Secretary Of Education Arne Duncan Publicly Endorses Gay Marriage

Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden said that he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage. Now, another member of the Obama administration has come out to say the same. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said on “Morning Joe” that gay marriage should be legal.

When asked by MSNBC’s Mark Halperin if gay marriage should be legal Duncan replied simply: “Yes, I do.”

Duncan said that he’s always had that stance on gay marriage but has never made his views public because no one has ever asked him about it.

Several commentators said that Duncan’s statement, coupled with Biden’s, show that the Obama administration’s opinion on gay marriage was evolving. Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, said in a statement:

“Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s announcement this morning adds him to the drumbeat of Obama Administration members coming out in support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. Like Vice President Biden, former Presidents Clinton and Carter, former Vice Presidents Gore and Cheney, Laura Bush, and the majority of Americans. Secretary Duncan knows that loving and committed gay couples seek the freedom to marry for the same mix of reasons as other couples: to make a vow to one another, to share life with the person they love, and to protect their families. Standing up for the freedom to marry is not just the right thing to do, it’s the right thing politically, and it’s time for the President to stand on the right side of history.”

Obama has been criticized in the past for not taking action in regards to gay marriage. Obama has verbally supported gay marriage but has steered clear of trying to make a federal law legalizing same sex marriage. But with the 2012 election coming up, Obama may finally be pushed onto “the right side of history.”

Yesterday, Joe Biden talked to NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said:

“I’m 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, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Biden said. “And quite frankly, I don’t see much of a distinction beyond that.”

A spokesman for the Vice President said that Biden’s comments are right in line with what the President has said during his first term in office.

Biden’s spokesman said:

“The Vice President was saying what the President has said 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 rollback those rights… That’s why we stopped defending the constitutionality of Sect. 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in legal challenges and support legislation to repeal it. 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.”

Do you think the Obama administration will legalize gay marriage?