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Biden honors 20 people including Mass. civil rights attorney and Malden philanthropist with Presidential Citizens Medal
Mary Bonauto is a prominent gay rights advocate and senior director of civil rights and legal strategies for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, and Bobby Sager is a philanthropist and photographer, who grew up just outside of Boston.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, to 20 people on Thursday, including former Rep. Liz Cheney and two close personal advisers, Ted Kaufman and Christopher J. Dodd.
Among the recipients of the Presidential Citizens Medal were also two Massachusetts natives, Mary Bonauto and Bobby Sager.
Bonauto, a prominent gay rights advocate and senior director of civil rights and legal strategies for Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, was the lead counsel in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which made Massachusetts the first state to legally recognize same-sex marriage. She also argued before the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case which established the right to same-sex marriage nationwide.
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Sager, who grew up just outside of Boston in Malden, is an American philanthropist and photographer, whose work centers around bringing awareness to the impact of global conflict and war on children across the world.
The president thanked the recipients of his final presidential medals — a group of lawmakers, lawyers and activists — for helping to “ensure our democracy delivers” and bringing the United States “closer to our highest stated ideals.”
He likened their work to that of two former presidents, including Jimmy Carter, who died this week at 100, and who Biden said had set a high standard in serving his country through words and deeds. He also quoted Theodore Roosevelt, citing a speech Roosevelt gave before becoming president: “We each endeavor to live so as to deserve the high praise of being called good American citizens. That’s what you all are.”
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The bestowing of presidential medals, which are approved through a less formalized process than other awards like Medals of Honor, is an opportunity for a president to showcase those who have fought for causes he championed.
The selection of Cheney, R-Wyo., whose vocal opposition to Donald Trump cost her her political career, was a continuation of his push for bipartisanship and decency in politics at a time when Cheney’s own party has turned against her. Cheney accepted the medal “for putting the American people over party” to extended applause.
Biden’s choices also reflected the causes he has fought for while in office. Several are prominent advocates who over long careers worked to advance gay rights, women’s rights, desegregation and cancer research.
Dodd, 80, and Kaufman, 85, who have known the president for decades, also were awarded presidential medals. Dodd, a former Democratic senator from Connecticut, helped Biden choose a running mate during the 2020 campaign. Kaufman served as Biden’s chief of staff in the Senate and was selected by Delaware’s governor to fill Biden’s seat when he became vice president.
These are the rest of the recipients:
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., the chair of the House Jan. 6 committee.
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Joseph L. Galloway, a war correspondent who died in 2021, was honored posthumously.
Carolyn McCarthy, a Democrat and former representative who served New York for 18 years.
Thomas J. Vallely, a Vietnam War veteran who founded a Fulbright program in Vietnam.
Evan Wolfson, an early leader in the marriage equality movement.
Louis Lorenzo Redding, a civil rights advocate who died in 1998, was honored posthumously.
Eleanor Smeal, an advocate for women’s rights.
Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who died in 2006, was honored posthumously. She was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that overturned the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Bill Bradley, the Hall of Fame basketball player who represented New Jersey in the Senate as a Democrat for 18 years.
Nancy Landon Kassebaum, a Republican and former senator from Kansas.
Collins J. Seitz, a senior federal appeals court judge in Delaware who died in 1998, was honored posthumously.
Frank K. Butler Jr., a former Navy SEAL and eye surgeon.
Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation.
Frances M. Visco, the president of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Paula S. Wallace, the president and co-founder of the Savannah College of Art and Design.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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