In 1996, Barack Obama stated in a questionnaire, “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”

Yet since taking office, the President has taken a great deal of criticism for backtracking on his record regarding LGBT civil rights. Now, in an interview at Netroots Nation with Daily Kos Associate Editor Kalli Joy Gray, a hassled White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told the audience the 1996 questionnaire was not written by Obama, despite the candidate’s signature being affixed to the bottom of the document. Here’s what was said:

GRAY: In a 1996 Illinois Senate Race questionnaire, Barack Obama wrote, ‘I favor legalizing same sex marriages.’ After the Proposition 8 decision came out in California, David Axelrod said, ‘the President does oppose same sex marriage.’ So it seems like his position has actually evolved from being more supportive of civil rights to being less supportive of civil rights. Is the President going to evolve again and get back to supporting civil rights and gay marriage?

PFEIFFER: Well– a couple things on that. The President has –actually I think the best way to do this is I’m going to try to paraphrase an answer that the President gave.

GRAY: Well I’ve got his exact answer right here. ‘I favor legalizing same sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit them.’

PFEIFFER: Well if you actually go back and look, you’ll see that question–that questionnaire was actually filled out by some one else not the President. There’s been a long debate on this and–

GRAY: Wait—So it was a fake questionnaire?

PFEIFFER: No, So what I was going to tell you is the President’s position has been consistent on this but what he said is–

GRAY: Hold on a minute–You’re saying that this was a fake questionnaire?

You can watch the interview here:

This revelation, which comes as Obama has been highlighting his LGBT accomplishments ahead of his reelection campaign, is sure to raise some concerns. Earlier this month, the administration unveiled a website dedicated to the LGBT accomplishments.
–Sean Savett