As President Obama prepares to address the Human Rights Campaign tomorrow evening, the group’s president is calling on the administration to address anti-marriage ballot initiatives in North Carolina and Minnesota:
JOE SOLMONESE: One thing that would be incredibly helpful would be for the president and the administration to look out across the electoral landscape next year, understand where it is that we’re engaged in marriage fights – whether overturning the ban in Oregon, or fighting a ban in Minnesota or North Carolina – and have something to say about that.
Advocates pressured Obama to condemn state initiatives during his 2009 address before the group, but he didn’t mention Maine’s Question 1 or Washington’s Referendum 71. Obama could have also weighed in on the recent marriage fights in New York and North Carolina, but refrained from commenting during his speeches there.
HRC’s Solmonese says he is “not particularly troubled” that the President has not endorsed full marriage equality, but by fully “evolving” on the issue, he could support the states with much greater credibility.
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