First President to Endorse Marriage Equality
President Obama announced that he believed same-sex couples should be
granted the right to marry, becoming the first U.S. president in history
to fully embrace that level of civil rights for gays.Obama’s announcement gave an immediate jolt to the decades-long movement for gay equality at a moment when a growing number of states are moving to ban — or legalize — same-sex unions as polls showed a majority of Americans supporting equal marriage rights.
For Obama personally, the disclosure completed a long conversion process that advisers said ended earlier this year after soul-searching, "evolving" on the issue and talks with his family.
