the White House in a rainbow upon the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, noted that he saw Goldyn during a White House pride month reception during his presidency.
“I got to recognize Lawrence … and thank him for influencing the way I think about so many of these issues,” he said.
Stories have emerged in recent years suggesting the former president may have homosexual inclinations, such as a 2023 story from the New York Post, which obtained an unreacted 1982 letter Obama wrote to his ex-girlfriend, Alex McNear.
In the letter, he claimed to have an “androgynous” mind and admitted to “mak[ing] love to men daily, but in the imagination,” according to the outlet.
“In regard to homosexuality, I must say that I believe this is an attempt to remove oneself from the present, a refusal perhaps to perpetuate the endless farce of earthly life. You see, I make love to men daily, but in the imagination,” a 21-year-old Obama reportedly wrote more than 40 years ago.
The former president’s appearance on his wife’s podcast comes amid speculation that their marriage is experiencing tension, especially given Michelle Obama’s unwillingness to accompany her husband to either President Donald Trump’s inauguration or former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January.
Last month, Michelle Obama made headlines when she said on her podcast that she was glad she never had a boy because he would have been like her husband.
Toward the end of the episode that aired June 18, Obama bristled when radio host and guest Angie Martinez suggested she should have had a son in addition to their two daughters, Sasha and Malia.
“You should’ve threw [sic] a boy in the mix,” Martinez said to Obama, prompting her to respond, “I’m so glad I didn’t have a boy.”
“Because he would’ve been a Barack Obama,” she added.
“Baby Barack — it would’ve been amazing!” Martinez said, but Obama cut in, “Ooh, no, I would’ve felt for him.”
The two dismissed divorce rumors during another moment in their most recent podcast.
JUST IN: Former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama shut down the rumor that they are getting a divorce.
Obama: Somebody will mention to me and I’m like what are you talking about?
Michelle: There hasn’t been one moment in our marriage where I thought about quitting my… pic.twitter.com/45HgXXObyQ
— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) July 16, 2025
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to jon.brown@christianpost.com
