President Obama and Marriage Equality: A Reader

President Obama and Marriage Equality: A Reader June 20, 2012
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.-President Barack Obama, Interview with ABC News Robin Roberts


On May 9, 2012, President Barack Obama became the first president in American history to personally affirm that same sex couples should be allowed to get married. Many celebrated the president’s evolution as a continuation of the Civil Rights movement, while others lamented his decision, claiming that it went against God and God’s word. We here at Rhetoric Race and Religion thought we would collect editorial that speak to this historic moment. If you have one that we missed, we invite you to share it with us on our Facebook page or on Twitter @rhetoricracerel 








9. Obama’s case for gay marriage shows that invoking faith isn’t just for conservatives anymore

10. Thank You, President Obama

11. On Marriage, African Americans Aren’t a Monolithic Voting Bloc

12. Faith in Memphis panel responds to Obama’s support for same-sex marriage

13. Obama Marriage Evolution Over

14. On gay marriage, Obama plays politics — badly

15. Barack Obama: The First Gay President

16. African American And Latino Clergy On Obama’s Gay Marriage Support

17. Obama Gay Marriage Support Politically Calculated

18. The Courage Of President Barack H. Obama

19. Black Baptist leader rebukes Obama

20. Michael Eric Dyson: Obama’s Gay Marriage Support Forced Us To ‘All Come Out Of Closets’

21. Obama’s ‘Cynicism’ on Gay Marriage

22. Is Obama Making Black Men Soft?

23. Moss to African-American Clergy: Don’t Abandon Obama Over Same-Sex Marriage

24. Obama’s Gay Marriage Support Shocks Black Church

25. Obama, gay marriage & the black church vote

26. Black Pastor Tells CNN His Church Won’t Support Obama, ‘Plan To Stay Home’

27. Same Sex Marriage: If Not Now, When? If Not America’s First African American President, Who?

28. Media Courts Black Clergy on Gay Marriage

29. Pastors Disappointed by Obama’s Shift on Marriage

30. The Failure of Obama’s Faith Strategy Revealed

31. Obama’s Case for Gay Marriage Shows That Invoking Faith Isn’t Just for Conservatives Anymore

32. On gay marriage, is Obama ‘imposing his religion’?

33. Obama, Jamal Bryant and the Politics of Selective Outrage

34. Righting rhetoric surrounding institution of marriage

35. Obama’s No-Risk Drive-By On Gay Marriage

36. Gay marriage and President Obama

37. Obama, the Black Church and Gay Marriage: Things the President Might Want to Know

38. Joel Hunter Responds to Obama’s Gay Marriage Endorsement

39. Will Gay Marriage Threaten Black Support for Obama?

40. I heard you Mr. President, and “Hear” is What I have to SAY!!!

41. Charles Krauthammer: Obama boxed in by gay marriage

42. How Obama Changed Gay-Marriage Beliefs in North Carolina

43. The Black Church’s Conundrum: What Would Jesus Do?

44. Black Pastors Say Gay Marriage Hijacks Civil Rights Movement

45. Marriage equality, Christianity and Obama

46. Black Ministers Follow Obama

47. The Black Church, Obama, & Gay Marriage

48. Obama, the Black Church and Gay Marriage: Things the President Might Want to Know 

49.On Obama, homosexuality, the Apostles and the Gentiles


50. Black Community Poised to Follow Obama’s Leadership on Gay Rights

51. Blacks, Gays And The Church: A Complex Relationship

52. Why The New ‘Obama Gay Marriage Support Is A Wash’ Meme Is Wrong

53. Obama and Gay Marriage: A Lesson for All Progressives and the Obama Campaign

54. Obama’s effect on gay ‘rites’

55. Did Obama change the nation’s mind on gay marriage?

56. Bishop: Obama Gay Marriage Views Create ‘Adulterous Relationship’ With Blacks

57. Farrakhan Criticizes Obama on Gay Marriage

58. What Obama has done for gay marriage

59. ‘Heart-Broken’ Black Pastors Want to Meet Obama Over Gay Marriage

60. Interpreting Gay Marriage Poll Results: Do the Bumps and Wiggles Mean Anything?

61. When leaders actually lead

62. Obama, Gay Rights and the Abrahamic Law of Politics

63. Why Blacks Evolved So ‘Quickly’ on Gay Marriage

64. Obama’s Confederate Marriage Policy


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