Not only is President Barack Obama “evolving” on his marriage equality position. Now the second-in-command admits that embracing marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples is inevitable.
“I think there is an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage," Vice President Joe Biden said during a Friday appearanceon ABC's Good Morning America, though he indicated the White House's policy in support of full civil union rights -- not marriage equality -- hasn't changed.
Biden’s candor follows several recent statements made by President Obama on the issue, both during a Wednesday news conference and an exclusive interviewwith The Advocate, where he reflected on his “evolving” stance — one that Obama originally spoke of during an October interview with Americablog Gay’s Joe Sudbay and four other progressive bloggers.
“The sentiment I expressed then is still where I am — which is, like a lot of people, I’m wrestling with this. My attitudes are evolving on this,” Obama told The Advocate’s Kerry Eleveld in an interview posted Wednesday. “I have always firmly believed in having a robust civil union that provides the rights and benefits under the law that marriage does. I’ve wrestled with the fact that marriage traditionally has had a different connotation. But I also have a lot of very close friends who are married gay or lesbian couples.
“And squaring that circle is something that I have not done yet, but I’m continually asking myself this question, and I do think that — I will make this observation, that I notice there is a big generational difference,” he continued. “When you talk to people who are in their 20s, they don’t understand what the holdup is on this, regardless of their own sexual orientation. And obviously when you talk to older folks, then there’s greater resistance.”
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