[Baltimoron]

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-announce...-marriage.html

Mixed emotions. I'm happy he came out in favor of it, but all I can say is, good luck in November, Mr. President. This will mobilize the evangelicals and other hardcore social conservatives. He had to do this, due to Biden's comments earlier in the week, but it's an incredibly difficult balancing act he's trying to pull off. This also comes just days after North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage.

[Sgt.Incontro]

Marriage certificates/laws are with the state; the federal government has nothing to do with it... Just trying to get votes.

(Then again its not like the gay liberals were going to vote for anyone else.)

[zedaa]

woahh

[BryanUsrey]

'Murica. Where we try and tell the world to be free, and then tell our own citizens that they can't do something. It's denying rights to people in an unconstitutional way.

In words of Kal Penn:

Sad to see North Carolina double-ban marriage equality. If it was truly about the "sanctity of marriage", you'd have made divorce illegal too."

Still, it should be fun listening the religious clans go off on him come election time.

[Baltimoron]

(Original post by Sgt.Incontro)
Marriage certificates/laws are with the state; the federal government has nothing to do with it... Just trying to get votes.

(Then again its not like the gay liberals were going to vote for anyone else.)

Seriously? This is going to hurt him so much more than it will help him. Don't underestimate the hate and bigotry of social conservatives. They will go after him hard on this one.

[Sgt.Incontro]

(Original post by Baltimoron)
Seriously? This is going to hurt him so much more than it will help him. Don't underestimate the hate and bigotry of social conservatives. They will go after him hard on this one.

Hmm...

This statement is merely part of Obama's "perceived" value of fairness - and possibly is that fairness which will win him a second term. Hmm... Yea unlikely.

But the right, and anti-gay people weren't going to vote for him anyway, so he is possibly trying to cluster as much support as he can from the much more moderate? I really don't know...

Yeah, he definitely did lose the election. It's a shame in a way, because there is a chance Romney is now going to take the country into an unjustified and unnecessary war with Iran, despite me not liking Obama.

[buchanan700]

The sooner the better. Don't understand why this isnt happening faster, but sorry homophobes and opponents, it is going to happen...

[Maynia]

Incumbent president trying to energise his base immediately before an election? Unheard of!

But seriously, yeah. This will go one of two ways. Either it backfires and loses the election for him, or recent history repeats and the increasingly insane Republicans overreact so hard that it backfires on them (see also recent histrionics on reproductive rights/contraception) by their attacks motivating the left-leaning voters more than the right gains from preaching on it.

[HarveyCanis]

Incredibly brave and risky move, but I applaud him on it. Although considering his previous track record on gay marriage I expect him to oppose it again in 4 years.

[ScheduleII]

(Original post by buchanan700)
The sooner the better. Don't understand why this isnt happening faster, but sorry homophobes and opponents, it is going to happen...

Homophobe is a totally inappropriate word to bring into this. The later the better, best of all NEVER. I also see what he said about it being a generational thing. About half of our parents' generation is either way, most of our grandparents against it... This is part of social decline of the West. I am a proud 18 year old man/woman only marriage proponent. Just like the people who smoked dope, missed work to wave anti-war signs and had a lot of non-marital sex in the 60s, I am being a counter-cultural youth on this one. Only in the RIGHT direction.

(Original post by Maynia)
Incumbent president trying to energise his base immediately before an election? Unheard of!

But seriously, yeah. This will go one of two ways. Either it backfires and loses the election for him, or recent history repeats and the increasingly insane Republicans overreact so hard that it backfires on them (see also recent histrionics on reproductive rights/contraception) by their attacks motivating the left-leaning voters more than the right gains from preaching on it.

"Reproductive rights"? American women have the right to reproduce as many times as they want. It's not China. Republicans are not engaged in "histrionics" on BC, they just think people should have conscience rights and if women want sex they can pay for contraceptives, both of which make sense. No-one was ever going to ban BC, even if one or two fundamentalists within their ranks wanted to, and no such measure would get anywhere in a state or federal legislature.

[Mad Vlad]

The guy has balls aligning himself to such a controversial idea (well... for the US).

Real shame about North Carolina, though. I feel so sorry for LGBT people in that state.

[sconter]

he's a liberal, how is this news?

[MirandaPanda]

(Original post by Mad Vlad)
The guy has balls aligning himself to such a controversial idea (well... for the US).

