MITT ROMNEY ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY: “My position is the same on gay marriage as it’s been from the beginning. That is, that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. That’s the posture that I had as governor, and I have that today…If a civil union is identical to marriage, other than with the name, I don’t support that, but I certainly recognize that hospital visitation rights and things of that nature may well be appropriate, and states are able to make provisions for determination of those kinds of rights, as well as, if you will, benefits that might accrue to state workers. But my view is the same as it’s been from the beginning, which is I don’t favor civil union if it’s identical to marriage and I don’t favor marriage between people of the same gender.”
BARACK OBAMA ON MARRIAGE EQUALITY: “I’ve stood on the side of broader side of equality for the LGBT community. I had hesitated on gay marriage, in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient, that that was something that would give people hospital vistitations, elements that we take for granted. And I was sensitive to the fact that, for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth. But I have to say, over the course of several years, as I talked to friends and family and neighbors. When I think about members of my own staff, who are in incredibly committed monogamous 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Marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf, and feel constrained even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is repealed… At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think that same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
You can call this announcement bullshit if you want… But have you considered the alternative? It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think this was a historical moment, in which Barack Obama became the first US President to ever endorse same-sex marriage.
You are welcome to disagree.
– Dewitt
Click through to watch videos of both interviews:
MITT ROMNEY:
BARACK OBAMA (excerpt of full interview):
ADDITIONALLY:
(via Good As You)
Dewitt, please follow this posting with a tasteful mature/interesting piece rather than a smutty posting. Keep the dialogue or taste level (if we wanna call it that) at a good level.
Good on Obama he is the best President we have seen in a long time
Oops. I think Paul Wagner’s ass is in good taste (or at least tastes good).
Is it so wrong to care about important issues AND porn?
Obama’s statement was not purely political, unless he has the worst campaign adviser since McCain.
At best it shows that he has principle; at worst it lost him the election.
what an historic and proud day for all Americans regardless their sexual orientation. i’m proud to call Barack Obama my president. he took a brave stand yesterday for equality and against discrimination. if this decision proves detrimental to his 2012 presidential campaign, then so be it but his message will echo in our nation’s heart forever. i truly hope Americans will now pause to consider just who gays and lesbians are; we’re not some fringe element of this society or the world population in general. we’re a part of the diversity that strengthens rather than weakens our nation. all Americans work side-by-side and share the family table with gay, lesbian and transgendered people who strive for the very same things in life that our heterosexual counterparts do. our needs and desires are no different than anyone else’s. the humanity of this president’s words will last forever.
when i heard this interview on the ABC World News for the first time last evening i rose from my seat in somewhat disbelief of what i was witnessing and remained stock still for a moment to process the importance of his words in a nation and world that is so quickly becoming so polarized that neither side leaves any room for discussion. our minds must be pried open before they become shut so tightly that our hearts lose compassion.
Personally I dont think it is BS. People do evolve over time. I feel the President with the help of his wife and Joe Biden along with his daughters, was able to see a different side. My nephews are close in age to the Presidents daughters. It is amazing to see how these kids today dont see gender, color, race or even sexual identity.
Obama hit the nail on the head, I think. Civil Unions -ought- to be sufficient. In the eyes of government they cannot be because “marriage” is involved with over a thousand laws and statutes involving everything from the tax code to Fair Faith and Credit … really important stuff.
If it had been possible to use a different word, such as “civil union” or “domestic partner” that guaranteed all the exact same access and equal protections of law as marriage does now then I think it is safe to say that we would not need to be here today. The single thing that motivates social conservatives most powerfully is fear. If you want them to do something it is quite simple: … you make them feel afraid. And nothing makes them feel more afraid than a direct assault on the tenets of their faith. In this, the agitators against marriage equality have acted predictably and cleverly. By making “marriage” more about an assault on faith and less about equality in the eyes of government, they have fostered a titanic and incredibly powerful lobby against marriage equality. And they have done this all — very erroneously — in the name of defense of faith.
Marriage equality should be simply about the issue of equality. The very fact that the word “marriage” has become indelibly stamped on the issue is fodder for specious lobbying, obfuscation, and unjustifiable fear-mongering.
