Here’s a video of President Obama discussing the New York same-sex marriage equality bill while attending the LGBT DNC fundraiser.
Disappointing that he’s defaulting to the false, conservative argument of states’ rights.
Marriage is a civil right. Civil rights are federal.
“Part of the reason that DOMA doesn’t make sense is that traditionally marriage has been decided by the states and right now, I understand there is a little debate going on here in New York about whether to join five other states and DC in allowing civil marriage for gay couples. And I want to say that under the leadership of Governor Cuomo, with the support of Democrats and Republicans, New York is doing exactly what democracies are supposed to to do. There is a debate, there is a deliberation about what it means here in New York to treat people fairly in the eyes of the law and that is — look, that’s the power of our democratic system.”
And then gets heckled, a bit.
Thanks to the great folks at Think Progress for the video and for the transcript!