Obama for Gay Marriage…no really…just not now
The Windy City Times has finally published the article which has already made its way around the entire Internet.
In 1996, President-Elect Barack Obama filled out a questionnaire for the then Outlines newspaper (since merged with Windy City). In a signed document, he announced he supported same-sex marriage.
Even better, in 2004 Obama conducted an interview with the Windy City Times while preparing for his successful run for Senate. In it, Obama explicitly described his new vigor for civil-unions instead of same-sex marriage as a purely strategic decision.
“WCT: Do you have a position on marriage vs. civil unions?
Obama: I am a fierce supporter of domestic-partnership and civil-union laws. I am not a supporter of gay marriage as it has been thrown about, primarily just as a strategic issue. I think that marriage, in the minds of a lot of voters, has a religious connotation. I know that’s true in the African-American community, for example. And if you asked people, ‘should gay and lesbian people have the same rights to transfer property, and visit hospitals, and et cetera,’ they would say, ‘absolutely.’ And then if you talk about, ‘should they get married?’, then suddenly …
WCT: There are more than 1,000 federal benefits that come with marriage. Looking back in the 1960s and inter-racial marriage, the polls showed people against that as well.
Obama: Since I’m a product of an interracial marriage, I’m very keenly aware of …