Was obama against gay and lesbian marriages

From my perspective, what I'm interested is making sure that those legal rights are available to people. WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Barack Obama, the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on gay rights punctuate an evolution as president on the subject of same-sex marriage — a personal journey that has taken him from opposition to ambivalence to enthusiastic support.

In the interview, Obama also talked about how his own faith shaped his views on the issue. I might really focus on getting rights that are concrete and that are going to be important and politically are achievable. Barack Hussein Obama II[a] (born August 4, ) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from to A member of the Democratic Party, he was.

Inas he ran for Illinois state Senate, Chicago’s Outlines gay newspaper asked. Obama was in favor of same-sex marriage before he was against it — and before he was for it again. Inas he ran for Illinois state Senate, Chicago’s Outlines gay newspaper asked.

President Obama remains opposed to same-sex marriage, even though he agrees with a district judge that California's ban against it is unconstitutional, a White House adviser said. Before winning. But I think others within the Christian faith can feel very differently about it," Obama said.

Since stepping on to the national stage in when he ran for the Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama has shifted his views on whether same-sex couples should have the legal right to marry. But it was not yet clear from the excerpts that ABC News released on Wednesday afternoon whether Obama intended to use his political clout to try to get legislatures in the majority of states to change their laws, whether he would appoint federal judges who would overturn state laws on constitutional grounds, or by what other means he would use his power to enable same-sex couples to marry.

In a debate the following month with Keyes, Obama said, "I'm a Christian, and so although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman," Obama said.

But I also agree with most Americans, including Vice President Cheney and over 2, religious leaders of all different beliefs, that decisions about marriage should be left to the states as they always have been. That's my Christian ethos. Obama was in favor of same-sex marriage before he was against it — and before he was for it again.

And as he was often to do in the next few years, he also accused opponents of same-sex marriage of trying to exploit the issue for their political advantage. By Wednesday his views had evolved to the position that gay and lesbian rights advocates had urged upon him since Related: Obama backs same-sex marriage.

They vote on issues like gay marriage.

same-sex marriage act

Barack Obama (born August 4,Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.) is the 44th president of the United States (–17) and the first African American to hold the office. Later in the campaign Obama returned to his recurring theme that gay and lesbian rights were sometimes used to distract voters from what they really ought to be voting on: economic issues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Barack Obama, the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions on gay rights punctuate an evolution as president on the subject of same-sex marriage — a personal journey that has taken him from opposition to ambivalence to enthusiastic support.

In the campaign Obama also addressed the law signed by President Bill Clinton, the Defense of Marriage Act which says that no state shall be required to recognize marriages between persons of the same sex performed in other states. And look, you know, semantics may be important to some.

This is the latest wedge issue to divide the Democratic Party. And, you know, my interest is to avoid playing on their court on this issue," he said. President Obama remains opposed to same-sex marriage, even though he agrees with a district judge that California's ban against it is unconstitutional, a White House adviser said.

When he ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in andObama spoke at a forum sponsored by the gay advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign. Inthen-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and other GOP conservatives pushed for an amendment to the Constitution to clarify that there was no fundamental constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry.

Obama was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, prior to graduating magna cum laude in He returned to Chicago in and served as the. In Augustas Obama battled Republican Alan Keyes in the Senate race, his rival accused him of equivocating on the issue.

But Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said, "Barack Obama is opposed to gay marriage but believes in civil unions as a policy, and secondly, our position on a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexuals is exactly the same position as Vice President Dick Cheney's in that it's unnecessary.

He said, "I personally believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Obama voted against moving ahead with the proposed amendment.