Jimmy Creech, a former Methodist minister who advocates for same-sex marriage, recalls meeting with Mr.
Obama maintained the position that his opposition was based on his religious views. Yet Trinity’s parent church is progressive in 2005, its general synod passed a resolution supporting marriage equality for gay couples. Obama attended in Chicago, Trinity United Church of Christ, takes no official stance. The black church has historically taken a dim view of same-sex marriage the church Mr. Obama had not cited his religious beliefs to her, viewed it as “a political maneuver.” Obama was either “pandering to Alan Keyes” or setting himself up to run for higher office Ms. Obama told an interviewer for a black-owned radio station that religion was a factor.
She said his objections were based on what he saw as realistic considerations: “I know what you want, I know what you can get.”īut when his Senate campaign moved into the general election against Alan Keyes, Mr. Obama in 2004, remembers the candidate asking her to turn off her tape recorder so they could have a candid conversation on same-sex marriage. Tracy Baim, a gay journalist in Chicago who interviewed Mr. Obama, said he raised practical objections and made the case this way: “Why spend a lot of time on an issue that is not going to happen? The Defense of Marriage law is on the books, we’re not going to overturn that, let’s talk about how we can build more equality.” Jackie Kaplan, a Chicago Democrat who was co-chairwoman of a committee of gays and lesbians supporting Mr. Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004, his position had become more nuanced. Obama had not filled out the forms himself the White House later said he was mistaken.)īy the time Mr. Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfieffer, caused a brief kerfuffle by telling a conference of bloggers that Mr. Obama was really referring to civil unions, which he does support. Obama wrote, “and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,” Mr. Obama responded to a questionnaire from a gay newspaper. In 1996, as a candidate for the State Senate in Illinois, Mr. Obama’s record, dating to when he first ran for public office, suggests that he may have been for same-sex marriage before he was against it. Many gay leaders say because the president has a strong record on issues they care about - prodding Congress to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which barred openly gay men and lesbians from serving in the military, and withdrawing legal support for the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman - he is not under intense pressure to announce a change in his position before the 2012 election.īut with the political climate around gay rights changing drastically - a handful of recent polls show that Americans, by a slim majority, now support same-sex marriage - some strategists see little political cost to a shift in position. I mean that if you live in a democratic society, it is a mix of what you think the voters want and what you think is doable.” “And I don’t mean that he’s being hypocritical. “My own view is that I look at President Obama’s record, he was probably inclined to think that same-sex marriage was legitimate, but as a candidate for president in 2008 that would have been an unwise thing to say,” Mr. Obama, whom he would not name, asked him this year, “What would be the effect if he came out for same-sex marriage?” But one Democratic strategist close to the White House, speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said some senior advisers “are looking at the tactics of how this might be done if the president chose to do it.”Īnd Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is gay, said in an interview that a top adviser to Mr. Obama was ready to endorse same-sex marriage. The White House would not comment on whether Mr. He is doing so at time when the New York Legislature is considering whether to make same-sex marriage legal - a vote that the president will no doubt be asked about while in New York. This week, he will headline a $1,250-a-plate “Gala with the Gay Community” in Manhattan, his first such event as president on June 29, he will host a Gay Pride reception at the White House.