In her new memoir, Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares a touching episode from the day the U.S. Supreme Court declared marriage equality the law of the land.
The date was June 26, 2015.
Although she had just returned from a funeral service for the victims of the Charleston church shooting, she saw crowds gathering in front of the White House as evening fell.
From the window she could see a purple glow. The staff had arrange to illuminate the White House in rainbow lights in celebration of the landmark ruling by SCOTUS.
Seeing the energy of the people, she found she was "suddenly desperate to join the celebration."
After checking with her husband ("There are tons of people out there – you know I can't do tons of people!”), and her youngest daughter (who was engrossed in her iPad), Michelle recruited oldest daughter, Malia, for the adventure.
But the First Lady can’t just ‘walk out of the White House.’
From Becoming:
“Looking out the window, I saw that beyond the gates on Pennsylvania Avenue, a big crowd of people had gathered in the summer dusk to see the lights. The north drive was filled with government staff who’d stayed late to see the White House transformed in celebration of marriage equality. The decision had touched so many people.
"From where I stood, I could see the exuberance, but I could hear nothing. It was an odd part of our reality.
“We made our way down a marble staircase and over red carpets, around the busts of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and past the kitchen until suddenly we were outdoors. Malia and I just busted past the agents on duty, neither one of us making eye contact.
"The humid summer air hit our faces. I could see fireflies blinking on the lawn. And there it was, the hum of the public, people whooping and celebrating outside the iron gates.
“It had taken us 10 minutes to get out of our own home, but we’d done it. We were outside, standing on a patch of lawn off to one side, out of sight of the public but with a beautiful, close-up view of the White House, lit up in pride.
"Malia and I leaned into each other, happy to have found our way there.”
Michelle shared the story on ELLEN yesterday with more details.
Like, the fact that a whole platoon of White House security started following her and Malia as they tried to slip out of the residence.
It means a lot that our First Lady wanted so badly to be a part of such a historic day for the LGBTQ community.
“Everybody was celebrating, people were crying, and I thought, I want to be in that," she told Ellen DeGeneres. "It was beautiful.”
Watch the appearance on ELLEN below.
The coolest, classiest,
The coolest, classiest, funniest, and most down-to-earth First Lady we've ever had!
Class act.  She has to run
Class act. She has to run for President in 2020. We need Obama back in the WH.
Sorry meant to say “an” Obama
Sorry meant to say "an" Obama back the WH. But if Michelle wins, we get Barack too!
Wouldn’t THAT be great!!Â
Wouldn't THAT be great!! Unfortunately, she's adamant about not running for political office… and after going through what her family has already gone through the first time around for the White House, who could blame her. As much as many of us would love to have the Obamas back in the WH, we must admit they have already given more than their fair share of their lives to this country and have the right to some semblance of a normal life from here on out.