Same Sex Marriage

Today, President Obama became the first sitting American President to openly support same sex marriage. This fact alone inspires disgust among some, and triumph among others. We are all entitled to our political and moral opinions. In an election year where flip-flops and backtracks highlight political propaganda, one question surfaces along with the president's new statements: has Obama flip-flopped on the issue of same sex marriages?

President Barack Obama in the Rose Garden at the White House
Photo Credit: Oliver Douliery-Pool 

So far, the media is calling Mr. Obama's views an "evolution". This evolution began in 2008 when presidential candidate Obama's support extended only to civil unions. In 2010, Obama himself said his views on gay marriage were "evolving".  Finally today, the President gave a complete endorsement. It is clear that Mr. Obama's views are not the same as they were in 2008, but does the change indicate an issue of integrity in the president? To make any call about the integrity of a leader, his own words must be taken into consideration.

"I've been going through an evolution on this issue. I've always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally."

"At a certain point, I 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."

"I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient."

"I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word 'marriage' was something that invokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs and so forth."

From these words, we see that Mr. Obama has taken much time to process his own beliefs on these issues, while also taking into consideration the beliefs of the people he represents. He realized at some point, that his original stance of supporting only civil unions was not enough to satisfy his moral views of equality for all Americans.

At this point I must beg of you to look beyond any personal opinions of same sex marriage. We are all entitled to our own opinions, as is the president. On this issue, his opinions have no more power to create any practical change than our own. In every leader, we will agree and disagree with certain beliefs. The opportunity here, is to examine how our current leader made a controversial decision. As we decide whether or not to rehire Mr. Obama as our leader, we see in his statements today that he puts great effort into being a true representation of all Americans, while also upholding his personal convictions. This is the most important job of the President of the United States.