In 2013, fifty years after the March On Washington, President Barack Obama posthumously  awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, praising Rustin’s  “march towards true equality, no matter who we are  or who we love.”
En 2013, cincuenta años después de la Marcha sobre Washington, el Presidente Barack Obama le condecoró póstumamente con la Presidential Medal of Freedom, elogiando la "marcha hacia la auténtica libertad" de Rustin, "sin importar quiénes seamos o a quién amemos".