Things might get awkward for President Obama in New York Tuesday. As North Carolinians cast their votes in what is expected to be another successful attempt by gay marriage opponents to ban same-sex unions and his own campaign works to clarify its position after Vice President Joe Biden indicated support for marriage equality on Sunday, Obama travels to a state that recently legalized gay marriage, and plans to meet with one of the movement’s biggest heroes, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
If the past is any judge, Obama will once again brush off any questions about his own position on gay marriage and instead point to victories for the gay-rights community that happened on his watch.
But Obama’s insistence that is views on gay marriage are “evolving” is becoming a tougher and tougher sell thanks to a series of events putting pressure on him to step off the fence and into one of the most contentious civil rights debates of the new millenium.
Recent developments in the gay marriage fight make it tougher for Obama to keep up his have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too routine. A timeline:
• February
A marriage equality group, Freedom To Marry, launched a petition drive aimed at getting a plank supporting gay marriage into the Democratic Party platform this fall.
The group quickly landed a big supporter, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.
Read more at TPM.
