President Barack Obama's nod to gay
marriage in his inaugural address is seen as a positive sign that he
will soon support the issue in the Supreme Court.
The mention itself was historic,
marking the first time a president has addressed gay rights in an
inauguration speech.
Speaking just a few feet from Supreme
Court justices who will consider the issue in March, Obama included
Stonewall, the Greenwich Village bar where gay men and drag queens
confronted police, triggering the modern gay rights movement,
alongside Seneca Falls and Selma.
“We, the people, declare today that
the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal –
is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears
through Seneca Falls, and Selma and Stonewall,” Obama said. “Our
journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are
treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly
created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be
equal as well.”
Next month, the White House will decide
whether to support two cases headed to the Supreme Court. The
Justice Department has said the decision to support the cases will be
made by administration officials. The department could decide
against taking part in the cases.
One of the cases is Hollingsworth
vs. Perry, which seeks to declare unconstitutional Proposition 8,
California's 2008 voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual couples. Passage of Proposition 8 put an
end to the weddings of gay couples taking place in the state after
the California Supreme Court legalized such unions.
Speaking to The
Los Angeles Times, Theodore Olson, lawyer for the plaintiffs,
said the president sounded ready to back the case.
“I was very gratified to hear the
president state in clear and unambiguous language that our gay and
lesbian citizens must be treated equally under the law,” Olson told
the paper, “and that their loving relationships must be treated
equally as well. That can only mean one thing: equality under the
Constitution.”
Evan Wolfson, president and founder of
Freedom to Marry, noted that the president gave an inaugural speech,
“not a legal brief,” and “we will see over the next several
weeks exactly what position the Justice Department takes.”
He added: “I am confident the
president knows that the Constitution requires equality in the
freedom to marry.”