Obama supports same-sex marriage
This week was historic for LGBT rights. President Obama became the first U.S. president to support same-sex marriage. President Obama: “I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbours, 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.”
It was reported that Obama had to come out in support of gay marriage after Vice President Joe Biden said on NBC’s Meet the Press that he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage.
Why are the Democratic incumbents in the executive branch of the US Government in support of a polarizing issue like gay marriage? Could it have something to do with the enormous financial support Obama/Biden receive from wealthy gay and lesbian contributors? Do you think their position is sincere or self-serving? Let me know.
Tokyo Nancy Snow 
I do not think that Obama’s statement on gay marriage would really affect the the presidential vote. It’s true that same-sex marriage has been a problem from before, and that is probably why the law of same-sex marriage differs depending on the state you live in. I believe he supported the sexual minority because he himself is a mixture of several countries. Obama must understand how it feels to be the minority in the US. Personally, his opinion on same-sex marriage slightly reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech on the African-American civil rights movement.
I wonder if President Obama is saying this by also considering many problems that come up after accepting same-sex marriage. Science studies has been advancing tremendously and a lot of things are being investigated, such as making human life expectancy longer and the possibility of creating babies within same-sex marriage couples, etc. If same-sex marriage couples begin desiring babies that are created within the same-sex couples, how is society going to respond? Is society going to accept the issue? It is easy to make a decision on their desires, but what happens to their children? Their children may face the difficulties and struggles inside their feelings when they realize that their parents are different from others. It is a very difficult issue because we have to not only look at the problem appear on the surface, but also deep inside.
I do not think that he took this action because he wanted votes. If he wanted votes, it would be better for him. I make decisions about economics or politics, and not about same-sex marriage, which would provoke many Christians’ feelings. I consider he took his action because he simply was comfortable with same-sex marriage. In addition, I believe that his action should be regarded as a respectable act. It is because he took the risk of losing his seat by taking a sensible issue to the spotlight. I believe that the reality would not change if a person like him with power tries to change it.
I believe that President Obama made a big move in saying that he supports gay marriage. However, I do not think it is a simple matter; he may have said it clearly but gay marriage has been a major problem. For example, what would happen to people who are not in favor of gay couples? And children with gay parents may get bullied because of it. I do not think this is a matter that can be solved simply. It is equal rights and that has got to do with what people think as humans, and not so much a problem in politics.
As you wrote at the bottom of the post, I think President Obama shows tolerance to gay marriages in order to get more supporters. Even though it is legal for gays and lesbians to get married in California, a lot of people are not accepting of same-sex marriages. Thus, giving public chance for them, Obama succeeded to have support, especially from the rich.
In my opinion, even though it is not natural in biological viewpoint, sexual minority people have a right to live as they like. Some people may say that living together is enough and they do not have to get married.
It is, however, not just the matter of marriage but the matter of their social status and whole rights.
Obama certainly used this issue as a strategy for his election, but I wonder compared to economic and political power of LGBT and Jewish lobby, which group is stronger.
I believe that Obama said these words from his sincerity because of his background. He is an African-American and I guess he has faced some discrimination in his life. I hope allowance of same-sex marriage will enable same-sex couples to lead more comfortable lives in society. However, this issue is really influential to the coming election, and I think it could be a headwind for Obama being opposed by conservatives.
I would like to make a comment on Mr.Romney, who is the biggest rival against President Obama in the upcoming election. I just met a friend of mine from Utah the other day and when we were talking about the election, one idea came to mind. Is the candidate Romney even popular among people in Utah? The answer was yes. The major religion of that region is Mormonism, which also reminds me of the map we saw in the last class. Since the Mormon religion does not support gay marriage, Mormons seem to be known for homophobia. He told me that pretty much all of the people in that religion would vote for Romney, no matter what. This conversation made me think that cultural and religious background are strongly connected with the politics and showed me such a contrast between Romney and Obama.
Whether to conform to same-sex marriages or not is really controversial. I cannot tell that President Obama’s decision is good or not, but for me, it sounds like he is agreeing with gay marriages just because he wants to get votes from Democrats in this reelection. We must eulogize his brave act and this affair could be the big first step to solving the discrimination against gay marriages. However, I do not know why he said so at this time. If his thoughts are sincere and come from his heart, then he should have worked on them more during his current presidency. He might have tried, but his efforts do not seem effective enough. Therefore, I am afraid that even if he is reelected again, he will not deal with them enough. I hope Obama keeps his word.
I don’t want to think that President Obama showed his support in same-sex marriages to gain votes of the people, but because it is a very sensitive and delicate controversy for who knows how long I believe he is a true American. In the US, where freedom is like the national symbol, he worried about citizens and spoke words of the supporters of same-sex marriage, not only as the president but also as one person of the USA.
Tomoko Takeshita wrote this in a separate email, which I’m posting here:
I’m not really for or against this, but I thought that what Obama did was a brave act to state this kind of fragile matter before the election because this can jeopardize the whole campaign.
This is a major milestone on gay marriage. Last year we saw the end of the DADT law, and this time, despite the questionable timing, Obama has officially shown his determination to achieve equality among all people.The LGBT community is indeed a significant benefactor, and money and change go a long way. It appears to me that Team Obama is willing to tackle on these wedge issues in order to gain the needed momentum to power through the setbacks and discouragement of the economy.
Dr. Snow,
Regarding this issue, I believe that this is completely self-serving because with elections coming up soon Obama needs to secure more votes from states with large populations such as California since they are known to be supportive of gay rights. Also since many celebrities are for same-sex marriage, as how Lady Gaga used her power of fame to collect donations for Japan when 3/11 happened, maybe Obama is thinking of using the power of celebrities to promote himself.
However, I wonder if he has considered the large Christian and Catholic population in America that are absolutely against same-sex marriage.
From my point of view it was nice to see president Obama being open-minded about sensitive issues such as gay marriage, but it is difficult to determine whether this would actually help continue his reign as president.
I think Obama is using his skin color to categorize all areas of discrimination. Criticizing gay marriage is a kind of discrimination but making it legal is something different. Biologically, all creatures must take over their DNA and pass it on to generations. This is impossible in same-sex, logically. We can say that having an adopted child can be a way, but that child will never contain parent’s DNA, which I think is very sad for both the couple and the child. Obama should think more deeply about it before taking an action, which could be caused by a delusion that he has to do something in all existing discriminations.