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"LifeSiteNews Mobile | Obama Endorses Gay âmarriageâ: Says Support Based on Jesus, Golden Rule." //LifeSiteNews//. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2012. <[]>.


 * 1) 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.
 * 2) “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.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) “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.”
 * 5) 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.”
 * 6) 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.
 * 7) 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.
 * 8) Yet Obama had signaled [|his views on same-sex “marriage” would “evolve”]  since September 2010.
 * 9) His most recent announcement followed closely on the heels of [|Vice President Joe Biden and Education Secretary Arne Duncan endorsing same-sex “marriage.”]
 * 10) 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.”
 * 11) 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.”
 * 12) 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.
 * 13) 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.
 * 14)  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.
 * 15) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> 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.