President Obama came out in favor of gay marriage for the first time
on Wednesday, saying that he thought it was important for him to “go
ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get
married.”
The president delivered the news in a sit-down interview with ABC News‘ Robin Roberts that came one day after North Carolina became the 30th state in the nation to approve a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have
talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of
my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships,
same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think
about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there
fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask
Don’t Tell is gone, 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 told Roberts.
