Obama refines his position on gay marriage
Barack Obama sent a letter to a gay rights group saying that he opposes efforts to ban gay marriage in California, The Sacramento Bee reports.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sent letters to be read aloud at the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's annual Pride Breakfast, held Sunday in San Francisco. But while Clinton's letter offered merely general support, Obama's went further.
In the past, Obama said he supported gay rights and civil unions, but that the issue of same-sex marriage should be decided at the state level.
br>But in his letter to the Alice B. Toklas group, he wrote that he wanted to give lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans with "full equality under the law." The letter went on:
...I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.
Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted against a constitutional amendment that would have banned gay marriage at the federal level, he has endorsed the California ban effort, known as Proposition 8, and he supported a bill in the Arizona legislature that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
For more information about Barack Obama's positions on gay rights, click here.
For info on John McCain's positions on civil rights, including gay rights, click here.
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