As news of President Barack Obama’s support for same-sex marriage spread through the airwaves and social media, students on the University of Wisconsin campus felt the impact of his message.
Gabriel Javier, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Campus Center at UW, said hearing Obama’s announcement was great news.
“I think it is important for him to speak out and advocate for the rights of LGBT students,” he said. “I think students are also happy and excited about it, especially in the LGBT community.”
Javier said despite Obama’s announcement, it is still bittersweet because of North Carolina’s passing of an amendment Tuesday to ban same sex marriage.
Javier said Obama’s support will be important for the upcoming election, regardless of whether it helps or hurts him. He added many people have been waiting to hear Obama officially support same sex marriage.
UW College Democrats Chair Chris Hoffman said he thinks this will have a positive impact for Obama, and hopefully LGBT students and allies on campus will be more excited to get out and vote.
“To me, this can do nothing but help him in his re-election bid,” he said. “It’s a very positive thing.”
Hoffman said hopefully anyone who saw Obama as previously being unclear in his position on gay marriage will now feel more confident about his stance and be able to support him more fully.
He added he believes younger Americans are more supportive of same sex marriage than others, and that it is viewed as more of a right among college students and those who are younger.
College Republicans Chair Jeff Snow said he was not surprised by the announcement and that he saw it as a more symbolic move on Obama’s part.
“I don’t think anybody believed he didn’t support gay marriage,” Snow said. “With the whole thing about him saying he has been evolving, I don’t think he was evolving, but that he has been kind of hiding his true beliefs from potential voters who may not have supported gay marriage.”
Snow said he feels Obama has put politics over his principles in the last couple of election cycles, and his announcement was more of a “political opportunist move” now that there seems to be more general support for same sex marriage in the U.S.
Snow added he does not think the statement will affect Obama’s prospects substantially in the upcoming election, and people who are in favor of gay marriage were going to vote for him anyway.
Although Javier said he sees Obama’s statement as significant, he added it does not mean there is not more to be done or brought into the conversation in the area of LGBT rights.
He said issues like transgender rights, second parent adoptions and employment nondiscrimination still remain on the table.
Javier added although it may be partially true that younger generations are more willing to support gay marriage than others, he said society cannot wait on each generation.
