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The logo of the 2023 PFLAG National Convention is in a blue circle with hearts that form the "o" in the title, "Learning with Love" and the "zero" in 2023.

First Lady Jill Biden to Open PFLAG National Convention

October 16, 2023

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden has shoulder-length blonde hair and smiles at the camera. She is seated on the arm of a brown leather sofa and wearing a blue suit with pearl earrings, a pearl brooch on her right lapel, and gold bracelets on her right wrist.
First Lady Jill Biden | Photo Credit: Cheriss May

WASHINGTON—This Friday, First Lady Jill Biden will address hundreds of LGBTQ+ people, parents, families, and allies attending Learning with Love: The 2023 PFLAG National Convention on the opening day. A stalwart advocate for education, Dr. Biden’s remarks will set the tone for PFLAG National’s opening plenary “Let Freedom Read! Read with Love to Support Inclusive Books and Education.”

“First Lady Jill Biden is an advocate, a parent, a grandparent and an LGBTQ+ ally who leads with love, and we are PFLAG-proud to welcome her to Learning with Love: The 2023 PFLAG National Convention,” said Brian K. Bond, Chief Executive Officer of PFLAG National.

The biennial convening of PFLAG members and supporters opening ceremonies will be held on Friday, Oct. 20 at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel in Crystal City, Va. Following the First Lady’s remarks, MSNBC’s Ali Velshi will moderate the opening plenary discussion about supporting inclusive books and education featuring American Library Association President Emily Drabinski, author Arvin Ahmadi, and Red Wine and Blue’s Head of Organizing Julie Womack. During the opening ceremonies, PFLAG National will also honor local chapter PFLAG Georgetown (Texas), which was founded in a bookstore and meets at the local library.  This event will be streamed live beginning at 3:30pm ET at youtube.com/pflag.

As previously announced, on Saturday, Oct. 21, Admiral Rachel Levine, M.D., the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Jesse Ehrenfeld, M.D., M.P.H., President of the American Medical Association will have a conversation entitled, “Courageous Love in Trans Healthcare,” moderated by writer, transgender activist, and military veteran Charlotte Clymer. This event will be streamed live beginning at 12:40pm ET at youtube.com/pflag.

Learning with Love: The 2023 PFLAG National Convention is sponsored by OREO, Meta, and Lyft, and takes place from Oct. 19-22 in Arlington, Va. at the DoubleTree Crystal City. This convention is sold out. Learn more at PFLAG.org/LearningWithLove.

  • First Lady Jill Biden - Biography

    Jill Biden, Ed.D., is the First Lady of the United States, a community college educator, a military mother, a grandmother, and bestselling author. Dr. Biden also served as Second Lady of the United States from 2009–2017.

    As First Lady, Dr. Biden has focused on reaching out to all Americans, helping to bring our country together.

    During her first two years as First Lady, Dr. Biden traveled to over 40 states and territories, over 100 cities, and ten other countries. She has continued championing the causes that have defined her public life: supporting military families, advocating for increased educational opportunities, and working to end cancer as we know it.  She advanced the missions of two key White House initiatives, Joining Forces and the Cancer Moonshot, and also served as a leading messenger for the Administration’s most urgent priorities, including: safely reopening schools after the pandemic’s shutdown, supporting the President’s economic agenda, and urging adults and children to protect themselves and their communities by getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

    In the spring of 2021, Dr. Biden announced the next phase and priorities of Joining Forces, her White House initiative to support military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. In her first two years, she visited 24 military installations; worked with Joining Forces partners to support over 30 events with the military-connected community; and launched an interagency working group with the National Security Council, which secured over 80 commitments and proposals across the federal government to support military families. Through her Joining Forces work, she has advocated for: increased economic opportunities for military spouses; additional educational programming and support for military children; more focus on health and wellness in the military community; and improved resources for caregivers and survivors, including military and veteran children in caregiving homes.

    As a classroom teacher for over 30 years, advocating for increased educational opportunities for all students, of all ages, is close to her heart.  From championing universal pre-school, teacher recruitment and retention, opportunities for career-connected learning, and more affordable options for education after high school, including free community college, Dr. Biden continues her work promoting quality education for everyone.

