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A new CBS News/New York Times Poll shows a solid majority of Americans support legal recognition for same-sex couples - though not necessarily through the official act of marriage - and the number of people who do support full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples is significantly higher among younger generations. Overall, 38 percent of those who responded to the survey said same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, just like any other couple. Another 24 percent said civil unions should be used to grant same-sex couples legal rights similar to male-female partnerships. Combined, that means 62 percent -...

In one of the most talked-about moments from the hit TV show Glee, Blaine declared his love for Kurt and then — they kissed. Glee is just one of many popular shows on television right now that feature gay characters. Those characters aren't just entertaining us, they're changing Americans' attitudes toward homosexuality. In five separate studies, professor Edward Schiappa and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota have found that the presence of gay characters on television programs decreases prejudices among viewers. "These attitude changes are not huge," he says. "They don't change bigots into saints. But they can snowball."...

Despite the fact Barack Obama is married with two children, Newsweek magazine is dubbing him “The First Gay President” on its latest cover, crowning him with a rainbow-colored halo. The cover comes in the wake of Obama’s newly declared support for homosexual marriage in America. The edition, which hits newsstands Monday, features a column by Andrew Sullivan, an openly homosexual self-titled conservative political pundit. “When you step back a little and assess the record of Obama on gay rights, you see, in fact, that this was not an aberration. It was an inevitable culmination of three years of work,” Sullivan...

About two hours after declaring his support for same-sex marriage last week, President Obama gathered eight or so African-American ministers on a conference call to explain himself. He had struggled with the decision, he said, but had come to believe it was the right one. The ministers, though, were not all as enthusiastic. A vocal few made it clear that the president’s stand on gay marriage might make it difficult for them to support his re-election. “They were wrestling with their ability to get over his theological position,” said the Rev. Delman Coates, the pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church...

Are you kidding me? I get that Andrew Sullivan is a man with an agenda and I completely support his right to make his opinions heard. I also understand that Newsweek – like any other publication – is in business to make a profit and that frequently involves pushing the envelope in terms of catching the public’s attention. But at what point is too much simply too much? When is the shark definitively jumped and the daily bread burned past any reasonable definition of being toast? Ladies and gentlemen, this would be that point. Politico “explains.” “‘Let the games begin,”...

The most striking thing about President Obama's flip-flop evolution reversal on gay marriage was how weakly the likely Republican standard bearer, Mitt Romney, has gone after him for it. Shortly after the Obama's change of heart went public Romney addresed it at press conference in Oklahoma. Watch here as he gives a mostly tempered response when asked about his views on gay marriage. Not only did Romney answer that question with no passion but he repeatedly called his position on the issue "his preference". At first glance it seems hard to understand why his campaign would not capitalize on this...

On behalf of advancing equality, following the "evolution" of Barack Obama being made public, the President's campaign almost instantly added a line of 2012 products to store.barackobama.com that appealed exclusively to euphoric homosexual supporters. A few hours after the President 'came out' for same-sex marriage to Good Morning America news anchor Robin Roberts, who struggled as Obama spoke to contain her uncontrollable "chills," the campaign's website was awash in lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender wares. The White House claimed that "President Obama's decision to reveal his personal position on gay marriage was not political - and it was not planned,"...

So another mask has dropped. Barack Obama made history Wednesday in becoming the first president to announce support for faux marriage. And on January 20th, 2009 he made history in becoming the first president who supports faux marriage.

A day after Mitt Romney said he was “fine” with gay adoption, he took it back. Suddenly, it’s not “fine.” He said on Thursday: “And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child — in my state, individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that’s something that people have a right to do. But to call that ‘marriage’ is something that, in my view, is a departure from the real meaning of that word.” On Friday,he was asked, in...

Prominent social conservatives are claiming that President Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage could be the fuel Mitt Romney needs to unite the right in November. Rick Santorum, the former Republican presidential candidate, is on record urging Romney to use this "potent weapon" against the president in the general election. And Family Research Council President Tony Perkins on Sunday called the president's announcement a "missing piece of intensity" for the presumptive GOP nominee. Though gay marriage was not an issue that factored prominently into the 2012 election season until last Wednesday, when the president made his historic announcement, the clear...

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the first openly gay member of Congress, said Sunday that he does not think President Barack Obama's gay marriage endorsement will sway anybody's vote. Though Washington is abuzz with speculation about how the president's historic statement in support of same-sex marriage will affect his re-election prospects, the Massachusetts Democrat said the announcement leaves the race more or less the same. "If you were going to cast your vote based on a candidate's position regarding same-sex marriage, you were already going to vote for Obama-Romney based on that," he told ABC's "This Week." "I literally don't think...

