These things take time. America is a deeply divided society when it comes to politics. The president can’t just order the passing of gay marriage. A lot of diplomacy has to be implemented before such a move is made. Both Barack Obama & Hilary Clinton have acknowledged that there is more to be done in terms of LGBT rights in America.

The point is, President Obama has made progress in promoting gay rights in his home country and abroad. No other administration has done more for LGBT rights in the US. Surely he will do even more with time?

Agreed on that! See the article is now also on “Nuus24”. Allot of gay bashing as usual… Bible this and Bible that. Cause of this that I lost my religion…

Only the Afrikaners, they have a bad history of being homophobic and racist. Makes me ashamed to be Afrikaans. The English South Africans are much more accepting.

The biggest change that Obama can make on the home front will be to repeal DOMA (Defence Of Marriage Act) that, ironically, was enacted in 1996 by Bill Clinton. This defines marriage as being between one man and one woman only and allows each state the right to decide whether they’ll accept gay marriage or not and also whether they’ll recognise a same-sex marriage from another state.

If DOMA is repealed, the states will have to fall in line with federal law and some will have to change their state constitutions (which some did when DOMA was enacted). The only states that allow same-sex marriage are most of those on the North Atlantic, and puzzlingly Iowa. Some states will recognise same-sex marriage from another state although not allowing marriages to take place themselves but the vast majority of the states have laws (some constitutional) against same-sex marriages.

Personally, I think that Obama should be focussing on garnering support against DOMA first, before creating such a foreign policy. Before preaching equality, he should have equality, otherwise he’s just a hypocrite.