Barack Obama has become the first US president to openly support gay marriage.
In an interview broadcast on US TV network ABC yesterday afternoon, Obama said that after careful consideration, he had decided to speak out in support of gay rights.
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“Over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbours, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships — same sex relationships — who are raising kids together,” he said.
“When I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage…
“At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.”
Obama said his daughters Malia, 14, and Sasha, 10, played a big part in changing his opinion on gay marriage. The girls have friends who had same sex parents, and can’t understand why that means they get treated differently.
“It wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently,” Obama said.
“It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
Same sex marriage is an extremely divisive issue in the US. Gay rights activists have said they believe Obama has privately supported them for years, but was afraid to make a public declaration because he was worried about alienating voters.
The Democrats are now reportedly considering making marriage equality an official platform in the upcoming presidential elections.
Obama’s public opinion on gay marriage has evolved during his career in politics.
In 1996 he told a group of gay rights activists that he supported same sex marriage and would fight plans to ban it.
By 2004, he had changed his opinion, saying he thought marriage was between a man and a woman, as stated in the bible.
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Four years later in 2008, he reaffirmed his commitment to the Christian concept of marriage but in 2010 he said his opinions were “evolving”.
Last year, he clarified his stance, saying he was against gay marriage, but in support of “strong civil unions”.
Your say: Do you think Julia Gillard should follow Obama’s lead and come out in support of gay marriage?
