There are panoply of reasons to back the reelection of President Obama and oppose Mitt Romney, but last week provided one of the starkest contrasts between the two men.
Just a day after North Carolina became the newest state to pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions, President Obama responded by finally coming out in support of full marriage equality.
In an interview with ABC News quoted in the Advocate Obama said:
"I've stood on the side of broader equality I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient. But I have to tell you that over the course of several years, as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask, Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a 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."
Of course, President Obama had previously fought to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell and refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act, but he had always waffled on supporting marriage equality. Thankfully he has finally chosen the forward-looking choice. If we are to have a society that accepts equality for ALL people, we need to eradicate the ongoing bigotry against gays.
We won't have such a society if we elect Mitt Romney, however. Pressed on this issue, Romney reiterated his opposition not only to same-sex marriage, but also to civil unions. Just last week, Romney let his openly-gay foreign policy expert Richard Grenell twist in the wind after he was attacked by the homophobes in his party. Romney is also scheduled to speak this weekend at Liberty University, which says a lot about who his friends are.
For more, please visit my new political blog, OpposeMitt.com.