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Subscribe to RSSIn an interview with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts, President Obama announced his personal support for same-sex marriage. NBC's Chuck Todd reports on the announcement and its likely fallout.
Fresh off their win in North Carolina, opponents of gay marriage are pushing forward to enact similar constitutional amendments in more states this fall – and to actually override pro-gay marriage legislation in two others.
Foes of gay marriage now have won 31 popular votes on the issue, and they hope to extend their gains with ballot initiatives in Minnesota, Maine, Washington and Maryland.
“North Carolina once again reminds us that there is an unshakeable majority of Americans firmly wedded to the idea of traditional marriage,” said Thomas Peters, cultural director of the National Organization for Marriage. “We look forward to seeing that movement grow in the months ahead.”
With North Carolina voters approving a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage by more than 20 percentage points, 38 states now have statutes or constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. For the moment, that number includes California, where a federal court has overturned its constitutional amendment, known as Prop. 8 – a decision that has been appealed and could make it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Same-sex marriage is legal in eight states, plus the District of Columbia.
Despite their loss in North Carolina, advocates of same-sex marriage are not giving up. They got a boost on Wednesday, when President Barack Obama said he supported their cause, days after Vice President Joe Biden said he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage.
“[North Carolina] was certainly a heartbreaking loss, but the fight goes on and we will continue to march forward. We remain optimistic that we will achieve full marriage equality in all 50 states, it’s only a matter of time,” said Paul Guequierre, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, which works on equal rights for the LGBT community. “We know that we’ll face more referendums and we will be at the ballot boxes pushing for people to vote for marriage equality in those states where we have to do that.”
Fifty percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal and bestow the same rights as traditional marriage, compared to 48 percent who don’t, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. Support for gay marriage fell slightly in the new Gallup poll from a record high of 53 percent in 2011 -- the first time a majority of Americans favored gay marriage -- while opposition rose from 45 percent.
Opponents of same-sex marriage discount national polls and say they are plugging away at getting marriage defined as between one man and one woman in all 50 states: They are campaigning for a constitutional amendment that will go before voters in Minnesota, and are opposing an initiative that would provide for same-sex marriage in Maine. They are also working on gathering enough signatures to overturn statutes in Maryland and Washington state that legalized gay marriage, and are giving $2 million to efforts to unseat Republicans who helped the legislation pass last year in New York.
First Read: Obama's careful line on same-sex marriage
Gay marriage opponents: North Carolina no longer 'vulnerable'
“The only poll that matters is the vote that happens the day of the election in every state,” Peters said. ”We won 31 times ... so 33, 34, 35 doesn’t seem so unlikely.”
In Maryland, supporters of gay marriage knew their opponents would push for a voter referendum after state lawmakers approved gay marriage earlier this year. They expect the referendum to make it on the ballot, because the number of signatures required is relatively low at 56,000, said Kevin Nix, a spokesman for Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
“There’s no doubt that we’re disappointed from [Tuesday] night. So, I think that what happened in North Carolina serves as a wake-up call … to re-motivate everybody,” he said, noting he thought the vote in Maryland would be a “nail biter” but was optimistic they would prevail.
In Washington state, opponents of gay marriage have collected 70,000 signatures out of 120,577 needed by June 6 to get the issue on the November ballot, said Christopher Plante, deputy campaign manager for Preserve Marriage Washington. He believes they will get the signatures they need.
“... the vote in North Carolina being so overwhelming in going 'against the tide’ of the polls and all of the pundits who said it was going to be too close to call, will certainly encourage Washington voters and Washington marriage supporters to continue this fight and to bring it to fruition,” he said.
While the North Carolina outcome appears to have emboldened opponents of gay marriage -- especially after a vacuum of four years since the last vote on a constitutional amendment on the issue -- same-sex marriage advocates should take heart, said John Dinan, a professor of political science at Wake Forest University.
“It’s a long-term effort to ... educate residents of the state about your arguments, about your concerns and about, ultimately, your cause,” he said. “It was a loss, but could also be seen as part of an overall stepping stone” in a longer campaign.
