WASHINGTON —
The White House cast Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on same-sex marriage as in line with President Barack Obama’s views on the matter, saying the administration has not changed its position and both men are “evolving.”
“I have no update on the president’s personal views,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters Monday at a lively briefing dominated by questions about Biden’s expression of support for gay marriage. “What the vice president said yesterday was to make the same point that the president has made previously, that committed and loving same-sex couples deserve the same rights and protections enjoyed by all Americans and that we oppose any effort to roll back those rights.”
But vice president went further than the president has in stating support for gay marriage. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Biden said he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights.”
The remark drew cheers from gay rights activists and forced the White House to scramble to explain.
The president has said he supports civil unions but did not endorse same-sex marriage as a candidate in 2008. He has since described his position as “evolving.” White House aides, including Carney, have declined to comment further on the president’s personal position since.
On Monday, Carney said the president had an “unparalleled record of support record” on GLBT rights issues, noting the elimination of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on openly gay people serving in the military and the administration’s opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
But Carney declined to state clearly whether the president supports or opposes gay marriages, saying that was a personal opinion best expressed by the president himself.
He said the president opposes an amendment up for a vote Tuesday in North Carolina that would ban same-sex marriages. Although such marriages are not currently legal in the state, Carney said the president believes the amendment would restrict rights already granted.
“He is opposed to efforts in states to deny rights that have been provided to citizens,” Carney said.
National News
Carney refuses to comment on Obama’s personal stance on marriage equality
- National News
-
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
If you’re traveling light, you can board earlier on American Airlines.
-
Senate panel considers labor board nominees
Senate Republicans said Thursday they would not support five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, raising the possibility the troubled agency could be rendered mostly inoperable later this year.
-
No Powerball winner; jackpot soars to $475 million
So you didn’t win Wednesday’s $360 million Powerball jackpot? Make that you and everyone else.
-
INFLUENCE GAME: Tech, labor spar on immigration
To the U.S. technology industry, there’s a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business.
-
Health reforms penalize some Indians
When Liz DeRouen needs any kind of health care services, from diabetes counseling to a dental cleaning, she checks into a government-funded clinic in Northern California’s wine country that covers all her medical needs.
-
Pennsylvania abortion doctor gets third life sentence
A Philadelphia abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby he described as so big it could “walk to the bus.”
-
For Minnesota gay marriage sponsors, it’s personal
When Gov. Mark Dayton adds his signature to the bill legalizing gay marriage in Minnesota later Tuesday, its two main sponsors will stand triumphantly beside him admiring the fruits of their long and often demoralizing struggle for gay rights.
-
Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy
Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.
-
Wind farms get pass on eagle deaths
It happens about once a month here, on the barren foothills of one of America’s green-energy boomtowns: A soaring golden eagle slams into a wind farm’s spinning turbine and falls, mangled and lifeless, to the ground.
-
Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into how news organizations gather the news.
- More National News Headlines
-
American will favor passengers without roller bags
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
