Comments on: Barack Obama Was For Same-Sex Marriage Before He Was Against It

By: Inaugural alpenglow at Lesbian Dad

Inaugural alpenglow at Lesbian Dad — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 01:57:23 +0000

[...] And major: doing next to nothing to help turn back the tide of bigotry in California (and FL, and AK, and AZ) this past fall, in fact being sure to include the words “I am against gay marriage,” or “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman” every time he answered questions about Prop 8 and other anti-gay marriage initiatives. All of which has an even more bitter aftertaste when we’re reminded that he clearly asserted, in 1996, while a senatorial candidate, that he supported gay marriage. [...]

By: idyllicmollusk

idyllicmollusk — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:03:15 +0000

Well, like Jake said. Obama is a politician. Why do we keep expecting successful politicians to be martyrs and angels?

Working for real social change through careful political compromises doesn’t really work.

By: Attmay

Attmay — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:58:44 +0000

So he’s a cynical panderer and a hypocrite. But I already knew that.

By: Tab Dump « Blog By Barry

Tab Dump « Blog By Barry — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:22:04 +0000

[...] Obama was for same-sex marraige before he was against it [...]

By: Ephilei

Ephilei — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:20:01 +0000

Does it matter? It’s not like federal marriage is going to come up in the next four years. If he has a second term, that’s enough time to change his mind again just like many others would need to change. He supports the issues of DOMA, DADT, and ENDA and only those will come up in his first term.

By: AJD

AJD — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:50:45 +0000

I don’t think Obama ever actually opposed same-sex marriage; otherwise, he would have supported Prop 8. He just said he was against same-sex marriage to attract the votes of the religious right types.

By: catherine898

catherine898 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:21:45 +0000

It’s reasonable to accept gay marriage. But i am not forcing others to accept it. But I just can’t understand why other can’t accept this as a common thing. “Our heart is full of love as you straight people do. why not?” said by my bisexual friend at Bimingle.com. well, it is a popuar issure for us to disscussed and i can also calm down to hear any opinion.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:06:18 +0000

The answer is simple folks. Obama believes in marriage equality, but he had to soften his stance in order to get elected. It’s politics.

By: lurker

lurker — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:19:29 +0000

“What I’m saying is that strategically, I think we can get civil unions passed. I think we can get SB 101 passed. I think that to the extent that we can get the rights, I’m less concerned about the name.”

Civil Unions are soooooo 2001! Connecticut experience showed that the name really matters. Really. Either we all get the name or none of us do (personally, I’d prefer the latter).

But we are making progress – it was 18 years between California’s striking-down of its anti-miscegination laws and Loving v. Virginia. A whole generation! We’re moving pretty fast now.

I do wish Obama were more courageous on this issue. He’s a very successful politician, and presumeably a good judge of who he can throw-under-the-bus to optimize his political agenda. Unfortunately, right now it’s us. But it’s getting harder every year for politicians to ignore our concerns.