Obama Once Supported Same-Sex Marriage

Throughout Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, the now-president-elect was vocal about his support for civil unions instead of same-sex marriage.

However, Obama went on the record during his 1996 run for the Illinois senate as being in support of such unions. Obama responded to a candidate questionnaire for the Chicago gay newspaper Outlines -- submitted by Advocate copy chief and then-Outlines reporter Trudy Ring. He said, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

According to this week's issue of the Windy City Times (which Outlines bought and merged with in 2000, taking over the name), Obama did not use of the phrase "civil unions" in the questionnaire. Obama also said he would favor a civil rights bill for gays and lesbians, a hike in funding for AIDS services, and adoption by gay and lesbian parents.

Though Obama did not campaign in California to defeat Proposition 8, which banned marriage equality in the state, he did come out against the referendum before the election in November.

Obama is currently meeting resistance from some over his choice of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration. Warren, whose Saddleback Church is based in Lake Forest, Calif., was a staunch supporter of Proposition 8. (Advocate.com)

Reader Comments

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Name: Emily
Date posted: 2009-02-21 12:51 PM
Hometown: Edmonds

Comment:

Well...it is better than McCain/Palin, in any case. If he does secretly support gay marriage, he did the best thing he could do by not mentioning it during the election, since the majority of people in the U.S. are Christian and would have shot him down, leaving us with McCain/Palin. If he doesn't support marriage equality, but supports civil unions...I really don't care about civil unions. It's just another way for people to dodge the bullet on equality, keeping most people happy without doing the right thing. In any case, I'm moving to Canada to be with my sweetheart once I finish school, where they've gotten over this whole issue already.

Name: Giovanni Sorrentino
Date posted: 2009-01-15 10:17 AM
Hometown: New York

Comment:

Hey Michael Alden Date posted: 2009-01-15 1:32 AM Hometown: Louisville "The "cute" article with Michele Obama's hairdresser was sweet....but patronizing, hairdresser?....LOL are you kidding me?" That would be like me saying to you Micheal from Louisville someone who uses the word "bitches"to describes his own community as to keep his STUPID, SWEET LITTLE MINDED HICK TOWN COMMENTS to himself or should I say to her BITCH self. By the way I and others in my profession have helped people meet real gay persons with families and real lives for a very very long time. I think Michelle Obama having a Friend that is successful GAY stylist can remind her husband OUR President Elect that we do have families lives and that some of us are bigoted against just for not being able to pass for straight.

Name: Red Seven
Date posted: 2009-01-14 1:54 PM
Hometown: Washington DC

Comment:

I'm not surprised by this, and I can't imagine that many marriage equality opponents are either. The truth, and we all know it, is that a major party political candidate could not express support for same-sex marriage and get elected in 2008. Do I wish that Obama had been honest? Sure, but not if that meant a McCain/Palin administration. Just sayin'. The good news is that not very long ago, wishing for the end of DA/DT would have been a political death-knell. That's no longer the case. Within my lifetime, the same will be true for same-sex marriage. And I get that people are justifiably impatient, but when you compare our struggle for civil rights with the struggles of women, people of color, and Jews, we seem to make progress incredibly fast. It's all good - we're winning.

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