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Leave a Comment:
California Prop 8 will not have any effect on NC whatsoever.
The United States Supreme Court will decide on Prop 8 - and I expect will also leave a paper trail for other suites so their issues will be narrowed.
I believe the next Marital Issue will be Why can't I marry my sister?, I LOVE her? Or why can't I marry my father - I do love him? Lets just step out of the way of love - despite the fact we all should know - some marriages are not in the best interest of our health. What does love [AIDS] have to do with it?
The word is "suits", "suites" are groups of rooms.
Marry my sister. Marry a fence post...blah blah blah. You are only exposing your own lack of common sense and logic by posting this.
Love has nothing to do with AIDS. It's a disease. Ridiculous.
Another worthless comment by Tigerlover
Actually, HIV is not a gay disease. It is a disease that is transmitted by blood and other body fluids. In Africa and other places the primary mode of transmission is heterosexual. It comes from anal sex and earing of tissue, but drug sharing of needles is a mode too.
The number one crime committed by transvestites, is male fraud.
funny
Marriage corruption supports reference their proclivity as if it turned them into the proverbial Unicorn from antiquity. Makes me wonder why these miscreants would believe adopting the failed regressive policies of Nero from ancient Rome should now be viewed as progressive...?
You right wing christian chickens need to calm down and mind your own business.
If I want to get married it's MY business.
If I want to marry a man, it's MY business.
If I want to marry a woman, it's MY business.
If we want children, ot's OUR business. Or if we don't want them.
Whether or not either of us is infertile or incapable is OUR business.
Take your ignorance and your nosiness and BUTT OUT of other people's lives. Who do you people think you are to tell someone else who love or to to mate with or HOW? You are so arrogant and so anti-free people it's disgusting. All this prattle about sin and the rest of that Medieval nonsense. You nall need to grow up. (Not that you will.)
You are kidding right?
Did you just demand public recognition, acceptance, and acknowledgement then state that it is nobody else's business?
If it is nobody else's business than you should stop demanding we publicly endorse it.
Marriage should be not the government's business. You should be able to marry a horse if you want, have 50 wives, no children. None of Big Brother's business.
I am DEMANDING the same license YOU can get from MY government. That's as public as I get. Other than that it's MY PRIVATE BUSINESS. Do you get it? (Probably not.)
Where do I ask YOU to endorse anything? I want you to LEAVE OTHERS ALONE. I don't care what you do in your marriage, so drop .......
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
But you are not demanding a license are you; you are demanding public acceptance of your depravity. You are demanding that society absolves of your sense of guilt.
For the last time you dope...I don't give a fat rat's parts if anyone "accepts" me or my marriage. Just give me the same deal YOU can get and then butt out.
You must have an IQ around 3 if you can't understand plain English. What's wrong with you? Where do I mention guilt. Take your christan cr ap and stick it.
But what I get is public acceptance, yet you just said you do not want public acceptance...?
Yankee Boy, I agree with you, but look at my post #630 and the replies it got. You can't educate these people. You can show them chapter and verse and they will continue to believe their drivel.
Can't wait to see your face when God is in it and remembers what you said and your direct disobedience to him. It doesn't matter what we all think but we know and I'm not saying think, I said know that everyone will be judged in the end and homosexuality is a perversion. It comes from Satan and I don't care what you say about Christians. It is a disgusting lifestyle. I guess you are okay with child molestors as well. Did you know that child molestors have a bill in congress they are trying to have passed saying it is okay for them to have sex with children giving it an 12 year old age as cutoff because they believe 12 year olds can consent to sex. They state that they have been watching the homosexual agenda and believe they too are "born that way" (what a deception) and they should have the same rights. God is merciful and he will forgive whatever you do if in your heart you ask for forgiveness but if you blatantly spit in his face and defy his law, make no mistake he is just and you will face him at death.
