Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
has said he's “thrilled and excited” by President Obama's support
for gay marriage.
The 72-year-old civil rights leader
appeared Thursday on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, where he
discussed his views on Obama's Wednesday announcement in support of
gay nuptials.
“I was thrilled and excited,” Bond
said. “This was a position I'd always thought that he had. I
always felt that he felt this way. I was waiting and waiting for him
to say so. And I'm just so happy that he finally did. I wish it had
been sooner but I'm willing to take what I got.”
Bond added that the president's support
for marriage equality wasn't likely to lose him any votes among
African-Americans.
“In African-American communities,
like every other community in the country, the tide is shifting,
people are thinking differently, younger people are saying these are
old-fashioned ideas. … And I think President Obama is just going
with the tide.” (The video is embedded in the right panel of this
page. Visit
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