"The president said he supports the concept of states deciding (equal marriage) on their own,

[woo me with science]

ABC News reported."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/09/politics/obama-same-sex-marriage/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

"'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 said in an interview with ABC News...The president said he supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own, ABC News reported."





Cheney supports same-sex marriage 'on a state-by-state basis'
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/02/nation/na-cheney2.

"June 2, 2009 WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney waded into another roiling public debate Monday, saying he supports same-sex marriage as long as the issue is decided by states rather than the federal government."



Finally the President states that he is personally in favor of gay marriage. Finally. But he still favors civil rights decided by a vote, state by state. He has now finally taken a position that is identical to the one Dick Cheney has held since 2009. Neither yet considers marriage equality a civil right that should be guaranteed for all, but rather a privilege that states can choose to deny.

There is more evolving to do.

[bigwillq]

1. Much more evolving to do.

Hopefully this is a first step. We shall see.

[pipoman]

2. Too bad he doesn't feel the same about MMJ..

The president said he supports the concept of states deciding the issue on their own,

[orwell]

3. I suspect Cheney evolved...

...because of his personal experience with his daughter. He still comes from a party that is four-square against LGBT equality.

The President, running in what most would agree is a tight race for re-election takes a far greater chance with his personal endorsement today. As the leader of the Democratic Party he has essentially committed the Democratic Party to LGBT equality. This is a far greater step than the Cheney endorsement and should be recognized as such.

[woo me with science]

5. Committed them to equality how?

It says here he supports having the issue decided by the states.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. The problem is the way the law is structured right now.

Marriage is under the jurisdiction of the courts and legislatures of individual states because the jurisdiction of the federal courts, under the Constitution, is limited to matters arising under federal law or lawsuits between citizens of different states. And Congress has not enacted federal laws relating to marriage (other than the tax regulations). The way marriage gets to be a federal issue with uniform national regulation is if Congress decides to do that - which, right now, it obviously won't. The other way would be to challenge anti-same-sex marriage state legislation using the 14th Amendment, as was done in Loving v. Virginia with respect to interracial marriage - but I wouldn't expect much help from the current Supreme Court.

Politically, as well, Obama is stuck with referencing state law remedies because he's already being blasted as a Big Government Socialist, and advocating for the federal regulation of marriage at this point would be an exploding cigar, unfortunately.

[one_voice]

6. Oh yay...

another shit on good news thread. Couldn't wait one day mustn't let grass grow under our feet when there's poo-poo'ing to do.