Obama and Gay Marriage: One Year Later | The New Yorker

Contents:

• OBAMA'S EVOLUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE
• OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE: ONE YEAR LATER
• OBAMA CLAR SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• THE 'EVOLUTN' OF OBAMA'S STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE

OBAMA'S EVOLUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE

May 13, 2013 -- In the begng Print Obama approached the issue of gay marriage had long supported civil unns. He had worked to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell" and he'd e out agast the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which ni feral benefs to same-sex upl legally married their even when he beme the first stg print May of 2012 to say that he thought gays and lbians should be able to marry, he moved prsed by ABC's Rob Roberts he suggted that the issue should be left to the stat.

DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE

Even though 30 stat still had language fg marriage as between a man and a woman their nstutns, by November three more stat would thorize gay the time of his gural addrs the print was speakg sweepg said, "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. "He ma clear that support for the eedom to marry is not jt important to gay people and our loved on, but a central part of the Amerin project, our journey toward liberty and jtice for all, " says Evan Wolfson of the group Freedom to Febary, as expected, Solicor General Donald B.

Perry is a challenge to California's Proposn 8, passed 2008, that f marriage as between a man and a by the language the gural addrs, some gay rights advot wonred if the Department of Jtice would weigh , even though the feral ernment wasn't an official party the se.

"It would be very important for , for the Uned Stat to make clear that this is a matter that affects the liv of all Amerins, 's the Constutn for all Ameri, " said Theodore Olson, an attorney reprentg two gay upl challengg Prop Febary 28, Verrilli filed a brief and opponents of Prop 8 were lighted. Verrilli had not lled for a nstutnal right to gay marriage, but he wrote, "the print and the attorney general have termed that classifitns based on sexual orientatn should be subject to heightened scty for equal protectn purpos. "Cooper poted out that California has expansive domtic partnership laws that provi gays and lbians wh "prehensive civil rights protectns.

OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE: ONE YEAR LATER

"Jtice Anthony Kennedy--whose vote uld be pivotal--worried on one hand that soclogil rmatn on gay marriage is relatively new. "In May, Rho Island and Delaware beme the 10th and 11th stat to allow gay marriage addn to the District of the end of June, the Supreme Court will issue opns both the DOMA and Prop 8 s. For some gay rights advot the momentum will be hard to reverse no matter how the Supreme Court l.

OBAMA CLAR SUPPORT FOR GAY MARRIAGE

"As long as all who believe jtice stay wh the work ahead, we will w marriage natnwi eher June wh the Supreme Court lg, or after a few more years of engagement when we go back before the urt wh even more stat, still more public support, and perhaps a uple new jtic, " says urt's lg will e almost at the one year anniversary of the print's ial, personal, endorsement of 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.

And I thk that is an issue that I wrtle wh and thk about bee I have a whole host of iends who are gay partnerships.

"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. OCTOBER 2011: "I'm still workg on , " Obama said when asked by ABC's Gee Stephanopoulos whether he would move om supportg civil unns for same-sex upl to supportg gay marriage.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

But I thk that there's no doubt that as I see iends, fai children of gay upl who are thrivg, you know, that has an impact on how I thk about the issu. March 25, 2013 — -- The Supreme Court will hear arguments two landmark s on same-sex marriage this week, nearly 11 months after Print Obama first announced his support of marriage for same-sex upl, a cisn he reached as part of an "evolutn" over the an terview wh ABC News' Rob Roberts May, Print Obama stated his personal support for same-sex marriage, beg the first print to back marriage publicly for gay and lbian upl.

"But ls than a year later, the Supreme Court is takg up two potentially transformative s on the issue of gay marriage at a time when public support for same-sex marriag has jumped. An ABC News-Washgton Post poll released last week found that 58 percent of Amerins support legalizg marriage for gay and lbian upl, and the past month, two heavy hters polics -- former Secretary of State Hillary Clton and Republin Sen. "My hope is that -- the urt looks at the evince and -- and the California se, for example, the only reason prented for treatg gays and lbians differently was, 'Well, they're gay and lbian.

While the print himself did not issue a wrten argument for the legal brief, he suggted to reporters earlier this month that his terpretatn of the Constutn provis a fundamental right to same-sex 's 'Evolutn' On Gay MarriageIn 1996, Obama, then an Illois state senate ndidate, seemed to back marriag for same-sex upl when he signed a statement rponse to a qutnnaire that read "I favor legalizg same-sex marriag, and would fight efforts to prohib such marriag. 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, " he, as print, Obama, who supported civil unns for gay upl for the better part of his first term, admted he was "evolvg" on the issue at a time when public opn had started to shift toward a greater acceptance of same-sex marriage. "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.

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

But I thk that there's no doubt that as I see iends, fai, children of gay upl who are thrivg, you know, that has an impact on how I thk about the issu.