African-Americans Support Obama’s Same-Sex Marriage Stance [View all]

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African-Americans Support Obama’s Same-Sex Marriage Stance
by Allison Samuels May 11, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
African Americans who oppose gay marriage are reconsidering their beliefs, thanks to Obama’s shift, Allison Samuels reports.



Annie May Johnson grew up next to the tobacco field her parents worked in Lillington, North Carolina. At 75 years old, Johnson long held the belief that marriage is strictly between a man and a woman, no matter the times. That’s what her parents taught her years ago, and it’s what the good Rev. Mosley preached each Sunday morning at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church during her childhood.

Johnson never believed her view on the issue would waver. But that all changed on Wednesday, when President Obama announced publicly that he was in favor of same-sex marriage, a change from his 2008 campaign stand. Saying his beliefs had evolved from his support of civil unions instead of same-sex marriages, Obama sent ripples through the country and caused Annie May Johnson to take a second look at an issue she thought she’d decided on long ago.

“I always saw marriage as a man and a woman being together for a lifetime,’’ says Johnson, on the phone from her North Carolina home. “That’s all I ever saw growing up, and that is all my parents saw in their day. But when Obama said he now was in favor of it, I thought maybe I’ve been too pigheaded about this thing for too long.’’

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“This isn’t a wedge issue for blacks with Obama, no matter how much the media would like it to be,’’ says James Petersen, Lehigh University professor of African Studies.

“He’s smart, that’s why I voted for him,’’ Johnson says. ‘’So why wouldn’t I listen to what he has to say and listen to all of it. The right may not do that, but I do.’’

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/11/african-americans-support-obama-s-same-sex-marriage-stance.html