But nobody is more effective and better at fear-mongering than conservatives.
Nope
He’d have had principle if he had followed up his statement with something like “I support same-sex marriage, and I will make it part of my agenda in a second term to overturn bans on same-sex marriage in those states that have implemented them.” But he didn’t. For all intents and purposes, he’s voted “Present” again.
He said this was a personal choice; he was for gay marriage early on in his career, until he needed to say he was against it to further his political ambitions, but we’ll discuss that later. He further said it should be left up to the states to decide. Nearly 40 states have made that decision already, be it for or against, including the one where he’ll have his party’s convention in a few months. He made no promise or no mention of how he’d convince the 30 states who’ve banned it to change their minds or to encourage the 10-odd remaining states to make a statement themselves.
The bottom line is this. Obama got some bad news in Tuesday’s elections, and he’d been repeatedly told that big donors weren’t going to pony up anymore until he said something. So he did … the politically safest statement he could make and still bring in the cash. A man with principle would have said what he intended to do about it, election and cash be damned. I’m gay, but I don’t like being pandered to, either.
Romney is a t***!
How selfish to say such a thing about same sex marriage! It makes me so angry. As a gay man myself I don’t personally want to get married but it should be up to the people themselves if they want to marry or not.
Richard
UK
This is a proud and definitive moment in history, for Obama at least.
I’m seriously overjoyed with him.
The Defense of Marriage Act makes it impossible to move forward until
the issue of the word “marriage” is addressed. This whole fight is
literally (haha) about a word, or its definition under federal law. A
civil union or domestic partnership, in addition to not rolling off of
the tongue quite the same way as “marriage,” still perpetuates a second
class of American citizens, even with total federal recognition and
protection. If I can’t say that I’m married to my husband and I can’t
call him my spouse when we interact with the federal government, then I
have a separate relationship from him than that which a heterosexual
couple enjoys.
As we learned fifty-odd years ago, separate rights are not equal rights. They just aren’t, no matter how you slice it. Phrases like “civil union” and “domestic partnership” are the obfuscation, a deliberate effort to fracture what should be unanimous support from us on this issue. We can not afford the compromise of equivalence when what we seek is equality.
Addendum: It’s pretty spectacular that our President recognizes the legitimacy of our cause; now that he’s made a statement which it’s pretty much impossible to back down from, I can only hope that he’s re-elected to make progress on the issue in legislation. I remember saying three years ago that this is a man who has delivered on his promises to America, and that I forgave him waiting on THIS issue when our economy was in the tank, when we were knee-deep in our Vietnam, and his focus had to be on those matters rather than social justice. We’re moving beyond those things now, and it’s our turn. Whether his statement was a personal revelation or a political maneuver, it frames the action to come, and it’s looking pretty good for us.
GAY LOVE IS SIN(sational)
Looks like Biden forced his hand; it was either put up or shut up. It remains to be seen how the issue will effect the election.
His ineptitude will cost him the election, but this way he has us to blame when he does lose. He’s as full of shit as he’s always been.
I still say someone sneaked his support statement into his teleprompter and he had no choice but to own it once he read it.
AMEN
Sorry, but there are WAY more important things in this country that need fixing before GLBT issues. Government is a buisness and needs to be run like one, and to do that, it needs someone with a proven record of business successes under his belt. Common sense should tell people they can’t keep withdrawing money that isn’t there to begin with.
you hit the nail on the head there. I dont care about what Obama said about gay marriage its everything else he doing that spends millions of dollars that are not there to spend and continues to increase benefits for nonworking american and or illegal americans benefits who have no right to any benefits in the first place since they are not citizens to begin. If someone wants a handout they need to have been on the paying in side first before they are elibile for a free ride. Quit giving anyone and everyone a free ride when they dont deserve it.
It was pandering, pure and simple. It’s someone trying to get money out of the queers and to try to get liberals (who got him elected in the first place and are disappointed with him and his presidency) out to vote in November.
And can someone tell me how a constitutional scholar could ever think that a “Plessy v Ferguson”-style of separate-but-equal could ever be acceptable since Loving v Virginia (as well as several other cases) called marriage a “fundamental right?”