Obama and Gay Marriage | The New Yorker

Contents:

• THE 'EVOLUTN' OF OBAMA'S STANCE ON GAY MARRIAGE
• OBAMA'S EVOLUTN ON GAY MARRIAGE
• THE EVOLUTN OF THE NATN’S ‘FIRST GAY PRINT’
• DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE
• OBAMA SAYS HE DIDN'T MISLEAD ON GAY MARRIAGE
• TIMELE OF OBAMA’S GAY MARRIAGE VIEWS
• OBAMA’S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE ‘EVOLVG’
• OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE
• BIN PROV TALYST FOR OBAMA ON GAY MARRIAGE

THE 'EVOLUTN' OF OBAMA'S STANCE 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. 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.

OBAMA'S EVOLUTN 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. 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. “That’s why we fend ee speech, and advote for polil prisoners, and nmn the persecutn of women, or relig mori, or people who are lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr. ”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....

THE EVOLUTN OF THE NATN’S ‘FIRST GAY PRINT’

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. ”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.

DISSECTG PRINT OBAMA'S 'EVOLUTN' ON GAY MARRIAGE

”Later the 2008 mpaign Obama returned to his recurrg theme that gay and lbian rights were sometim ed to distract voters om what they really ought to be votg on: enomic issu. "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. 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 SAYS HE DIDN'T MISLEAD ON GAY MARRIAGE

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.

He offered an explanatn that would prage his 2012 shift: "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.

TIMELE OF OBAMA’S GAY MARRIAGE VIEWS

Obama, a nsistent supporter of civil rights for gay upl, neverthels said as early as 2004 and through 2008 that he didn’t support same-sex marriage. 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.

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.

OBAMA’S VIEWS ON GAY MARRIAGE ‘EVOLVG’

"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. "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.

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.

OBAMA AND GAY MARRIAGE

"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. 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.

BIN PROV TALYST FOR OBAMA ON GAY MARRIAGE

"The print ced those same iends and fai when he publicly announced his support for gay marriage last year, tellg Roberts that he believ people will bee more fortable wh the ia the years to e.

Two people who attend the event dispute Mutick’s characterizatn and say the vice print gave them no reason to believe the print or the Whe Hoe was gog to reveal a change of posn on gay marriage. Print Barack Obama mataed a new terview that he “evolved” on gay marriage, spe a top ai’s assertn a new book that he was “bullshtg” 2008 when he opposed the unns.

"APRIL 2, 2008●From an MSNBC "Hardball wh Chris Matthews" terview: "You know, I'm not favor of gay marriage, but I'm favor of a very strong civil unn.