lol You and your "God Fantay" are working overtime. Comparing consenual sex between two adult people to child sexual abuse shows how limited your abilty to reason is. I know you enjoy your hate and that it makes you feel better to tell others about it, but what will your "God Fantasy" say to you when you face him at death? I suppose you think he will say good job girlie, you hated others for me and I'm so grateful you told those gays they will see my face at death. lol You validate your silly thoughts by believing your "Fantasy GOD", via the bible, gives you the truth about what happens at death. The real truth is "no one knows what happens when a person dies." That is a fact. No matter how much you believe you are going to meet some kind of God when you die- you cannot say it is a fact. You of course will say because you have something called faith you know you will be met by God. lol Really? Faith in a "God Fantasy" is another silly thought process that allows you to render judgement against others without feeling guilty about the hate you are filled up with.
Vote all Liberals out of office....It s just that simple..
What do you think the large Black religious vote is going to do about Obama ???
What a ridiculous comment.
Well I don't think he wants to be using the race card at the same time of the gay marriage fights. Last time this happened it ended up back firing because everybody knows that blacks hate the gays comparing themselves to slavery.
Well if you think they will vote in large numbers for a white, Mormon Wall Street banker on the Repuke ticket you really are delusional.
A couple of fudge-packers in holy matrimony? Makes me sick to my stomach!
Consider yourself lucky that you have nothing better to worry about than what other people do on their own time.
You fudge pack your bitch, don't you? lol
Ahem, there's a diffrence between anal sex with your girlfriend/wife and two dudes goin at it...
Shi$ is shi%. By the way that is illegal too in some states, even oral sex.
They rarely limit it to just two guys.
Whose up for a circle-jerk?
...and a tongue is a tongue, but I'll be damned if I'm french kissin another man!
Hahaha, so you admit to condoning anal sex with your girlfriend/wife, but have a problem with two men doing it. That is comedy gold.
Personally the whole thought grosses me out, but if they're cool with it why would I care?
Ask a conservative:
Why are you for social engineering? You want Big Brother to dictate our lifestyles by giving favors for being married, having children, attending church? You need Big Brother to get this done? That is freedom?
Funny, how the right wants to social engineer society, maybe soon to tell us how many babies to have and what age to marry. Wait they already say you have to be a certain age.
Big Brother and socialism and conservatives.
Can you define martriage? Yes. How? Ask the "guvmint"
i don't understand this.. you don't want big brother to interfere with your freedom..
but you want big brother to rule that is ok for same sex marriage..
wtf!!!
Filthy. You probably got rejected in a steam room and never got over it.
What do you call a gay bar with no bar stools?
A detriment to confused straight husbands no one wants anyway.
Nope!
A Fruit Stand
...Good one cockroach! LOL!!!
...What do you call two lesbians going down the river in a canoe?
Answer: Fur Traders!
I got it. The answer............................Just remove all tax breaks and every other benefit that come along with marriage and the gays will want nothing to do with it. END OF STORY. That's how you defang them.
Correct and keep that word "marriage" as a religious thing. No need to recognize "marriage" Don't even ask on employment, insurance policies.
Everyone is free to have partnerships.
You see...it takes a priest or JOP to marry you and a host of lawyers to divorce you. Am I correct? Huh???????????????????????????
OK, then who gets custody of the kids? What happens if one partner dies? What about if one of them moves across borders? You are clearly an idiot who has no idea what the rights are. Just another anti-tax knee jerk bigoted right winger.
Hey, casualties of war. What can I say. I did not start it, they did. In my world they would get NOTHING.
Maybe you religious folks should be more worried about your priests raping your children? lol
What''s the difference between a gay rodeo and a straight rodeo?
A cockroach who thinks he's clever.
At a straight rodeo, the cowboy's wife is having sex with his friend while he on the road and the gay one the gay's partner is there with him??
At a straight rodeo everyone yells, "Ride that sucker"
Funny
I am not religious and God does not condone man made religion. I am Christian and I have no control over priests. People commit evil acts whether in a religion or not.
They're queer. They're here. They pissed in obummer's glass and he thought is was another summit about beer.
Happy to report your filth.
Boy. LOL. That rings in his ears when he's in chains hanging from the ceiling at the Ramrod Club.
lola
What was insulting?
wht I thought you were doing all the worrying about that as you packed that tampon in your rear.
Here is the issue:
The government has no business even using the term "marriage." It is social engineering, commie style.
Let people cohabitate as they wish, get hitched and call it whatever they want.
If you want, let the government recognize domestic partnerships. That can be twoo sister, brothers, man and man, man and woman, etc. Like a business. That would be for tax purposes, but again that is social engineering.
If gay marriage threatens you or your family then you have a lot bigger problems than gay marriage to deal with. Not to mention that this is an issue that is being used as a smoke screen to divert attention from the real problems and issues that affect all of our live. Those issues would be jobs, the economy, the fact that Congress does not get anything done because they would rather see the President fail than to solve any of our problems. This is not news, many in the conservative movement have stated that in those terms. We, the people are their boss, and they need to be fired.
Actually, the House has been getting plenty done - It's Reid in the Senate who refuses to even allow bills to come to the floor of the Senate for debate.
Nice try at a talking point, but the truth will override the propaganda in an educated electorate.
I wish those @!$%#ing bigots would stay the hell away from me. They just want to deny LGBT people marriage rights as a way of forcing us into the closet. Misery loves company. Well I don't do it, and they are wrong and bigoted and on the wrong side of history, equality and love. I wish they would hurry up and go extinct.
...Why do you want the poor gays to hurry up and go extinct?
This is all about the 2012 election. Who knows what his thoughts will be, if he gets re-elected. Right now he is going after the fringe voters. What he says tomorrow, is anyone guess. The election should be about what is happening to our great country. We need someone who cares about the country and not himself. It's about the economics and jobs. We need to get out of debt, not create more debt.
at least the ceremony will be easy on a gay marriage-
do you whoever you are take whatever this to be whatever you are trying to be
remember sodom and gomorrah
Why is it that conservatives are always trying to tell other people how to live? Heck, they get mad when liberals tell them they need to have health insurance so that the taxpayers don't have to foot the bill when they get sick!
Quite frankly, if you don't believe in abortion, then don't have one. If you don't believe in gay marriage, don't marry a gay person. But please, shut the he11 up and don't tell me what I should believe!
They are mindless hypocrits. They watch Fox News...hahahahaaa and do wahtever they tell them on Fox or Rush Limppaw or Sean, sissy boy, Hannity.
God has the right to tell us how to live and if you condone anyone having an abortion or perverted sex whether you participate or not you are just as guilty. If someone commits a murder and another person doesn't participate but is there and does nothing about it, they are guilty by association.
God might have "the right to tell us how to live", but would have to make a personal appearance in order to make His demands known--otherwise it's merely an argument over who is the better interpreter of God's wishes. Some say God loves gays, some say he wants them dead (kind of odd, since God would be responsible for their creation); but since God likely doesn't exist and won't likely make an appearance, we likely won't be getting any definitive affirmation of Mary's assessment.
Dave -
Why are liberals always telling people how to live? They have gone so far as to force the education of children on the 'glories' of gay and lesbian sex. Children are still discovering their sexuality and have enough trouble just dealing with their hormones. This 'education' only confuses them even more.
Tell me, who is the bigger hypocrite?
Ah Mary, there you go again! What gives you the right to say I have to believe in your god, or any god for that matter? Believe what you want to believe, but LEAVE EVERYONE ELSE ALONE!
As for Tammy, if your public school system is teaching your students about the glory of any kind of sex, I would move quickly! If they are teaching your children it is wrong to bully, or believe that somebody is evil because of stereotypes spread by bigots and fools, don't worry, your real estate values will soon be going up, and your move will be even easier!