In a gutsy move, Newsweek has released the cover of their next issue, on the cover of which they depict President Obama with a rainbow halo and the title of 'The First Gay President'. The news-magazine, which hits stands Monday, is using the shock factor of labeling the straight, married, father-of-two President to draw attention to itself. Tina Brown, who heads the magazine and it's sister website The Daily Beast, is known for her appreciation of controversial covers to help boost public interest and sales. Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk

"Gays are the next Jews of fundraising," declared Rahm Emanuel, who is now an Obama confidant, while hustling for donors for Bill Clinton back in 1992. In that light, Obama's endorsement of gay marriage was at least the equivalent of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel -- a symbolic and controversial action that excites a donor base. Jon Cooper, a gay Long Island legislator and an Obama fundraiser, told the Capital, a New York news site, that Obama's "expressing his personal support for same-sex marriage is going to make my life immeasurably easier raising money from LGBT donors and...

Bill Clinton was the first black president. And now, according to Newsweek, we have the first gay president. Yes, all the speculation over what cover Tina Brown would choose for Newsweek is over. Despite several suggestions from The New Republic on this crucial subject, Brown refrained from taking their kindly advice and chose a picture of President Obama with a rainbow halo over his head.

Heading the journalistic adage to "follow the money," the Washington Post has found that every one out of six of President Obama's top fundraising "bundlers" who have hauled in $500,000 or more publicly identify themselves as gay. The implications are clear: as Obama's campaign continued to struggle to haul in large donations, his team needed to fire up his fundraising base by announcing this week's "evolution" on gay marriage. Indeed, as the Washington Post notes, "some liberal gay donors had threatened to withhold contributions over Obama’s stance on gay marriage as well as his administration’s decision to shelve an executive...

After the presidential campaign has been focusing on female reproductive rights and other women's issues, President Barack Obama is coming to the city Monday to deliver the commencement address at all-female Barnard College and attend two high-profile fundraisers. -snip- After the commencement, Obama is heading to the Rubin Museum of Art in Chelsea for a $5,000-a-ticket fundraiser co-hosted by the LGBT Leadership Council and openly gay singer Ricky Martin. The president will also attend a private, $35,800-a-plate fundraising dinner featuring the cooking of Manhattan chef Vikas Khanna before heading back to the White House. While in the city, Obama will...

Addressing his large, mostly black congregation on Sunday morning, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith did not mince words about where he stood on President Barack Obama's newly announced support for same-sex marriage: The church is against it, he said, prompting shouts of "Amen!" from the pews. And yet Smith hardly issued a full condemnation of the president. "We may disagree with our president on this one issue," Smith said from the pulpit of the Shiloh Baptist Church here. "But we will keep him lifted up in prayer. ... Pray for President Barack Obama." And Smith said there were much bigger...

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Johnny Ray Noble is pastor at Second Nazareth Baptist Church in Columbia. He said he wasn't surprised by President Barack Obama's stance on gay marriage. "I was somewhat disappointed," said Noble. In an interview this week, the President said he supported same-sex unions. "At a certain point, I've just concluded that for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," said President Obama. "I thought I'd never hear those words from him being a Christian," said Noble, "Him being happily...

May 12, 2012 JC Penney Features Same-Sex Couple in May Catalogue Fifteen years ago, when advertisers got wind that Ellen DeGeneres was going to “come out” on her popular sitcom show “Ellen,” some advertisers fled. One of them was JC Penney. Flash forward to one of their newest clothing ads in the May catalog. It features a real-life same-sex couple. The photograph is of two models identified as Wendi and Maggie holding their two daughters. Both women appear be wearing wedding bands. Quietly, gradually and largely without protest, advertising is starting to reflect new attitudes and new realities about who...

If Time is going to feature a woman breastfeeding on its cover to foment attention for its magazine, Newsweek apparently isn’t going to sit still and allow Time to get all the attention. On this week’s issue of Tina Brown’s Newsweek magazine, President Barack Obama is adorned with a rainbow halo, with the headline “The First Gay President,” an obvious play off commentary that former President Bill Clinton was “the first black president.” The cover promotes the story by Andrew Sullivan, who admitted on his Daily Beast blog and on this weekend’s “The Chris Matthews Show” that the announcement was...