President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

 

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

 

“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.

 

Excerpts of the interview will air tonight on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

 

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

 

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” the president continued. “You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

 

Roberts asked the president if First Lady Michelle Obama was involved in this decision. Obama said she was, and he talked specifically about his own faith in responding.

 

“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”

 

Previously, Obama has moved in the direction of supporting same-sex marriage but has consistently stopped short of outright backing it.

 

Instead, he’s voiced support for civil unions for gay and lesbian couples that provide the rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples, though not defined as “marriage.” At the same time, the president has opposed efforts to ban gay marriage at the state level, saying that he did not favor attempts to strip rights away from gay and lesbian couples.

 

The president’s position became a flashpoint this week, when Vice President Joe Biden pronounced himself “absolutely comfortable” with allowing same-sex couples to wed.

 

Obama aides insisted there was no daylight between the positions held by the president and his vice president when it comes to legal rights, but as other prominent Democrats also weighed in in favor of gay marriage, the disconnect became difficult for the White House to explain away.

 

The announcement completes a turnabout for the president, who has opposed gay marriage throughout his career in national politics. In 1996, as a state Senate candidate, he indicated support for gay marriage in a questionnaire, but Obama aides later disavowed it and said it did not reflect the candidate’s position.

 

In 2004, as a candidate for the US Senate, he cited his own religion in framing his views: “I’m a Christian. I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

 

He maintained that position through his 2008 presidential campaign, and through his term as president, until today.

 

As president in 2010, Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper that his feelings about gay marriage were “constantly evolving. I struggle with this.” A year later, the president told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “I’m still working on it.”

 

“I probably won’t make news right now, George,” Obama said in October 2011. “But I think that there’s no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues.”

 

Obama’s decision has political connotations for the fall. The issue divides elements of the Democratic base, with liberals and gay-rights groups eager to see the president go farther, but with gay marriage far less popular among African-American voters.

 

Just yesterday, in North Carolina, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage. President Obama carried North Carolina in 2008, and its status as a 2012 battleground was guaranteed by Democrats’ decision to hold their convention in Charlotte this summer.

 

Obama’s likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, opposes gay marriage, and fought his state’s highest court when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004, when Romney was governor. Romney said on the campaign trail Monday that he continues to oppose gay marriage.

 

“My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney said. “That’s the position I’ve had for some time, and I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point. … Or ever, by the way.”

 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/...to-get-married/

 

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"KEWL"

Kudos to him for mentioning this now given it's hardly an election-winner in the US.

Kudos to him for mentioning this now given it's hardly an election-winner in the US.

Actually the latest poll shows majority support for gay marriage. Republican supporters are, predictably, still opposed but Democrats and uncommitted voters are in favour.

It's definitely a catch 22, but I foresee this bringing in more supporters / bringing back that 2008-vibe he had moreso than it will hurt him. He definitely has the youth on his side.

 

Either way, this is pretty big news. He's the first president to ever support same-sex marriage.

Actually the latest poll shows majority support for gay marriage. Republican supporters are, predictably, still opposed but Democrats and uncommitted voters are in favour.

Meanwhile its looking increasingly likely Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican candidate and he greatly opposes gay marriage.

Meanwhile its looking increasingly likely Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican candidate and he greatly opposes gay marriage.

It's pretty much a certainty now. Only one other candidate (Ron Paul) is still technically in the race and he has accumulated very few votes so far.

Finally showing a bit of back-bone, or just trying to get votes in an election year...? The people who are opposed to gay marriage are the sorts of bigoted morons who wouldn't vote for him anyway, and he's been taking a real battering from the progressives over things like NDAA and CISPA, the fact that Guantanamo Bay is still open, and his lack of action over the banks and the big Corporations, so I cant help but think that this is a bit of a sop towards them...

Finally showing a bit of back-bone, or just trying to get votes in an election year...? The people who are opposed to gay marriage are the sorts of bigoted morons who wouldn't vote for him anyway

 

But you could argue that anyone in favour of it were hardly likely to vote for Romney anyway, so is it that much of a vote-winner?

