Greetings from Provincetown! It’s about 74 degrees, slightly cloudy and humid — perfect for a beachside fundraiser.
First Lady Jill Biden addressed a crowd of about 300 outside the home of event planner Bryan Rafanelli and his husband, Mark Walsh, during a fundraiser for the Biden Victory Fund this afternoon. Wearing a white, gold, and blue dress, she spoke on a turf-covered podium under a white tent on the couple’s lawn.
Biden began by highlighting the work of Rafanelli, who recently planned the White House wedding of the Bidens’ granddaughter, Naomi Biden, calling the event “stunning” and “magnificent.”
“We’re so grateful that you made our granddaughter’s dreams come true,” Biden said, “Your work is not just about creating wonderful events, but about finding the beauty and the connection in those moments that really define us.”
Speaking about her work teaching writing at a community college outside D.C., Biden told the crowd that though stories can create fear or anger, they “can inspire us to rise to kindness as well.”
“They can remind us that our differences are precious, and our similarities infinite,” Biden added. That our community is capable of beautiful and powerful things.”
She recounted the White House’s recent Pride event in June on the South Lawn, which featured Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten, as well as attending Pride events in Tennessee and Minnesota.
“They couldn’t have been more different,” Biden said to laughter.
“The energy was there,” Biden added. “There was joy and electricity, made fragile by the looming work that we knew was on the other side of that celebration.”
Biden touted her husband’s legislative accomplishments, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. She also stressed the president’s work promoting LGBTQ rights, including signing the Respect for Marriage Act, allowing transgender individuals to serve in the military, and working to curtail conversion therapy.
“I hope you’re proud because you made that possible,” she told the crowd, many of whom were members of Provincetown’s significant queer community. “His wins are your wins.”
“Yes, there are challenges ahead. We already know what’s in store if these MAGA Republicans win,” Biden said, eliciting a chorus of boos. “The safety of LGBTQ Americans even more at risk, U.S. policy being dictated by late-night tweets, a constant assault on our most sacred institutions, our democracy, and our freedoms.”
However, she assured the crowd that “we aren’t going to let that happen because we’re in this together” to sustained applause.
“Because we, all of us, have the optimism and the drive and passion to write a different story,” Biden said. “And most of all, we have the candidate who is ready to finish the job: my husband, Joe Biden.”
She called on the crowd to spread her message and garner support for the president’s reelection.
“I want you to go out and tell your friends why this matters: protecting the LGBTQ community, defending women’s rights, growing our economy from the bottom up and the middle out, acting now on climate change,” Biden said.
“Joe is ready for this fight. His optimism never falters,” Biden continued. “He has a vision for our future. And he’s making it real, but we can’t do it without your help. So let’s help him finish the job.”
Elias Schisgall, The Provincetown Independent – White House Press List and Zennie62Media, Inc.