    Cancer affects every community and it’s a common dark thread for so many, including the Biden family.  In recognition of World Cancer Day 2022, the President and First Lady reignited the Cancer Moonshot, laying out bold goals and a vision to end cancer as we know it.  As First Lady, Dr. Biden has continued to work on behalf of American families confronting cancer, focusing on supporting patients and their loved ones during their cancer journeys; urging Americans to prioritize their cancer screenings; and reducing health inequities in diagnosis, treatment, research, and outcomes.

    While serving as First Lady, Dr. Biden continued teaching English and writing at Northern Virginia Community College, where she has been a professor since 2009. She is the first presidential spouse to maintain an independent career outside of the White House.

    “Teaching isn’t just what I do, it’s who I am.”

    FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN

    EARLY LIFE AND CAREER

    Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden was born on June 3, 1951, in Hammonton, New Jersey, to Bonny Jean Godfrey Jacobs and Donald Carl Jacobs. The oldest of five daughters, she grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. She graduated from Upper Moreland High School in 1969, then graduated from the University of Delaware with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1975.

    In 1976, Jill Biden began teaching English at St. Mark’s High School in Wilmington. She then became a reading specialist at Claymont High School. At that time, she was also pursuing a Master of Education with a specialty in reading from West Chester University. She completed her first master’s degree in 1981.

    In 1975, she met then-Senator Joe Biden. They married at the United Nations Chapel in New York City in 1977 and she became the mother of his two sons, Beau and Hunter. Their daughter, Ashley, was born in 1981.

    Jill Biden taught English at Rockford Center psychiatric hospital while also pursuing a Master of Arts in English from Villanova University. In 1993, she accepted a teaching job at Delaware Technical Community College. During that same year, Dr. Biden’s advocacy for more cancer education and prevention began.  After four of her friends were diagnosed with breast cancer, she launched the Biden Breast Health Initiative to educate Delaware high school girls about the importance of early detection and prevention efforts.

    In 2007, she received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.  When her husband, then-Senator Joe Biden became Vice President and the Bidens moved to Washington, DC, Dr. Biden began teaching at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), where she continues to do so today.

    DURING AND AFTER THE OBAMA-BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

    As Second Lady for eight years, Dr. Biden focused on advocating for community colleges, military families, and the education of women and girls around the world.

    As the Obama-Biden Administration focused on recovering from the 2008 economic recession, Dr. Biden worked to underscore the critical role of community colleges in the nation’s economy. She hosted the first-ever White House Summit on Community Colleges with President Obama and led the Community College to Career Bus Tour to highlight industry partnerships between community colleges and employers. She also became the honorary chair of the College Promise National Advisory Board, leading the effort to make community colleges free for hard-working students.

    The daughter of a Navy Signalman and the mother of Major Beau Biden, a soldier in the Delaware Army National Guard, Dr. Biden has been a longtime advocate for military families. In 2011, she launched the first phase of Joining Forces with First Lady Michelle Obama, a White House initiative to support service members, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. She also released a children’s book in 2012, Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops, the story of their family’s experience with deployment through the eyes of Dr. Biden’s granddaughter, Natalie, in the year her father, Beau, was deployed to Iraq.

    She continued to advance community colleges and support military families through her work at the Biden Foundation after the Obama-Biden Administration ended.

    During her tenure as Second Lady, Dr. Biden traveled to nearly forty countries, visiting military bases, hospitals, and refugee camps, and advocating for education and economic empowerment for women and girls. After the Obama-Biden Administration and now as First Lady, Dr. Biden continues these efforts during her international travel.

    After Dr. Biden and then-Vice President Joe Biden lost their son Beau to brain cancer in 2015, they helped push for a national commitment to ending cancer as we know it through the White House Cancer Moonshot. Following the Obama-Biden Administration, then-former Vice President Biden and Dr. Biden continued their cancer work through the Biden Cancer Initiative. Dr. Biden’s New York Times bestselling memoir, Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself was published in 2019. Her second children’s book, JOEY: The Story of Joe Biden, was published in 2020.


About PFLAG

PFLAG is an organization of LGBTQ+ people, parents, families, and allies who work together to create an equitable and inclusive world. We are hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of chapters from coast to coast who are leading with love to support families, educate allies, and advocate for just, equitable, and inclusive legislation and policies. Since our founding in 1973, PFLAG works every day to ensure LGBTQ+ people everywhere are safe, celebrated, empowered and loved. Learn more, find support, donate, and take action at PFLAG.org.

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