US election 2012: Joe Biden weighs into gay marriage debate

“Beyond that, the vice president was expressing that he too is evolving
on the issue, after meeting so many committed couples and families in this
country,” the aide added in a statement released to the Politico
website.

Even though he stopped short of endorsing gay marriage, Mr Biden said he
believed attitudes were changing in the United States, crediting the
television sitcom ‘Will Grace’ whose lead character was a gay lawyer
in New York for breaking down prejudice.

However liberal groups chided the administration for continuing to fail to
take a clear position on the issue.

“The campaign shouldn’t force Biden’s comments back into the closet, but
should instead embrace the growing popular support for the freedom to marry,”
said Winnie Stachelberg of the liberal Center for American Progress.

The Obama administration, which has major donors among the gay and lesbian
lobby groups, has equivocated on gay marriage to avoid alienating socially
conservative and religious voters who say equality for gay marriage
undermines traditional notions of the family and infringes religious
freedoms.

Mitt Romney, the Republican challenger to Mr Obama, has also tried to stay out
of the debate, but last week it forced the resignation of his openly gay
national security spokesman Richard Grenell who said his position had been
rendered untenable because of the “hyper-partisan” discussions on
the issue.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Biden also revealed the election campaign’s
worst-kept secret, that he will be running alongside Mr Obama in the Autumn. “There’s
no way out,” he joked. “I mean, they’ve already printed Obama-Biden”
campaign materials.

He also disagreed with the assessment of Osama bin Laden, revealed this week
in newly published documents, that the US would be plunged into crisis if an “utterly
unprepared” Biden became president after the successful assassination
attempt on Mr Obama.

Mr Biden, who did not rule our running for President in 2016, countered by
saying that bin Laden had been wrong about a lot of things, and that he had
never been accused of being unable to lead on national security issues.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes