President Barack Obama on Friday elaborated on his administration’s friend-of-the-court brief filed with the Supreme Court ahead of a case that will determine the constitutionality of laws such as Proposition 8, the 2008 California ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.
Obama said the brief, which urged the court to acknowledge the right of same-sex couples to get married, stemmed from his well-publicized “evolution” on the issue and that his administration couldn’t avoid weighing in on the case.
“As everybody here knows, last year upon a long period of reflection, I concluded that we cannot discriminate against same-sex couples when it comes to marriage, that the basic principle that America is founded on, the idea that we’re all created equal, applies to everybody regardless of sexual orientation, as well as race or gender or religion or ethnicity,” Obama said during a Friday afternoon press conference. “And, you know, I think that the same evolution that I’ve gone through is an evolution that the country as a whole has gone through. And I think it is a profoundly positive thing.”
He added, “So that when the Supreme Court essentially called the question by taking this case about California’s law, I didn’t feel like that was something that this administration could avoid. I felt it was important for us to articulate what I believe and what this administration stands for.”
