Obama declares support for gay "marriage."

Obama declares support for gay marriage
By Rick Klein
ABC News
9 May 2012

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-announces-his-support-for-same-sex-marriage.html

President Obama today announced that he now supports same-sex marriage, reversing his longstanding opposition amid growing pressure from the Democratic base and even his own vice president.

In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, the president described his thought process as an “evolution” that led him to this place, based on conversations with his own staff members, openly gay and lesbian service members, and conversations with his wife and own daughters.

"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, in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday. Excerpts of the interview will air tonight on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer.”

The president stressed that this is a personal position, and that he still supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own. But he said he’s confident that more Americans will grow comfortable with gays and lesbians getting married, citing his own daughters’ comfort with the concept.

“It’s interesting, some of this is also generational,” the president continued. “You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex equality or, you know, believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”

Roberts asked the president if First Lady Michelle Obama was involved in this decision. Obama said she was, and he talked specifically about his own faith in responding.
“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”

Previously, Obama has moved in the direction of supporting same-sex marriage but has consistently stopped short of outright backing it. Instead, he’s voiced support for civil unions for gay and lesbian couples that provide the rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples, though not defined as “marriage.” At the same time, the president has opposed efforts to ban gay marriage at the state level, saying that he did not favor attempts to strip rights away from gay and lesbian couples.

The president’s position became a flashpoint this week, when Vice President Joe Biden pronounced himself “absolutely comfortable” with allowing same-sex couples to wed.

Obama aides insisted there was no daylight between the positions held by the president and his vice president when it comes to legal rights, but as other prominent Democrats also weighed in in favor of gay marriage, the disconnect became difficult for the White House to explain away.

The announcement completes a turnabout for the president, who has opposed gay marriage throughout his career in national politics. In 1996, as a state Senate candidate, he indicated support for gay marriage in a questionnaire, but Obama aides later disavowed it and said it did not reflect the candidate’s position.

In 2004, as a candidate for the US Senate, he cited his own religion in framing his views: “I'm a Christian. I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.”

He maintained that position through his 2008 presidential campaign, and through his term as president, until today.

As president in 2010, Obama told ABC’s Jake Tapper that his feelings about gay marriage were “constantly evolving. I struggle with this.” A year later, the president told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “I’m still working on it.”

“I probably won't make news right now, George,” Obama said in October 2011. “But I think that there's no doubt that as I see friends, families, children of gay couples who are thriving, you know, that has an impact on how I think about these issues.”

Obama’s decision has political connotations for the fall.

The issue divides elements of the Democratic base, with liberals and gay-rights groups eager to see the president go farther, but with gay marriage far less popular among African-American voters.

Just yesterday, in North Carolina, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage. President Obama carried North Carolina in 2008, and its status as a 2012 battleground was guaranteed by Democrats’ decision to hold their convention in Charlotte this summer.

Obama’s likely Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, opposes gay marriage, and fought his state’s highest court when Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004, when Romney was governor. Romney said on the campaign trail Monday that he continues to oppose gay marriage.

“My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman,” Romney said. “That’s the position I’ve had for some time, and I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point. … Or ever, by the way.”

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-announces-his-support-for-same-sex-marriage.html

This is a clever political strategy by the President. It will bait social conservatives and politically minded Christians into attacks against same-sex marriages. Already the blogs, radio programs, facebook news feeds, etc are lighting up. Two things will be accomplished by this: One, the President's liberal base will be energized by the outrage expressed from the social conservatives. Two, as the inevitable incendiary language from the right is voiced, the President will take the high ground and alienate the electorate from the perceived 'extreme' right.

And all of this will be provided to the President free of charge by his reactionary opponents.

It's no real surprise that the President supports 'gay marriage'. If the conservatives are smart they'll save this issue for another day.

This is what happens when people replace God with government. Out of control spending and sin. He sold his soul today.

