Obama Opposes CA Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

From the credit where credit's due department, Brian at Calitics reports Obama has come out in opposition to Proposition 8, which would amend the California constitution to ban the same sex marriages that are happening across the state. The announcement comes in a letter to the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club in San Francisco, and Brian reproduced the letter in full at Calitics. The key part:

As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.

For too long. issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.

I've been critical of Obama's stance on the US Constitution lately, and there has been valid criticism of his stance on equal marriage rights. But this is a welcome sight. It shows Obama is not afraid to use his considerable influence to oppose this hateful amendment.

Perhaps Arnold gave Obama cover - when he announced his opposition it made it easier for Obama to do so. Some argue this is a risky position, and though I don't want to denigrate the importance of his opposition to Prop 8, I think gay marriage is going to play a much smaller role in this election than in 2004.

It's also nice to see Obama start to live up to his promises of being a change politician. He's taken a lot of abuse for his stance on FISA, every ounce of it deserved. But this shows he still has some good in him, and is still willing to stand up and defend the rights of every American.

It will be interesting to see where he goes with this - whether his opposition to Prop 8 will be limited to relatively under-the-radar things like a letter to a gay SF political group, or whether he'll take a more vocal and open role in fighting it. Still, he has done the right thing here and deserves credit for it.

Finally I think this should give all of us who support equal marriage rights a lot of hope going into the November election. The polls are starting to look good for us and as the same sex marriages happen across the state, and the world fails to end, people realize that this is a perfectly normal and acceptable arrangement. No on Prop 8!