But if his personal evolution is complete, Mr. Obama, who has previously
opposed same-sex marriage, is not saying so.
“I think what you’re seeing is a profound recognition on the part of the
American people that gays and lesbians and transgender persons are our brothers,
our sisters, our children, our cousins, our friends, our co-workers, and that
they’ve got to be treated like every other American,” Mr. Obama said at a news
conference. “And I think that principle will win out.”
The president went on: “I think we’re moving in a direction of greater
equality and — and I think that’s a good thing.”
Mr. Obama used those same words — “a good thing” — to describe the debate
that led to last week’s passage of a law making same-sex marriage legal in New
York.
But when asked if he personally supported such marriages, the president
demurred. “I’m not going to make news on that today,” he said.
Mr. Obama later held a Gay Pride reception at the White House on Wednesday
evening, where he did not address the issue directly. Dan Savage, a columnist
who arrived with his husband, wore a button that said “evolve already.”
Mr. Obama has been under pressure from gay rights advocates to clarify his
position in the wake of the vote in Albany and his own comments at a Manhattan
fund-raiser last week, in which he suggested the marriage question should be
left to the states.
The remarks infuriated some close allies, who said Mr. Obama, a former
constitutional law professor and the child of an interracial marriage, was
invoking arguments once used to defend segregation. On Wednesday, reaction to
the news conference was mixed.
Some faulted the president for remaining “in the closet,” as The Christian
Science Monitor said. Richard Socarides, a former adviser to President Bill
Clinton on gay rights, said he sensed Mr. Obama’s “evolution is complete — only
the announcement awaits.”
But Mr. Obama himself made clear that there would be no announcements.
“I think this has been asked and answered,” he said when pressed for a second
time to state his personal views. “I’ll keep on giving you the same answer until
I give you a different one, all right?”