President Obama announced the change in his thinking on ABC News on Wednesday.
BARACK OBAMA: "At a certain point, I 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."
He noted his success at ending the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and his opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act.
But Mr. Obama said he still supports the right of individual states to decide the marriage issue. He spoke a day after a large majority of voters in North Carolina approved a state constitutional ban on homosexual marriage. North Carolina became the thirtieth state to pass such an amendment. The ban also includes civil unions and domestic partnerships.
Currently, six of the fifty states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to marry. Nine states allow civil unions or provide rights under domestic partnership laws.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
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2013-11-25
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