Although a growing number of politicians and registered voters recently stated their support for marriage equality, there are people along the spectrum who are against legalizing the issue.
“You can’t just say people on the far right oppose gay marriage. You have people across the political spectrum that still oppose gay marriage,” said Joe Scarborough Tuesday on Morning Joe, citing Orthodox Jews, Catholics, and Evangelicals as individuals who remain against same-sex marriage.
This week, Hillary Clinton endorsed marriage equality, sharing her views in an online video released by the Human Rights Campaign. “LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones. And they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship that includes marriage,” she said in the video.
According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 58% of registered American voters agree with marriage equality and believe same-sex marriage should be legal while 36% of voters disagree with marriage equality.
President Obama’s views on same-sex marriage have evolved continually over the years. Most recently in 2012, five months before he was re-elected to office for a second term as president, he supported marriage equality and admitted to being hesitant on the issue in the past.
“All you had to do is look and see how long it took Barack Obama to support gay marriage and see that the only way he got there was by Joe Biden dragging him over that finish line,” Scarborough said. “The fact that you have a progressive president that took his time—took as long as he took—four years in before he made a decision, this shows this is not an open and shut issue politically, nationally.”
Michele Richinick