A controversial idea just for the US? We're hardly any better here in the UK in terms of legalising same-sex marriage (particularly given we're a country of just 60m people and about the size of New York State); and at least in the US, some states have legalised it at that.

[MirandaPanda]

(Original post by Baltimoron)
Mixed emotions. I'm happy he came out in favor of it, but all I can say is, good luck in November, Mr. President. This will mobilize the evangelicals and other hardcore social conservatives. He had to do this, due to Biden's comments earlier in the week, but it's an incredibly difficult balancing act he's trying to pull off. This also comes just days after North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage.

No it won't

This election, had you been following the politics closely, isn't about the national election (see below for why); support for Romney's credentials as a conservative amongst the Evangelical base is lacklustre at best, and this won't change, nor will this announcement help him much anyways (given under him MA progressed perhaps the most of any state in terms of gay-rights).

The fighte/election is about the House and Senate races, where the likes of the Tea Party is (rightly from a strategy perspective) focussing their efforts; even if President Obama is re-elected, if the House and the Senate is dominated by Republicans (and particularly Tea Party Republicans at that), then the Republicans have effectively won, even though a Democrat sits in the White House. Hence why most of the Super-PAC and conservative money is being focussed on such local races.

Moreover, you mention NC, but you fail to mention the national poll which was conducted by Gallup just a day before; which showed that the majority of Americans, are in favour of same-sex marriage. Importantly, this announcement will help energise the left, which has thus far been ambivalent to President Obama's re-election campaign, and allow President Obama to express that this is a state-by-state issue.

[mmmpie]

Well, it's an encouraging sign (or not if you're ScheduleII). I don't think I'm going to hold my breath though.

[buchanan700]

(Original post by ScheduleII)
Homophobe is a totally inappropriate word to bring into this. The later the better, best of all NEVER. I also see what he said about it being a generational thing. About half of our parents' generation is either way, most of our grandparents against it... This is part of social decline of the West. I am a proud 18 year old man/woman only marriage proponent. Just like the people who smoked dope, missed work to wave anti-war signs and had a lot of non-marital sex in the 60s, I am being a counter-cultural youth on this one. Only in the RIGHT direction.

Yeah that's why I said AND opponents. Funny how you only focus on one...

Anyway. I'm sorry to say it again, but this will happen. Equality is coming our way, just like it has always won out in the end. Society can only progress, and it's a great thing. See, if the world was full of people like you, black people would still be slaves, women would still have no rights (rape within marriage was only made illegal in 1991), and disabled people would just be left to die. Plus many more things. I'm sure you get the point.

Sound henious? Not so much. In the past, otherwise normal people would be, in today's view, totally and utterly racist/sexist/whateverist. Equality and justice has always won in the end.

Besides, how exactly will gay folks getting hitched affect you in any way? Not at all is the answer.

Have fun being miserable your whole life. Bigotry is not the way foward.

[Gales]

(Original post by MirandaPanda)
A controversial idea just for the US? We're hardly any better here in the UK in terms of legalising same-sex marriage (particularly given we're a country of just 60m people and about the size of New York State); and at least in the US, some states have legalised it at that.

Even though the UK hasn't got same-sex marriage yet, the UK is still the country in Europe with the most equality for LGBT people and I think we should take pride in that, even though there's still a long way to go. (source: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publ...ndex_2011_2012)

[CalB92]

Great News, this is a good day for gay people all over the world to know that the most powerful man in the world is finally on our side.

[MirandaPanda]

(Original post by Gales)
Even though the UK hasn't got same-sex marriage yet, the UK is still the country in Europe with the most equality for LGBT people and I think we should take pride in that, even though there's still a long way to go. (source: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publ...ndex_2011_2012)

No, I absolutely agree; my point was/is, that until we actually go ahead and finally legalise same-sex marriage, criticising others for not doing so, is hardly an apt/sensible position to take.

[mmmpie]

(Original post by Gales)
Even though the UK hasn't got same-sex marriage yet, the UK is still the country in Europe with the most equality for LGBT people and I think we should take pride in that, even though there's still a long way to go. (source: http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/publ...ndex_2011_2012)

Very interesting. I'm surprised that Belgium and the Netherlands didn't score higher, and equally that Belarus wasn't bottom of the list.