President Obama met this afternoon with a slate of the gay community’s best liberal reporters, and dangled a possibility: he might, at some point, in the future, when he has given it enough thought and consideration, and if he can balance his Christian beliefs with the reality of where the country is, now that he has seen people who work for him hold onto jobs and families, support same-sex marriage.
The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld wrote,
“On the question of marriage, President Obama began by clarifying that he wasn’t going to “make big news†at that particular moment. But his answer gave the first indication that he might be rethinking what has so far been his unremitting support for civil unions ever since adopting that stance during his 2006 U.S. Senate bid.
“I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage,†he said. “But I also think you’re right that attitudes evolve, including mine. And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about because I have a whole host of friends who are in gay partnerships. I have staff members who are in committed, monogamous relationships, who are raising children, who are wonderful parents. And I care about them deeply. And so while I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about. That’s probably the best you’ll do out of me today.â€
Six days before the midterm elections, the question is, is that enough?
More to come. Stay tuned.
The New Civil Rights Movement
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