President Obama became the first sitting president to voice his support for same-sex unions today during an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts. ABC aired a short clip today at 3:00 p.m., where Obama laid out his reasons for his support of marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.
I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient. I was sensitive to the fact, for a lot of people, the word “marriage” invokes powerful religious traditions. Over the course of several years, as I’ve talked to friends and family, when I think about members of my own staff who are in committed monogamous relationships, raising kids together, when I think about soldiers, airmen and Marines out there fighting on my behalf who feel constrained because they’re not able to commit themselves to marriage … for me personally, it is important to affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.
The full interview is scheduled to air tonight at 7:00 p.m. on ABC’s World News Tonight and will be featured on tomorrow morning’s Good Morning America.
Stay tuned for more.