President Barack Obama said in an interview with ABC that "it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
With his Wednesday announcement, the president reversed his longstanding position on the issue. It came on the heels of his own vice president and education secretary saying they were in favor of gay marriage.
According to an ABC blog post, Obama further described his thought process as an "evolution" that progressed as he discussed the issue with staff members, gay and lesbian service members and his own family.
He said he thinks Americans are growing increasingly comfortable with the concept of gay marriage and cited his own daughters' views on the matter.
“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” he said. “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.”
Read CNN's full coverage of President Barack Obama's stance on gay marriage
|
Post by: CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin Filed under: Barack Obama • Civil Rights • District of Columbia • Gay and lesbian • Politics • U.S. |
This blog – This Just In – will no longer be updated. Looking for the freshest news from CNN? Go to our ever-popular CNN.com homepage on your desktop or your mobile device, and join the party at @cnnbrk, the world's most-followed account for news.
Good for President Obama!
Forward! Obama 2012!
I am Christian, Episcopalian in fact, and I support the rights of all Americans to marry. Doesn't affect me one bit if a couple is straight, gay, or undecided. If it bothers you, it's a problem caused by your own closed-mindedness, not by the fact that two folks who love one another want to marry. Good for the President for speaking up on this.
I love reading these comments. All the retarded short bus commenters. "No more Obama" "Perverted gay people" "Sad day for america". Wow. Just. Wow. Enjoy your straight marriages that work out so well. Or how about when you guys cheat on your wife to go suck on some dude, because, yeah... the more you guys hate on it, the more I know you are a closet case nut job. Bravo, human race, bravo.
Obama - never again!
If I, God were so against gay...then why do I keep making them?
god made man perfect, then god gave man choice everything after birth is mans decision....
so pedophiles and murders are right with God? think
How ironic...it was also Abraham Lincoln who emancipated the slaves, however the current Republicans would like to overrule that decision.
Thank you Barack for standing up for what's right so that everyone can be treated equally. As mentioned in an earlier post, the same crappy arguments that people used against inter-racial marriage back in the 60's are the same crappy arguments that they use now against gay couples. You're a dying breed, and your children will look at you in shame for promoting discrimination. Love and freedom will always win!
I now have to wear double Depends diapers because I have the squirts. Bad.
Hey it's an election year. Of course he is going to support it, whatever it takes to get re-elected.
Thank you Obama for planting your feed on the right side of history! A victory for civil rights for all!
Im not even a Obama supporter, But I commend him on this. Its about time someone up high took a stand for what they knew is right, the Red States be damned!
YAY! I am so happy he came out for EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL! I am SO proud of this president.
Let's see. Comments that gay people will make children gay...huh?
Most of us gay people came from straight parents, they didn't make us straight.
I'm not understanding that comment.
Yay!! So glad he finally said this.
i am a african american male. obama has just lost this election. i will not vote for romney, but i can not vote for obama now. sitting here with some of my co workers who are mostly black. they all agree with me.
Explain please?
How does gay people getting married in any way affect your life? It doesn't. Get over it.
the numbers of african americans who were planning on voting for obama just decreased.
That just shows a flaw in the black male mentality then. Go ahead and call me racist. You said it yourself.