Hi hulsey,

This is a clever political strategy by the President. It will bait social conservatives and politically minded Christians into attacks against same-sex marriages. Already the blogs, radio programs, facebook news feeds, etc are lighting up. Two things will be accomplished by this: One, the President's liberal base will be energized by the outrage expressed from the social conservatives. Two, as the inevitable incendiary language from the right is voiced, the President will take the high ground and alienate the electorate from the perceived 'extreme' right.

And all of this will be provided to the President free of charge by his reactionary opponents.

It's no real surprise that the President supports 'gay marriage'. If the conservatives are smart they'll save this issue for another day.

I suspect that the president might try to maneuver this as a "equal rights" issue -- without saying how it would impact individuals, churches, small businesses or even the Constitutional concept of both "free speech" and "free exercise" of religious faith. In California, legislators are trying to ban the "conversion" of homosexuals.

http://tinyurl.com/californiaconversions

Now, the end will come no matter what. It will grow even more immoral than it is right now. However, that doesn't mean that believers must remain silent in such matters. John Baptist was imprisoned because he spoke out about how "unlawful" it was for the king to take up his brother's wife.

Still, you are probably right. There will be someone who will say something hateful or less-than-edifying and it will be published in the media as if it were reflective of ALL people -- including Christians -- who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. There will be homosexual activists vilifying Christians and Christianity while simultaneously calling for "tolerance." Unfortunately, their idea of "tolerance" is to simply accept their lifestyle as "normal" and that any idea that opposes homosexuality is "on the wrong side of history."

I guess I have a good question I wonder about, when God begins to pour out his wrath on the US, will Christians suffer also.
I know he has already begin to, just look at the economy, although my business is doing great "thank you Lord! you wonder will there be another 911 or maybe two or three at the same time.

My reaction to this story posted here is the same as my reaction to it when it was posted on FoxNews and other national media: How is this news????

Anyone who is the LEAST surprised by this has had their head in the SAND. Anyone who did not know FROM DAY ONE that Obama was pro-homosexual everything must be seriously deluded or worse. From the beginning he established the National GLBT Day. So why are people printing this as if it is news????

I suspected this would come one day. One of the darkest days in American History. Christian, stand up for the truth and be not afraid to speak out.

Govenor Romney announced today on Fox news that he is fine with gay adoption.

What he said was, "I happen to believe that the best setting for raising a child is where this is the opportunity to a mom and a dad to be in the home. There are many circumstances where that is not possible. Through death. Divorce. I know that gay couples are able to adopt children. That is fine. But my preference is we encourage the marriage of a man and a woman and we continue to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.”

Furthermore, he reiterated something that he has stated several times in the past...that states should be able to make up their laws about "gay adoption" and restrict or outlaw them as the state sees fit.

So, it would be just as incorrect to imply that he is somehow embracing the idea of gay adoption as it would be to imply that he embraces the idea of gay marriage. At least in word, Romney opposes both...particularly on a federal level. And, of course, there is a big contrast between what he said and what the President said.

However, the point of the article is to demonstrate how society has fallen to the point of creating their own set or morals and justice and rejecting the truth about what is right and wrong. It is the "redefining" of this that is disturbing...and an indication of the times (Isaiah 5:20).

If you go to the 4 minute mark, or better still, watch the whole interview, I think you will see that there would be no period where Chris put it and he says that gay adoption is fine.

I'm not sure what you mean. He said what I quoted above (although I got the quote from an Associated Press article that included the audio). I think that he is making it pretty clear that he doesn't support homosexual "marriage" and that he was saying that he believes that it is more important to have a mother and a father in the home. He also stated that he thinks that the people of the states should have the ability to make laws about it.

Regardless, my advice is to flee Babylon, for things are moving along swiftly, press into the heart of God, stay close to His heart for this gay marriage is simply one more issue on the road to Jesus' return.

I agree. At the same time, I think that it is important to note that those of us who are walking with God wholeheartedly have already "fled" Babylon.

The best way to "flee" Babylon is not to point out issues with a secular government or apparent flaws in a candidate. It is to point others to run to the Lord while journeying to Him ourselves. Amen?