Barack Obama: U.S. Constitution ‘Does Guarantee Same-Sex Marriage In All Fifty States’

President Barack Obama has completed his “evolution,” acknowledging that the Constitution protects marriage for same-sex couples in all 50 states.

On the campaign trail before the November, 2008 elections, then-Senator Barack Obama was quite clear. Marriage, he said, is a religious institution and he does not support marriage for same-sex couples. “God’s in the mix,” he would end up telling Pastor Rick Warren at the Saddleback Church.

But the former constitutional professor and Harvard Law grad also – despite the lies of the religious right – was quite clear in stating that he did not believe Prop 8 was constitutional, nor did he believe DOMA was. “I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act…I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether.”

In a 2010 White House interview with AMERICAblog’s Joe Sudbay, the president conceded same-sex marriage was “an issue that I wrestle with,” and “something that I think a lot about.” The now famous “evolving” comment came out of that meeting.

One Sunday in May of 2012, Vice President Biden pushed the envelope, telling “Meet the Press” host David Gregory, “The president sets the policy,” but adding, “I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction — beyond that.”

But way back in 1996, as Think Progress documented several years ago, “Illinois Senate candidate Obama submitted a survey to a newspaper called Outlines saying, ‘I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.’ (Read the documents here.)”

Now, fast forward to today. In an interview with Jeffrey Toobin at The New Yorker, President Obama completed his evolution — or went back to his first position, depending on your take.

“Ultimately, I think the Equal Protection Clause does guarantee same-sex marriage in all fifty states,” he said. “But, as you know, courts have always been strategic. There have been times where the stars were aligned and the Court, like a thunderbolt, issues a ruling like Brown v. Board of Education, but that’s pretty rare. And, given the direction of society, for the Court to have allowed the process to play out the way it has may make the shift less controversial and more lasting.”

Evolution complete.

Congratulations.

Now, here’s a question…

 

Image: President Barack Obama kisses First Lady Michelle Obama during her remarks at an Affordable Care Act reception in the East Room of the White House, May 1, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza). Photo via Flickr