By Florian Stenner
US President Barack Obama made the boldest statement of his 2012 re-election campaign recently when he came out in favour of same-sex marriage.
Responding to a question last month from an ABC News reporter about marriage rights for gays and lesbians in America, the President said: “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.”
The statement places President Obama in direct opposition on the issue to his main Republican opponent Mitt Romney, who has moved harder to the right over the course of his Presidential nomination campaign.
It also marks a significant shift in the President’s own views. Speaking to MTV during the 2008 election campaign, he stated his then belief that marriage “is between a man and a woman” and that he was “not in favour of gay marriage”.
His change of heart four years on, he said, was as a result of personal experiences.
“I talked to friends and family […] who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together,” he said.
The President’s tide-turning statement has prompted a wave of discussion and debate in the mainstream media and online, and polls show that it may even have persuaded some minority communities traditionally opposed to same-sex marriage to reconsider their views.
In the US, same-sex marriage is not recognised by federal law, but is by six states as well as the District of Columbia and certain Indian tribes in Oregon.