WASHINGTON D.C. — President Barack Obama said in an interview with ABC that “it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
President Obama, who previously said his views on the issue were “evolving,” said Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage.
“At a certain point I’ve 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,” Obama said in an interview with ABC News.
Wednesday’s announcement reverses the president’s longstanding position on the issue.
On Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden was first to affirm his belief in gay marriage.
“I am vice president of the United States of America,” he said. “The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction, beyond that.”
After Biden’s statement, gay rights activists voiced frustration that President Obama hadn’t changed his public stance on gay marriage.
President Obama told ABC’s Robin Roberts that first lady Michelle Obama was involved in his decision.
“This is something that, you know, we’ve talked about over the years and she, you know, she feels the same way, she feels the same way that I do,” Obama said.
