President Obama pressed on gay marriage
Vice President Joe Biden finally said Sunday what gay marriage
supporters have been waiting for President Barack Obama to say — but
his office’s immediate effort to walk back those comments provided
another convoluted step in the White House’s evolution on the issue
that’s already maddening the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
community.
Biden’s comments come on the verge of North Carolina’s vote Tuesday over a gay marriage ban that was causing major frustration with Obama among gay marriage supporters: The president’s against the proposed state constitutional amendment even though he isn’t pro-gay marriage. They’ve also noticed that although his campaign issued a statement on that position in March and another one like it last month for a similar measure going before voters in Minnesota, the statement didn’t come from the president himself.
“You can see it like teasing,” said Kevin Cathcart, the executive
director of Lambda Legal, which leads court cases to expand gay rights
around the country. “There is sometimes a disconnect between the
administration and the community, because I think they think they’re
doing brave important things, and a lot of people on the ground think,
‘Oh, come on already.’”
Biden’s comments sounded like the impassioned position of someone endorsing gay marriage — he spoke of love and loyalty, recounted meeting two children being raised by a gay couple and wanting the whole country to see what he saw and talked about equality as a commonsense issue.
“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,” Biden said on “Meet the Press” in his first interview since Obama formally kicked off the reelection campaign. “And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”
Within minutes, though, Biden’s office was insisting that the vice president hadn’t broken any new ground, telling POLITICO, “The vice president was saying what the president has said previously — that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights.”
Biden’s spokesperson then put the vice president right back in Obama’s rhetorical balancing act, saying “the vice president was expressing that he, too, is evolving on the issue after meeting so many committed couples and families in this country.”
Biden’s comments come on the verge of North Carolina’s vote Tuesday over a gay marriage ban that was causing major frustration with Obama among gay marriage supporters: The president’s against the proposed state constitutional amendment even though he isn’t pro-gay marriage. They’ve also noticed that although his campaign issued a statement on that position in March and another one like it last month for a similar measure going before voters in Minnesota, the statement didn’t come from the president himself.
In other words, the moves meant to add to the
president’s long list of statements and policies favoring gay rights
have for many gay rights activists instead highlighted the biggest thing
missing from that list: the president completing his self-described
evolution and backing full marriage equality.
Biden’s comments sounded like the impassioned position of someone endorsing gay marriage — he spoke of love and loyalty, recounted meeting two children being raised by a gay couple and wanting the whole country to see what he saw and talked about equality as a commonsense issue.
“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,” Biden said on “Meet the Press” in his first interview since Obama formally kicked off the reelection campaign. “And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”
Within minutes, though, Biden’s office was insisting that the vice president hadn’t broken any new ground, telling POLITICO, “The vice president was saying what the president has said previously — that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights.”
Biden’s spokesperson then put the vice president right back in Obama’s rhetorical balancing act, saying “the vice president was expressing that he, too, is evolving on the issue after meeting so many committed couples and families in this country.”
Politico link
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