Obama Administration Shifts Position On Defending Gender-Exclusive Marriage Laws

RedTracker| The Obama administration has announced that it will no longer defend legislation that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The decision opens the door for the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, which are now legal in eight US states.

To date the Obama administration has defended the 1996 Defence of Marriage Act, saying that no state needs to recognize a marriage between a gay couple granted by another state.

During the campaign, President Obama said that he supports same-sex unions but not gay marriage. His decision will cause another major row with Conservatives.

The White House press spokesman, Jay Carney, told journalists that Obama had still not reached a resolution on the question. But Obama had concluded that, by discriminating against gays and lesbians, the existing legislation was no longer viable in its present form and a fresh ruling by the courts on new grounds would be required to ban same-sex marriages. via The Guardian