From Wary To Full Embrace: Obama’s Complete Turnaround On Gay Marriage

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From Wary To Full Embrace: Obama’s Complete Turnaround On Gay Marriage

Sahil Kapur

In the culmination of a dramatic turnaround on the question of gay marriage that reflects the larger sea change among the American public — as well as President Obama’s much-cited personal “evolution” — the Obama administration is now taking the maximal legal position that gay and straight couples have an equal constitutional right to marry.

In an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court, Obama’s Justice Department argued that California’s Proposition 8 — which outlaws same sex marriage in the state — should be struck down because it violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law. The brief comes one month before the court is set to hear arguments on two major gay marriage cases. One involves the Defense of Marriage Act, which the federal government will take the lead in pushing to overturn, and the second involves Prop 8, where the federal government is not a party to the case but where it has now made its position clear.

“Proposition 8’s withholding of the designation of marriage is not based on an interest in promoting responsible procreation and child-rearing — petitioners’ central claimed justification for the initiative — but instead on impermissible prejudice,” the administration’s brief reads. “Prejudice may not, however, be the basis for differential treatment under the law.”

Evan Wolfson, who leads the pro-marriage-equality group Freedom To Marry, told TPM that the brief makes as expansive a legal case as plausible for putting gay and straight couples on equal footing. “The arguments laid out powerfully and clearly refute all the purported justifications for withholding the freedom to marry for gay couples,” Wolfson said.

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http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/03/obama-gays-have-a-constitutional-right-to-marry.php

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