When President Obama announced his support for marriage equality, I was only one of numerous writers who pointed out that he stressed the influence of same-sex parents and their children on his decision. Here are two worthwhile articles that explain why Obama’s positioning of his statement in this way is especially significant.
Looks like President Obama’s statement in support of marriage equality is already having an effect. His campaign has updated an earlier blog post and now refers to two lesbian moms as “married.”
When President Obama first announced his support for marriage equality yesterday, he mentioned that his new view was motivated in part by same-sex couples who are raising kids together. In a campaign e-mail later yesterday evening, he said again that he was influenced by the children same-sex parents. His daughters have friends with same-sex parents, he added, and the girls assume that their families should be treated equally:
BREAKING NEWS: President Barack Obama, in an interview with ABC News this afternoon, announced, “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.”
The biggest news this week? Don’t ask. No, really. President Obama has certified that the requirements for repealing the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ban on openly lesbian and gay servicemembers have been met. The ban will end September 20. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held the first-ever hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage
There really was only one choice this week. If you’ve only read about this and haven’t seen it, I recommend that you take the time to do so. (And read the Open Letter to Parents by First Lady Michelle Obama as well.) I’m not doing a Weekly Political Roundup this week because the snow—and school
First: You’re all voting next Tuesday, right? No, no candidate is perfect. Sometimes we need to choose the better of two (or more) evils. I think it’s still important to make that choice, though. President Obama met with five progressive bloggers, who grilled him on marriage equality and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Joe Sudbay, who
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told the audience at the Victory Fund’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Awards that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell “will be gone by the end of the year.” Will the Obama administration appeal the two federal court rulings that declared part of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional? Good question; and Lee
Small holiday that it is, Family Day 2010 slipped by yesterday without much notice. President Obama nevertheless issued a proclamation about it as he did last year. This year’s proclamation, however, omits last year’s mention of different family structures, including children being raised by same-sex couples. Compare (in part): 2009 [my emphasis]: Our family provides
Today is Loving Day, a commemoration of the Loving vs. Virginia U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage, and a day that “fights racial prejudice through education and builds multicultural community.” TIME has a good article with more on the case and its impact, and notes we now have a president who is himself
