President Obama has become the first incumbent US President to say that same-sex couples should be free to marry.

 

"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", Mr Obama told ABC.

 

"I've stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient," Mr Obama said.

 

He said he had changed his views after seeing gay members of his own staff who were in "incredibly committed monogamous relationships", and service personnel who felt constrained by not being able to wed.

 

Mr Obama also said discussions with his own family had helped the "evolution" of his views on the issue.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk...canada-18011296

I am proud of him. He is the only man I know who took four years to grow a set of balls. If he had acted like this from day one, he would have been a shoe in for President, as we would have condemned torture, got to the bottom of the IRaq war scandal, had a real health care program that wasn't a costly boondoogle, dealt with Guantamino, and still have a majority in the house.

About time too.

Actually, I've never seen the point of marriage, but if you're going to permit mixed sex couples to get married, same sex couples must have the same opportunity.

 

No doubt there will be some conservative church people who oppose this, just like in the UK. Frankly it's none of their damn business to interfere in the choices of other people, particularly those who have no affiliation whatsoever to their church.

Frankly it's none of their damn business to interfere in the choices of other people, particularly those who have no affiliation whatsoever to their church.

 

I suspect they definitely see it as their business, since marriage between a man and a woman is one of the key tenets of the Christian faith. Knock that cornerstone from the edifice and, as with Joshua's rams' horns, dem walls might come a-crumblin' down, down, down, down, down!

I suspect they definitely see it as their business, since marriage between a man and a woman is one of the key tenets of the Christian faith. Knock that cornerstone from the edifice and, as with Joshua's rams' horns, dem walls might come a-crumblin' down, down, down, down, down!

 

I've never understood all the hubbub with the procreation issue. It's like some kind of pious medal you get to wear when breeders marry. I've always regarded it as an ego thing, as human beings who are so easily impressed by creating little clones of themselves. What's the big deal, anyway? A mosquito can reproduce!

I suspect they definitely see it as their business, since marriage between a man and a woman is one of the key tenets of the Christian faith.

Ah, but many of us have nothing whatsoever to do with christianity. Why should we have to put up with people telling the rest of us non believers what to do, when there's not the slightest shred of scientific or factual evidence to back up any of their teachings?

I would have no objection if they banned gay couples from entering churches, or participating in their religious activities. Where they overstep the mark is when they try to influence policy for the wider more rational part of society.