Obama Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Initiatives in 3 States

Obama Officially Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Initiatives in
Three States

 

by Shaun Knittel
Best Gay News Magazine Staff Writer
 
On October 25, President Barack Obama officially endorsed
state ballot initiatives to legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state,
Maryland and Maine.  
 
Statements issued by the Obama campaign in those three
states urging voters to approve the marriage equality measures on their
respective November 6 ballots came five months after Obama became the first
U.S. president to express support for the right of same-sex couples to wed.
 
“While the president does not weigh in on every single
ballot measure in every state, the president believes in treating everyone
fairly and equally, with dignity and respect,” according to a statement in
Seattle by Paul Bell, press secretary for Obama’s campaign in Washington and
Oregon. “Washington’s same-sex marriage law would treat all Washington couples
equally, and that is why the President supports a vote to approve Referendum
74.”
 
Nearly identical endorsement statements were issued in
support of similar initiatives on the November 6 ballot in Maine and Maryland.
 
Six states and the District of Columbia have already
extended marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples, all brought about by court
rulings and legislative action.
 
Obama previously spoke out against a Minnesota measure that
would pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as exclusively a union
between a man and a woman.
 
Read more at ChicagoTribune

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