Enough Agonizing, Mr. President

There has been much coverage of Barack Obama's confession that he's "evolving" on the issue of same sex marriage - which in my view is yet another example of Obama trying to have his cake and eat it too by seeking to placate the LGBT portion of the Democratic Party base yet at the same time stroke the fundies like his BFF Rick Warren. As discussed in a recent post, if one is really true to the Bible, then polygamy, not marriage between one man and one woman, is the true form of "Biblical marriage." Thus, Obama needs to get over the attempts at fence sitting and admit that CIVIL marriage and religious marriage are two utterly separate things and get on board the civil marriage for same sex couples bandwagon. The torturous prevarication is truly growing tiresome. The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times agrees and has taken Mr. Obama to task. Here are some highlights:

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We can't peer into President Obama's soul, but his statement last week that he is "struggling" with whether to endorse same-sex marriage is open to an unedifying interpretation. Given the president's support of gay rights in other contexts, his opposition to marriage equality raises the question of whether the struggle Obama referred to is between politics and principle. If so, we hope principle will prevail.

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"As I've said, my feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this. I have friends, I have people who work for me, who are in powerful, strong, long-lasting gay or lesbian unions. And they are extraordinary people, and this is something that means a lot to them and they care deeply about.

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The president could spare himself that struggle if he would analyze the issue logically. If he did, he would recognize that it's irrational, once same-sex couples are given the practical advantages of marriage, to deny them married status. Civil unions, while a vast improvement over the absence of any recognition of same-sex relationships, are almost by definition second-class arrangements.

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The temptation is to think that Obama knows this, and that his reluctance to endorse marriage equality is more political than personal. When he ran for the presidency in 2008, it was the conventional wisdom that supporting gay marriage would be politically fatal. With shifts in public attitudes, that probably will not be the case in 2012. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 42% of adults now favor same-sex marriage, compared to 37% in 2009. The trend seems clear.

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What should determine his position is logic and the fact that same-sex couples across America, not just those in his circle, yearn for recognition of their relationships. Enough agonizing, Mr. President. Support marriage equality.