Shortly after publishing last night's post about giving up on reason and falling back on emotion to win the gay marriage debate, Barack Obama announced that he was in favour of same sex marriage. This is great news. The support of the President of the United States in this debate is immeasurable.
This will, I think, move the debate forward in America. This will strengthen the hand of all those who support gay marriage and marginalise all the right-wing, crackpot, Jesus freaks that see gay people as the most sinful creatures to walk this earth since Beelzebub himself.
But let's not underestimate the effect that this will have on gay rights the globe over. Take the UK, which is, like the US, debating whether to legalise gay marriage. His statement last night normalises it; it takes the sting out of the debate - if the President of the United States thinks it's OK, surely it can't be that much of an extreme idea. It places the notion closer to the hallowed centre ground.
As I swam tonight, I couldn't help but think that while I am grateful for his support and I don't wish to detract from or diminish his statement; let's face it, it's been a long time coming. Obama is, apparently, the first sitting US President to support gay marriage. Think about it; it should have happened years ago. All credit to him and his team for making the statement but really, this is a long time overdue.
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