Mixed Feelings

I was reading Towleroad and was surprised to see this article on Barack Obama's early and unequivocal support of gay marriage. Not civil unions, which he now supports, but gay marriage. In fact, Obama's statement was: 'I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.'

You have to wonder what exactly it was that changed his mind at some point in the last 12 years. I'm trying to decide which I'd prefer: A President who favors gay marriage but feels he can't publicly say so, or one who truly feels that civil unions are fine but marriage isn't. The first option seems better, but they both end up in the same place if you think about it. If he felt he couldn't publicly support gay marriage during the campaign, he'll probably feel like he can't do so until he's been safely elected to a second term.

Meanwhile, President-elect Obama is reportedly appointing four LGBT White House staffers: John Berry as director of the Office of Personnel Management, Karine Jean-Pierre as the White House liaison for the Department of Labor, David Medina as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the First Lady, and David Noble as the White House liaison for NASA. He's also keeping on an openly gay Bush appointee, Mark Dybul, as Global AIDS Coordinator.

Obviously, this is going to be a far more inclusive administration than the outgoing one, but it remains to be seen what they're actually going to do to further LGBT rights in this country. I'm still feeling more positive than not about what the next four years will hold.