[9TWSg835]

Obama expected to speak on gay marriage

By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 5/9/12 11:03 AM EDT

President Barack Obama is expected to speak about his views on gay marriage in an interview Wednesday afternoon, following days of increasing pressure to clarify his “evolving” position on the issue.

Obama is scheduled to sit down with ABC News’s Robin Roberts at the White House for a hastily scheduled interview just a day after voters in North Carolina approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. A source at ABC told POLITICO that Roberts will ask Obama about his views on gay marriage.

The full interview is set to air Thursday on “Good Morning America,” but some excerpts are expected to be released Wednesday.

“I think the waiting is finally over,” said Richard Socarides, who served as an LGBT adviser to President Bill Clinton. “I’m hopeful that the president is going to speak directly on this issue. When he does, I think it will be an important moment.” (emphasis added)

Obama’s chance to speak out on the issue comes days after two top members of the Obama administration publicly voiced their own support for gay marriage. Vice President Joe Biden said Sunday on “Meet the Press” that he is “absolutely comfortable” with men marrying men and women marrying women, while Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview Monday on MSNBC that he supports gay marriage.

The administration has stressed that Biden and Duncan were voicing their personal opinions and not an official policy position, but their comments have nonetheless spurred reporters and gay rights activists to ask whether Obama’s personal views have also changed.

Obama said in late 2010 that his views on gay marriage were “evolving” and, since then, administration officials have pointed back to those comments, stressing that Obama is a supporter of gay rights who has overseen the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and whose Justice Department has stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act.

Obama’s campaign issued a statement in March opposing the North Carolina gay marriage ban, and Tuesday night issued another, stating “President Obama has long believed that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples and is disappointed in the passage of this amendment.”

Given recent developments, “it’s time for [Obama] to complete the journey that so many Americans have taken,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, in a Wednesday morning appearance on MSNBC. “I think the president has a lot to gain and little to lose” by speaking out and “being authentic about what he believes.”

Facing a barrage of questions during his daily briefing on Monday following the comments from Biden and Duncan, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that “the president is the right person to describe his own personal views” — something Obama will have a chance to do on Wednesday.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories...#ixzz1uO4krXul

[Vzkdgdqx]

I think that even though the economy is improving (albeit very slowly) the Obama campaign likes anything dominating the news other than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Vice President Biden's comments on Meet the Press last weekend weren't a brilliant move to keep the economy away from the cable-news broadcast's top story list. I mean you can talk about the tanning-obsessed mother for just so long.

I hope he doesn't come out (so to speak ) in favor of gay marriage. Not until after the election. Those on the far right don't need any more motivation to go to the polls in November.

[Sarah Armstrong]

I think that even though the economy is improving (albeit very slowly) the Obama campaign likes anything dominating the news other than that. I wouldn't be surprised if Vice President Biden's comments on Meet the Press last weekend weren't a brilliant move to keep the economy away from the cable-news broadcast's top story list. I mean you can talk about the tanning-obsessed mother for just so long.

I hope he doesn't come out (so to speak ) in favor of gay marriage. Not until after the election. Those on the far right don't need any more motivation to go to the polls in November.

Agreed.

[riverakathy]

His own personal views and what he believes the US government can do pursuant to the US Constitution can be two different things, can't they? Or, would that be considered a cop-out?

[Vzkdgdqx]

His own personal views and what he believes the US government can do pursuant to the US Constitution can be two different things, can't they? Or, would that be considered a cop-out?

I think they can be two different things. Not unlike a woman's right to choose. Someone can be anti-abortion but believe all women should have the right to make that choice themselves. I think the President can be pro gay marriage but maybe think it should be a state's choice to create the laws for or against it.

I guess we're waiting for him to come out and make his statement.

[9TWSg835]

NY Times: Obama calls for legalization of same-sex marriage in ABC interview.

Details coming.

[Vzkdgdqx]

I just heard the sound from the interview and the President said that this was a "personal" belief. He didn't bring policy into it at all. Unless the NY Times has heard more of the interview then MSNBC just played, they got it wrong.

[9TWSg835]

I just heard the sound from the interview and the President said that this was a "personal" belief. He didn't bring policy into it at all. Unless the NY Times has heard more of the interview then MSNBC just played, they got it wrong.

Really? I get these push notes from the NY Times, that's where my post came from. If incorrect, my sincere apologies.

[riverakathy]

In the interview, Mr. Obama spoke about how his views about same-sex marriage have changed over the years, in part because of prodding from friends who are gay.

“I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient,” Mr. Obama told Ms. Roberts. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.”

But he added that “I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2...-interview/?hp

[9TWSg835]

Another source...

President Barack Obama says he now supports same-sex marriage, ending months of equivocation on a subject with powerful election-year consequences. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...#ixzz1uOwt11F5

So I guess I need to hear the whole interview - I guess I think if you say you support same sex marriage, you believe it should be legalized. But you're saying he does not say that, Kirkus?

[riverakathy]

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.

http://gma.yahoo.com/obama-announces...-marriage.html

[9TWSg835]

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.

http://gma.yahoo.com/obama-announces...-marriage.html

He supports the right of states to decide on their own, but condemns North Carolina for deciding on its own not to support?

Freaking political doublespeak.

[JOR4qxYH]

I need to watch the video still, but so far it sounds weak. I would hope the nation's leader would come out and say this is a freedom that is covered under the "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" clause, and that states can not over-ride the US Constitution.

[FrassyLap]

yeah, I remember seeing/hearing that he stated this was a personal belief and that he believed it's a states issue, NOT saying that he was calling for same sex marriage being legalised. The interviewer also said that Romney saying he was for a federal ban on gay marriage was, in part, why he decided to speak up (since he believes that it's a states issue)

[JOR4qxYH]

Hmm, is this Romney forcing Obama's hand, or Obama forcing the right to dig in further on the issue and make it a big campaign issue? I'd say pro-legalization has the numbers, but the other side is more passionate about it.

[FrassyLap]

I think making it an issue during the election would hurt him more than help him
Even what he said today is gonna do that, though, I think.

[new-nickname-zanovo]

I´ve wanted Obama to nut up for a while and make a stand on this, but it seems like poor timing. It sounds like he is in danger of simultaneously annoying his base and riling up the other.

[Vzkdgdqx]

He supports the right of states to decide on their own, but condemns North Carolina for deciding on its own not to support?

Freaking political doublespeak.

Right!?

Who knows now. Maybe the NY Times was correct. MSNBC only showed a short short short clip of the interview. The President may have said more on a policy front then they played.

Semantics. Politics. Doublespeak. I wish American politics would allow them to say what they mean.

[Vzkdgdqx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGMT...layer_embedded

[Vzkdgdqx]

Sorry. I didn't realize that video clip was cut short. Apparently ABC News, in their haste to get it out (or the desire for people to have to visit their website) cut it short.