Posted on 05/10/2012 5:04:55 AM PDT by IbJensen
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 9, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – President Barack Obama has flip-flopped on gay “marriage” for the second time, endorsing same-sex marriage in an interview today, in which he said his decision was motivated in part by his Christian faith and his belief in the Golden Rule.
“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 told ABC News reporter Robin Roberts in an interview to air this evening.
He added that his wife, Michelle, agreed with him. “We’ve talked about it over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way,” he said.
“We are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others,” Obama stated, “but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule.”
He explained his foot-dragging reticence to support full same-sex “marriage” by saying he “was sensitive to the fact that, for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions – religious beliefs and so forth.”
However, Obama had previously implied the Bible supports homosexual unions. “I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other,” he said in 2008. “If people find that controversial, then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans.”
The president told the media his newly articulated position represents his private views, and that he believes each state should make its own decisions about marriage. However, he has publicly opposed state initiatives to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman in North Carolina and Minnesota. His remarks come one day after North Carolina amended its constitution to affirm marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
Fox News anchor Sheppard Smith greeted the president’s statement by saying, “President Obama, now in the 21st century.”
In the ABC interview, Obama highlighted his service to the LGBT political agenda, including “rolling back Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” “no longer defending the Defense Against Marriage Act,” and supporting civil unions. However, he said his personal relationships with homosexuals convinced him he had to go further.
“Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples,” he added.
In today’s statement, Obama appeared to flip-flop on the issue of marriage for a second time. In 1996, while running for Illinois state senate against Alice Palmer, Barack Obama filled out a questionnaire from the homosexual activist group IMPACT stating, “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” His aides later disavowed it.
As a U.S. Senate candidate in 2004, running against Alan Keyes, Obama said, “I’m a Christian. I do believe that tradition and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman.” He maintained that position in the 2008 presidential race.
Yet Obama had signaled his views on same-sex “marriage” would “evolve” since September 2010.
His most recent announcement followed closely on the heels of Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan endorsing same-sex “marriage.”
Fox News Channel reports that according to numerous Democratic sources, the timing of today’s interview was not planned but came as a result of the vice president’s “gaffe.”
Obama’s likely 2012 rival Mitt Romney clarified his position in return, saying, “My view is that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman…I don’t intend to make any adjustments at this point – or ever, by the way.”
A transcript of the president’s remarks follows this video.
Transcript:
I have to tell you, as I said, I’ve been going through an evolution on this issue. I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally. That’s why in addition to everything we’ve done in this administration — rolling back Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, so that outstanding Americans can serve our country, whether it is no longer defending the Defense Against Marriage Act which tried to federalize what has historically been state law — I’ve stood on side of broader equality for the LGBT community. And, I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient. That that was something that would give people hospital visitation rights and other elements that we take for granted. And I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that evokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth. But I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don’t Ask Don’t Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage. 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.
According to ABC, he continued:
Some of this is generational. You know when I go to college campuses, sometimes I talk to college Republicans who think that I have terrible policies on the economy, on foreign policy, but are very clear that when it comes to same sex equality or, you know, sexual orientation that they believe in equality. They are much more comfortable with it. You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples. There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we’re talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently. It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.
This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do. And that is that, in the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people and, you know, I, you know, we are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.
Thank you oh so very much for those beautiful Scriptures and your splendid insights, dear brother in Christ!
Thank you for the ping. You explained it perfectly.
Personally, I believe this country is going to go through horrible judgement for turning away from God, and having put this evil creature into power is just part of the beginning of judgement.
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