I’ve always felt in my gut that if the Obama administration were to get a second term, the president would take a more proactive stance on gay marriage beyond saying that his views are “evolving.” I believe that Vice-President Joe Biden’s recent interview on Meet the Press is an indication of that.
I think it’s Barack Obama’s responsibility, as a black man, to his people and their history to defend gay rights. Gay marriage is a civil rights issue, which the African-American community should be able to relate to and sympathize with more than any other minority. It’s shameful that so many choose to use their religion as an excuse to deprive all Americans of the same rights. President Obama supporting the gay struggle for equality would create an unprecedented wave of change amongst the black community and their views on homosexuality. I was living in Harlem, New York City, in 2008 when Obama was voted into office. Walking down 125th St, every step you could buy an Obama T-shirt, calendar, poster, flag, effigy, bobble-head, watch, painting . . . You name it. As if overnight, he became the most influential black man of the 21st century, and millions of people turn to him to know the difference between right and wrong. Let’s hope that the man himself knows.
Joe Biden on whether his views on gay marriage have evolved:
I just think that the good news is that as more and more Americans come to understand what this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love? Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? That’s what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about. Whether they’re marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.
On whether he is comfortable with gay marriage:
I . . . look, I am vice-president of the United States of America. The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.
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