Changg Views of Gay Marriage: A Deeper Analysis | Pew Rearch Center

Contents:

• THE 'EVOLUTN' OF OBAMA'S STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE
• OBAMA'S GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY: 'I AM JT NOT VERY GOOD AT BULLSHTG'
• CHANGG VIEWS OF GAY MARRIAGE: A DEEPER ANALYSIS
• OBAMA’S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE ‘EVOLVG’
• HIGH-PROFILE POLICIANS WHO CHANGED THEIR POSNS ON GAY MARRIAGE
• DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE
• SECTN 1: LTLE CHANGE VIEWS OF GAY MARRIAGE FOLLOWG OBAMA’S ANNOUNCEMENT
• OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE
• TIMELE OF OBAMA’S GAY MARRIAGE VIEWS
• BIN PROV TALYST FOR OBAMA ON GAY MARRIAGE

THE 'EVOLUTN' OF OBAMA'S STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE

While the print has nsistently supported civil rights for gay upl — pepperg his ments wh specifics such as hospal visatn, transfer of property and Social Secury benefs — his discsn of marriage has differed. "(But) is my obligatn not only as an elected official a pluralistic society, but also as a Christian, to rema open to the possibily that my unwillgns to support gay marriage is misguid, jt as I nnot claim fallibily my support of abortn rights.

OBAMA'S GAY MARRIAGE NTROVERSY: 'I AM JT NOT VERY GOOD AT BULLSHTG'

Still, a 2007 Democratic primary bate sponsored by a gay rights group and a gay-oriented ble TV channel, he spoke stead about his support for civil unns wh "all the benefs that are available for a legally sanctned marriage" — but not for legal regnn of "marriage" between same-sex upl. Senate mpaign, addg, “but what I also believe is that we have an obligatn to make sure that gays and lbians have the rights of cizenship that afford them visatns to hospals, that allow them to transfer property to each other, to make sure they’re not discrimated agast on the job. ” He wrote: “And I was remd that is my obligatn, not only as an elected official a pluralistic society but also as a Christian, to rema open to the possibily that my unwillgns to support gay marriage is misguid … that J’ ll to love one another might mand a different ncln.

CHANGG VIEWS OF GAY MARRIAGE: A DEEPER ANALYSIS

”Acrdg to Chigo’s Daily Herald, while Obama was nng for Senate early 2004, he told the newspaper’s edorial board that the gay rights stggle was parable to the 1960s civil rights movement, sayg that his father and mother wouldn't have been allowed to marry some Southern stat. "So 's not as if I'm not sympathetic to the ia that … polics shouldn't get the way if somethg's right, " Obama told the then he add that gay rights advot had to make strategic cisns and phg for same-sex marriage wasn’t necsarily the bt strategy.

“What I also tell my gay and lbian iends is, look, if I was, you know, functng the early '60s tryg to get the Votg Rights Act passed and the Civil Rights Act passed, then I might not lead polilly wh, you know, tryg to reverse anti- miscegenatn laws.... But Obama's spokman, Robert Gibbs, said, "Barack Obama is opposed to gay marriage but believ civil unns as a policy, and sendly, our posn on a nstutnal amendment (limg marriage to heterosexuals) is exactly the same posn as Vice Print Dick Cheney's that 's unnecsary.

OBAMA’S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE ‘EVOLVG’

”When HRC print Joe Solomone suggted that Obama’s stand sound to gays and lbians like the discreded “separate but equal” doctre that was ed for s to jtify racial discrimatn, Obama reverted to the tactil argument: “if I were advisg the civil rights movement back 1961 about s approach to civil rights, I would have probably said 's ls important that we foc on an anti- miscegenatn law than we foc on a votg rights law and a non- discrimatn and employment law and all the legal rights that are nferred by the state. "Until Congrs pass legislatn repealg the law, the admistratn will ntue to fend the statute when is challenged the jtice system, " Schmaler and Attorney General Eric Holr changed their posn Febary 2011 when Holr announced the admistratn would not fend the nstutnaly of Sectn 3 of DOMA as applied to same-sex married upl the two s filed a feral appeals urtBut as of last summer Obama was still disappotg his gay and lbian supporters by repeatg his view that marriage was an issue for each state to ci. ”Obama replied “what you're seeg is a profound regnn on the part of the Amerin people that gays and lbians and transgenr persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our s, our iends, our -workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other Amerin.

