After Defeat In NC, Obama Says He Supports Same-Sex Marriage
In an interview with ABC News, the president says he supports same-sex marriage. North Carolina voters on Tuesday voted in favor of traditional marriage by an overwhelming margin.
President Barack Obama picked the day after a decisive vote in North Carolina to announce that his "evolution" on the issue of same-sex marriage was complete — he now supports it.
In an interview with ABC News on Wednesday, Obama said:
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.
ABC aired a special report with clips from the interview just before 3 p.m. Wednesday. The full interview with Obama is scheduled to air on "Good Morning America" on May 10.
North Carolinians voted overwhelmingly to amend that state's constitution to outlaw same-sex marriages and civil unions on Tuesday.
Amy Becker, an assistant professor of communication at Towson University in Maryland, a state facing a same-sex marriage referendum in the fall, said most observers expected Obama to make this announcement after the November election.
But his hand may have been forced, she said, by Vice President Joe Biden, who described himself as "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage on NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday. On Monday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan also came out in favor of same-sex marriage.
The president's stance is now front and center in an election year. In contrast, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Obama's presumptive Republican challenger, publicly opposes same-sex marriage.
"The Republicans are going to pick up and run with this and a lot of people in the news media are going to speculate about what this means for the presidential race," Becker said. "While a lot of people argue it's the right move, it might not be the safest move, politically."
Counting Tuesday's vote in North Carolina, voters in 30 states have voted against same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in six states and Washington, D.C.
However, statistics show the tide appears to be turning, locally and nationally. A Pew Research Center study found that 43 percent of Americans now support allowing same-sex couples to marry, up from 37 percent in 2009.
Becker said analysts should be "cautious" in predicting the impact of the president's announcement, but that turnout among youth and church-going African-Americans will be key for both sides. According to the Pew study, 63 percent of people born in 1981 or later support same-sex marriage. But support slips to just 33 percent among black protestants and 14 percent among white evangelicals.
"I do think it's going to be really close," Becker said.
Dr. John
8:32 pm on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Well the winds must have been blowing towards his left ear today (wink, wink). As damage control dictates, so does BHO policy follow. Regular "folks" in North Carolina vote to uphold traditional marriage and.........Shazzam!! BHO is now pro-gay marriage.... who ever would have imagined that.....
Robert Kelly
7:14 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
I still do not understand why "regular folks" should have the power to deny other people the same rights and privileges they enjoy. If this is all about God and religion, then it clearly should not be imposed upon people who believe differently. We are not a theocracy.
Alternatively, marriage could be defined as a church process (like baptism and confirmation) which the government gets out of entirely, while the government only recognizes civil unions, essentially a contract between any two adults which bestows specified legal rights and tax benefits and will not be an abomination to the "regular folks".
Cold War Vet
7:54 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
1. It's not marriage. Marriage has always been a covenant between a man and a woman which is by its nature ordered toward the procreation and education of children and the unity and well being of the spouses. 2. It violates natural law. Marriage isn't just any relationship between human beings. It's a relationship rooted in human nature and thus governed by natural law. 3. It always denies a child either a father or a mother. 4. It validates and promotes the homosexual lifestyle. 5. It turns a moral wrong into a civil right. 6. It doesn't create a family but a naturally sterile union. 7. It defeats the State’s purpose of benefiting marriage. 8. It imposes Its acceptance on all society. 9. It's the cutting edge of the sexual revolution. We're seeing a new sexual revolution where society is being asked to accept sodomy and same-sex marriage. If homosexual marriage is universally accepted as the present step in sexual freedom, what logical arguments can be used to stop the next steps of incest, pedophilia, bestiality, and other forms of unnatural behavior?
Cold War Vet
7:37 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
BHO’s announcement that he supports same-sex marriage highlights more pandering and supporting those that support you. Many Obama’s key financial supporters are gay, including finance director Rufus Gifford and Democratic National Committee treasurer Andrew Tobias. A review of Obama’s top bundlers, who have brought in $500,000 or more for the campaign, shows that about one in six publicly identify themselves as gay. His overall list of bundlers also includes a number of gay couples who have wed in jurisdictions where same-sex marriage was legal. The Advocate, a publication focused on the gay community, assembled a list of Obama’s Power Gays last year that included many of his biggest fundraisers. In addition to Perlman and others, the Advocate list included Pfizer executive Sally Susman $500,000+; activist Kevin Jennings $50,000 - $100,000; and Texas philanthropist Eugene Sepulveda $500,000+.
sandpiper0
9:35 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
What's next in this new sexual revolution? What else will be expected to accept? I guess, later we'll have to accept polygamy. Read your Bible people. Then you will know what is right and what is wrong. It has been spelled out for us all along. Just open the Book and read. I don't know how long God is going to put up with all this. I'll be ready, will you?
Kelly England McElwain
1:35 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
The Bible also tells slaves to obey their masters and wives to submit to their husbands. It's not to be taken literally here. I am not "submissive" to my husband, and I don't believe in slavery. Personally, I am all for marriage, whether the two adults in love are a man and a woman, two men, or two women. Committed, consenting adults, no problem.
Robert Kelly
10:44 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Actually, polygamy was practiced in the bible. So were a lot of other things, like men's obligation to marry their brother's widow, and women being put away during their periods. Read Leviticus and try to follow the rules. But the real issue is that the bible is not the determination of legal standards in this country. We do not have to follow the Sabbath rules, we do not legally have to honor our father and mother if we do not choose to, we may covet possessions, in fact the entire advertising industry is based on our coveting those possessions. Adultery is not a crime. Divorce and remarriage is commonly practiced by members of the Christian Right. OK, stealing and killing are not allowed, unless it is done by the government.
Who gets to define marriage or "natural law"? Cold War Vet and sandpiper0, or each person individually? Does the government have the right? Do heterosexuals have the exclusive right to define the terms for non-heterosexuals? How about if only men decide what women may do, and only women define what men may do? Can the majority deny legal protections of the law to the minority? Marriage provides many legal protections which are not available to same sex unions...that is simply not fair and equitable.
Robert E
10:20 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
Sandpiper0
Leviticus 11:10 says: And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
I am sure you are protesting outside Red Lobster every day to prevent the diners from damning their souls to hell.
Laura
11:33 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
"And those who are free of sin, then you can cast out the first stone" We are not to judge. Follow your own religions. Do not Dam others. We are a free country to accept different beliefs and religions.
Margaret Howie
5:21 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Dear Slacker Mom,
I love your blog and your stance on love and civil rights!
Robert E
10:11 am on Friday, May 11, 2012
It's time for people to stop using the bible as an excuse for bigotry. Bigotry and Hatred wrapped in Religion are still Bigotry and Hatred. Religion enables the bigoted and hateful to believe that their bigotry and hatred is virtue.