Obama says young men need gay role models and friends

Former President Barack Obama argued that young men need homosexual friends and role models. 

His comments were made on IMO, the podcast that former First Lady Michelle Obama co-hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson.

Mr. Obama said he had a gay professor who became a role model. 

"[He] became one of my favorite professors and was a great guy, and would call me out when I started saying stuff that was ignorant,” he said. “You need that, to show empathy and kindness.”

He also said young men should have friends who are gay.

"By the way, you need that person in your friend group so that if you then have a boy who is gay or nonbinary, or what have you, they have somebody that they can go, ‘Okay, I’m not alone in this,’” he said. "That, I think, is creating community. I know it’s corny, but it’s what they need.”