Obama endorses gay marriage

[Zappykins]

SamuelRSmith said:

Zappykins said:
I was totally surprised by his announcement today. It is extra sweet because especially after yesterday's bitter defeat in North Carolina - where they wrote into their constitution the ban of same-sex marriage. (The last time they did something like that it was to ban inter-racial marriage.)

I can't wait to hear what my racist bigoted homophobic neighbor thinks. (She is black and I overheard her spend hours and hours pleading with people on the phone to remove the right of same-sex marriage. She must be in an awful tizzy.)

I've spent about 26 years working for Marriage Equality (Same-Sex marriage, Inter-Racial Marriage, Divorced allow to re-marry, not stoning women who are not virgins, etc.) so this is great news indeed.

What are your views on marriage as a personal contract?

I personally don't think the Government should have any involvement in marriage at all. As long as it is composed of consenting legal adults, I don't care.

That's really what it is, a personal contract - only is so entranced in our culture, that actually thousands of federal rights and laws, including the US Constitution, are bound in relationships that use the term marriage.  And their marriage has to be recognized by the Federal government.  Rather than invent something new, and change the 12,000+ Federal Laws – it makes more since to make marriage available for everyone, as they did half a century ago when allowed the races to inter-marry.

When Obama was born, about 20+ states wouldn’t have allowed his inter-racial parents to get married.  Interestingly, about 30ish states right how have similar bans on same-sex marriage.

Many Church always did, and many still do, perform same-sex marriages.  So it's not really an issue about religion - no one Church could be forced to perform any wedding they do not want to perform - a benefit of the separation of Church and State (although ignoramuses try to make this case.)  It’s about everyone having the same opportunity for the same Civil Rights.

So I don’t really care what the rights are called, as long as everyone has the same access, opportunity, and respect.