Administrativia

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Do gay and lesbian couples who wish to marry in this country have a friend in the White House?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think gays and lesbians, uh, have a friend in the White House (pause) because I've consistently committed myself to civil unions, making sure that they have the ability to visit each other in hospitals, uh, that they are able to access benefits, uh, that they are, uh, have a whole host of legal rights that they currently, uh, do not have. Uh, I don't think that, uh, it makes sense for, uh, the federal government to get in the business of determining what marriage is, uh, that
isn't, uh, traditionally the federal government's role.

Patience is running thin.

“Obama is out of step with his party, which is overwhelmingly in favor of marriage at this stage,” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist who is among the organizers of a march on Washington for same-sex marriage scheduled for this fall. “He’s out of step with the next generation.”