The call itself reveals the dual nature of LGBT+ life in America. It came after an unspeakable crime committed in what should be a safe haven. At the same time, that a president - let alone an 80-year-old white Catholic - would call and offer his condolences would have been unthinkable even 15 years ago. Then again, Mr Biden's record on LGBT+ rights from his time as a senator to vice president to president tracks with the journey of the Democratic Party as a whole.
In 1996, he voted for the Defence of Marriage Act, which prohibited the federal government from recognising same-sex marriages. He kept up his opposition to same-sex marriage when Barack Obama nominated him to be his running mate in 2008, likely because in 2004, Republicans had used same-sex marriage as a cudgel against Democrats. Plenty of states voted to ban it in ballot initiatives that year, and George W Bush supported amending the Constitution to stipulate that marriage was solely between a man and a woman (note: his campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, later came out as gay).
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