Lesbian White House official Karine Jean-Pierre is the first Black woman in 30 years to hold a press briefing
The Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary is also the first out Black woman to ever hold a briefing
Karine Jean-Pierre has become the first LGBTQ Black woman to hold a White House press briefing.
The White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary also became the first Black woman in 30 years to hold a press briefing, following former Deputy Press Secretary Judy Smith, who served under President George H. W. Bush.
Jean-Pierre, who is lesbian, conducted a 16-minute press gaggle aboard Air Force One, as President Biden headed to Pittsburgh to promote his American Jobs Plan.
The $2.3 trillion package aims to fund infrastructure projects, manufacturing innovations, and job training programs, among other issues.
“[Karine Jean-Pierre] has become the first Black woman to hold a White House press briefing in about 30 years,” Yahoo News’ White House correspondent Hunter Walker tweeted.
“Here’s a picture of her gaggle on Air Force One yesterday,” he continued. “I took it because I had the sense I was witnessing history.”
.@KJP46 has become the first Black woman to hold a White House press briefing in about 30 years.
Here's a picture of her gaggle on Air Force One yesterday.
I took it because I had the sense I was witnessing history. pic.twitter.com/3iJCaQqnYJ
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) April 1, 2021
Jean-Pierre also delivered a briefing on Air Force One on March 19, Walker noted, but the March 31 briefing was the first to be livestreamed by the White House on its website.
Karine's first gaggle on AF1 was on the trip to Atlanta where @POTUS visited the CDC. pic.twitter.com/YkULPzJmLB
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) April 1, 2021
Jean-Pierre is a longtime Democratic activist who previously served as a senior advisor to Biden’s presidential campaign and chief of staff to Vice President Kamala Harris after Harris was tapped to become Biden’s running mate.
She has previously served as the southeast regional political director for the John Edwards presidential campaign and the Obama for America campaign, before serving as regional political director for the White House Office of Political Affairs under Obama.
Jean-Pierre has also served as the national spokeswoman for the left-wing website MoveOn.org and as a political analyst on NBC News and MSNBC.
She was one of a number of women of color appointed to positions within the White House communications team, including Symone Sanders and Pili Tobar, who is also lesbian.
Biden had previously pledged to have the “most pro-equality administration in history,” and has since tapped multiple LGBTQ people to join his cabinet, White House, and wider administration.
They include Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who became the first ever gay man to be confirmed by the Senate, and Assistant Secretary of Health at HHS Dr. Rachel Levine, who is now the highest-ranking out transgender official in the U.S.
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