• “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”
Obama maintains that these words about gay marriage were not his own
when they appeared in a Chicago gay newspaper, Outlines, in 1996, when
he was running for an Illinois state Senate seat. A candidate survey was
supposedly filled out in error by a staff member.
The words sting even so. Obama has said that his views
on gay rights, like those of many Americans, are “evolving.” But there
weren’t many Americans evolving toward a less tolerant position, which
is what Obama seemed to be for much of his term. Until this summer,
Obama was on record opposed to gay marriage, a position that had him to
the right of Dick Cheney.
He changed that in a May interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts,
essentially adapting the Cheney view of gay marriage — personally in
favor, but regarding it as a state matter. The political calculation
behind Obama’s view was made plain by the statements of White House
aides who said the president’s timing was forced by spontaneous comments
from Vice President Joe Biden. Obama had planned to wait before
clarifying his views until around the Democratic convention.
Obama was praised for making history with his interview. But the
degree of caution in his hedged endorsement has left his position still
something of a muddle. A politician in the 1960s who said he was
personally opposed to segregation but that the matter should be left to
the states would not have been praised for bravery. And it seems likely
that Obama’s position will evolve even further over time.
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