President Barack Obama completed his “evolution” yesterday by announcing his support for marriage equality, in an interview with ABC News’s Robin Roberts, saying in part:
But I have to tell you that, over the course of several years, as I talked to friends and family and neighbors, 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’re 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.
President Obama’s announcement comes at a time when more and more Americans support marriage equality. Fifty-three percent of Americans currently believe that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry, and the number of those against it has dropped significantly since 1996, from 68 percent to 45 percent.
Similarly, an increasing number of politicians from both political parties have voiced their support for extending the freedom to marry to gay and lesbian couples. Meghan Miller takes a look at what some of these policymakers have said about their support for marriage equality.
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