"“I’ve stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient,” Obama said in a White House interview with ABC News’s Robin Roberts. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word ‘marriage’ evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs.”
But, the president said, years of discussion had resulted in an “evolution” to the point that many supporters had hoped for — full backing of gay marriage.
“I have talked to friends and family and neighbors; when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage,” he said, explaining why he’d made the decision.
Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage, the first ever from a president, came just a day after voters in North Carolina approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and following Vice President Joe Biden’s announcement Sunday on “Meet the Press” that he is “absolutely comfortable” with men marrying men and women marrying women. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in an interview Monday on MSNBC that he also supports gay marriage.
For Obama and his top political advisers it came down to a choice between two unpalatable alternatives: come out in support of marriage equality and brave the backlash in battleground states where the issue could be a liability — or keep silent and be accused by allies of gutlessness and putting politics over his principle."
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76103.html
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