HIGH-PROFILE POLICIANS WHO CHANGED THEIR POSNS ON GAY MARRIAGE

What do mean is that we have a set of tradns place that, I thk, need to be prerved, but I also thk we need to make sure that gays and lbians have the same set of basic rights that are place.

"I thk what you're seeg is a profound regnn on the part of the Amerin people that gays and lbians and transgenr persons are our brothers, our sisters, our children, our s, our iends, our -workers, and that they've got to be treated like every other Amerin, " he said.

DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE

“Opposn to gay marriage was particularly strong the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he gdggly accepted the unsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his posn to support civil unns rather than marriage, which he would term a ‘sacred unn’, ” Axelrod wr.

Sce takg office, Print Obama and his Admistratn have ma historic stris to expand opportuni and advance equaly and jtice for all Amerins, cludg Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgenr (LGBT) Amerins. Insurance pani are no longer able to discrimate agast anyone due to a pre-existg ndn, and bee of the law, surers n no longer turn someone away jt bee he or she is lbian, gay, bisexual, or transgenr. Print Obama veloped and released the first prehensive Natnal HIV/AIDS Strategy for the Uned Stat 2010, updated through 2020, and is implementg to addrs the dispari faced pecially by gay and bisexual men of all rac and ethnici and transgenr women of lor.

SECTN 1: LTLE CHANGE VIEWS OF GAY MARRIAGE FOLLOWG OBAMA’S ANNOUNCEMENT

The Print signed bipartisan legislatn to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell on December 22, 2010, allowg gay, lbian, and bisexual Amerins to serve openly the Armed Forc whout fear of beg dismissed om service bee of who they are and who they love, puttg motn the end of a discrimatory policy that ran unter to Amerin valu. Over the next two years, the iative has veloped and evaluated strategi to prevent lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr youth om beg homels or tervene as early as possible once they do bee homels.

Media ptn, Obama: "Same sex upl should be able to get married"US Print Barack Obama has end months of hedgg on the issue of gay marriage by sayg he thks same-sex upl should be able to has bee the first stg US print to back gay marriage.

Mt Romney, the Republin who is set to challenge Mr Obama for the Whe Hoe November's electns, promptly said he was agast gay recent days, Vice-Print Joe Bin and bet member Arne Dunn had exprsed support for gay unns. "At a certa pot, I've jt nclud that for me personally is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I thk same-sex upl should be able to get married, " Mr Obama told poted to his admistratn's mment to creasg rights for gay cizens. "In 2010, Mr Obama said his views on the issue were "evolvg", a stance that had trated gay rights supporters and ments aired on Wednday e a day after North Carola approved a nstutnal amendment effectively banng same-sex marriage or civil unns.

OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE

Meanwhile, Mr Romney set the stage for an electn year clash over the polarisg social issue by sayg he was agast gay former Massachetts ernor told a Fox News affiliate: "I do not favour marriage between people of the same genr, and I do not favour civil unns if they are intil to marriage other than by name.

TIMELE OF OBAMA’S GAY MARRIAGE VIEWS

“The argument that the Obama admistratn has ma is the Supreme Court should look at the laws very refully bee gays and lbians are a group that have been subject to discrimatn the past, ” said Amy Howe, a legal analyst and edor of, “‘and will be subject to discrimatn gog forward. But 36 stat have specific laws blockg gays and lbians om legally marryg, a pot ma by “tradnal” marriage supporters when dismissg any natnwi social momentum toward acceptance of homosexuals beg allowed to wed.

BIN PROV TALYST FOR OBAMA ON GAY MARRIAGE

Gay rights groups had privately urged Obama and his top ais over a perd of many months to go beyond his prev personal rhetoric support of the marriage right, and e down “on the si of history” this legal stggle. The msage was reaffirmed broad strok at the January gural addrs: “Our journey is not plete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else unr the law – for if we are tly created equal, then surely the love we m to one another mt be equal as well.

At the time though, he utned the urt was not endorsg the ia of same-sex marriage, sayg the private nduct se at hand “do not volve whether the ernment mt give formal regnn to any relatnship that homosexual persons seek to enter. He’s heard om folks—gay and lbian iends, staff members long-term, lovg relatnships, as well as brave young servicemen and women he got to know through the fight to end Don’t, Ask Don’t Tell.

’ — and that is the cx of the matter: Rpect for the prciple of equal treatment, and an acknowledgment that the human yearng for love n lead to an equally human yearng for fay… mment to gay marriage puts him on the right si of history, and monstrat his willgns to embrace the future.