Did you see how NewsCorp initally reported the story? Obama Flip-Flops, Declares War On Marriage. -_-

 

In other news my BF told me last night that he wants to marry me when it's legal here :wub:

But you could argue that anyone in favour of it were hardly likely to vote for Romney anyway, so is it that much of a vote-winner?

 

It may mobilise some of the fed-up Progressives who had no intentions of voting for either Romney or Obama.. This may get some people who had no intention of voting actually registering to vote...

 

I suspect it is aimed at least in part at people who campaigned for him last time but were less likely to do so this year while still voting for him. He needs to motivate potential campaign workers in the key states and this may one way of recruiting them. Whatever his motives, it is good news.

A few points worth pointing out:

 

1. While Obama is personally in favour of same-sex marriage, he is still against enforcing it on a federal level, preferring it to be decided on a state-by-tate basis.

2. It's funny that Obama waiting until the day AFTER North Carolina passed a motion defining marriage as between a man and a woman that he has decided to come out in full support of same-sex marriage.

 

Maybe I'm slightly cynical, but I'm thinking that Obama's actions are just a hollow gesture to get on-the-fence supporters back on his side in time for the election. Are there any other states proposing a bill to either ban or introduce same-sex marriage before the next election? I'm going to take a punt and say that there are not.

It may mobilise some of the fed-up Progressives who had no intentions of voting for either Romney or Obama.. This may get some people who had no intention of voting actually registering to vote...

 

That's true, although I don't know who the larger group is in the US in terms of disenfranchised voters who he's trying to woo - the progressives or the "centre" ground (those who would be moderate Tories over here). If it's the former then this is definitely a vote winner, if the latter then less so.

Obama is smart, he may support Gay marriage but the reason he has spoken publicly about it is purely political.

Obama needs the moderates and Independants to support him. Romney will now be forced to swing even further to the right which always ends badly for Republican candidates in elections. The Republican base will want social issues to be front and centre which is offputting to women, independents and ethnic voters.

And in the meantime Bristol Palin (daughter of that intellectual colossus Sarah) has stuck her oar in.

 

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/05/11/brist...en-on-marriage/

All the Republicans need now if for Newt Gingrich, Donald Trump, Fred Thompson and Rush Limbaugh to voice their disgust about gay marriage as between them they have had 50 marriages.

All the Republicans need now if for Newt Gingrich, Donald Trump, Fred Thompson and Rush Limbaugh to voice their disgust about gay marriage as between them they have had 50 marriages.

 

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

Yes, the "sanctity" of marriage...... PMSL....

 

I'm sorry, but if these "right wing conservatives" are so concerned with the "sanctity of marriage" or the supposed "mockery of marriage", then they should ban celebs and politicians from getting married, not gay couples....

And in the meantime Bristol Palin (daughter of that intellectual colossus Sarah) has stuck her oar in.

 

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/05/11/brist...en-on-marriage/

 

That one just made me howl with mirth when I saw it last week.. When I read that, I was honestly looking around for a "Daily Onion" logo... Then I discovered it was actually for real, and she actually said it... Oh dear...... -_-

Finally showing a bit of back-bone, or just trying to get votes in an election year...? The people who are opposed to gay marriage are the sorts of bigoted morons who wouldn't vote for him anyway

 

Sadly this isn't entirely true. I know a lot of "liberal" people (or people who claim to be liberal) who are still opposed to gay marriage. I think a lot of it has to do with how much of a problem this country has with hegemonic masculinity. Supporting gay marriage, even in 2012, is still seen as a weak, feminine act. Mitt is no doubt going to use this as an opportunity to showcase his "masculinity/"strength" and definitely try to gain straight male voters as well as religious voters. I have no doubt that this was totally a tactical move (the timing, the wording of everything, etc.) but aren't all actions on the campaign trail the same? I think it's important to be critical, but at the same time I'm still very thankful. This will definitely lose him votes from some straight liberal men and straight on-the-fence men (as well as gain some too no doubt)...it's hard to tell exactly what effect it will have honestly.

 

Still, any civil rights movement that has been supported by a president has then gone on to be passed into law. I'm still pretty exciting about it all.

Would it be ungrateful to ask him why it took his so long to come to this decision? Has he not had gay friends in the past? Has he really just started supporting it - in his own mind - or is this just the first time he was courageous enough to speak about it.