Who exactly did this poll of 50% of Americans are for gay marriage and 48% against? No one I know is for it and neither am I. I think the media is just trying to slant people towards their agenda as usual. I prayed this morning for God's mercy on this country for those of us who believe the bible and know it's wrong. Soddom and Gomorrha and the flood that wiped out the world was God's justice handed down because of people's defiance against God. He is a loving and merciful God but he is a just God and homosexuality is a perversion. Child molesters believe they should have rights to have sex with children too and think that if homosexuality is accepted their lifestyle should be as well. I think people don't realize how closely they are following what the gay agenda is doing. People in the old biblical cities just kept doing what they wanted too until the hand of God came down on them. Now the President (leader of our country whom I did not vote for thank goodness) has proclaimed his approval of same sex marriage. You think God's just going to let this go? We've been attacked by terrorists, our economy is collapsing, etc., what else does he have to do to get people's attention????
Tell me, how did "god" answer you when you prayed to him/her/it for his/her/its mercy? I am willing to bet nothing happened, other than you had a smug sense of self-righteousness for a little while.
How do you know he/she/it is a loving and merciful god? Have you met it? Have you actually had a conversation? Has it proven that it is a loving and merciful god? Or have you just been fed that your whole life and taken it to be gospel?
We were attacked by Islamic terrorists. You must realize those extremists would just as soon decimate you as a god fearing christian as they would any one of us. The terrorism is driven by whacked out religious zealots who also believe in a false god. Trying to blame it in part on homosexuality is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard, but I guess that isn't too surprising considering you most say really dumb things.
You also think the economy is collapsing because of homosexuality? Do you even hear yourself? How can you actually believe this and still muster up the brain function to breathe? You are actually that unintelligent.
Face it - you have never met god. You have never had a two way conversation with god. That feeling you get when you think you are in the presence of god is called "crazy," and I'd have to say we have more than our fair share of crazy people in this country.
OBAMA Flips into a Calculated Flop!
Here is a brilliant guy who swept into office on a tsunamic surge of approval and within 2 years he'd squandered his political Capital on Health Care Reform that's no reform! Four years later, we're still fighting over "Obamacare." Why? Because it was badly done! Why? Because President Obama wants to please everybody - and whenever you do that, you end up pleasing NOBODY and EVERYBODY ends up disliking you!
Me, I'd have told Republicans to er...get lost...long ago, but not Obama. He's the Energizer Bunny of Politics. If he'd spent all that time he wasted trying to woo Republicans ON pleasing Democrats and Independents, he'd be riding high today.
If Obama tried to 'woo' republicans, why did he lock them out of meeting on health 'care' reform? Why did he wait until 2010 to invite republicans to the White House? Why does he constantly denigrate republicans at every turn?
This is just a sore on a sick society!
North Carolina would vote against civil rights too if they could. What a bunch of Neanderthals. "Marriage is between a man and a woman". Why? because that's what your RELIGION says?? Religion determining the laws of the land?? But Sharia law is a bad thing, right? We're no more civilized than Pakistan. The good news is within 20 years most of these people will be dead, and then maybe we can proceed with human evolution.
There aren't any gays in Iran.
But they voted for obama. Oh, I guess they are stupid.
So what you are saying is you should be able to push your gay agenda on the church and the church has no say in it?Why dont yall just start your own gay churches and get married there,the govt. wont reconize it but at least you can say you are married.1 thing to remember is this is a christian nation,always has been and always will be(God willing)
This has never been "a christian nation", and never will be under our Constitution which maintains a separation b/w Religion and Government.
Greg- Gays have never tried to tell christians that they can't get married. When I was growing up it was a mortal sin to eat meat on Fridays. Would it be imposing "their agenda" if people chose to ignor that dogma?? There is simply no logical bearing for your argument. But, I didn't expect thart there would be. So basically what ya'll christians are saying is that gays are infringing on your rights by believing differently than you do. That's just incredibly ignorant.
Nobody's forced you into a closet you have all the same rights as any american. You can even get married in 8 states. The only misery out there is Obama's economy now that's something to bitch about!
Thank ya, Buddy, and back to live action.
Gotta keep it going! And your welcome.
Studies show that 75 percent of gays were born that way and the other 25 percent were sucked in.
Hey, sister marrying is a "right" in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina.
Next is cousin marrying.
Am I correct or what?
...Nope, you're just gay.
I would say you are an "Or What" that goes for idiotic Stereotypes