From Washington state to Washington, DC, and from the Rhode Island statehouse to the Supreme Court of the United States, the country is very different from just last May.
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WASHINGTON — In a city exemplified by the Senate, where a majority vote can be a losing proposition, the tortured and extended path President Obama took to supporting marriage equality for same-sex couples was not unexpected.
What has been unexpected — even by many of the most prominent supporters of marriage equality — has been the path that both the president and the country have taken since Obama announced on May 9, 2012, "I think same-sex couples should be able to get married."
The opposite of gridlock, Obama's move — whether cause, effect or some combination of the two — was followed by the clearing of a pathway to significant movement for recognition of gay and lesbian couples' marriage rights in the year since.
On Wednesday, without noting the pending anniversary of Obama's announcement, White House press secretary Jay Carney noted simply that Obama views marriage rights for same-sex couples as "a fundamental issue of equal rights."
That simple statement was a far cry from a very long press briefing last year in which Carney spent most of his time attempting to deflect questions about Obama's views on marriage in the days in between Vice President Joe Biden's Sunday comments supportive of marriage equality on Meet the Press and Obama's Wednesday interview with ABC's Robin Roberts.
It even was a marked departure from the administration's initial reluctance to announce whether it would be supporting the plaintiffs seeking to have California's Proposition 8 ruled unconstitutional — although it eventually did side with them at the Supreme Court.
From a 2008 campaign opposing same-sex couples' marriage rights to a 2012 campaign supporting them as a personal matter but remaining agnostic as to whether couples had a constitutional right to marry, Obama now views marriage equality as "a fundamental issue of equal rights."
Although opposition remains, the country has moved right along with Obama on the once-divisive issue in five key ways.
The Party
Via: Jae C. Hong / AP
In Charlotte, the Democratic Party formally endorsed marriage equality as part of its platform in September 2012. Although Obama was not the first to endorse its inclusion in the platform — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was one of the first prominent elected officials to do so — his announcement on May 9, 2012, all but sealed the deal for its inclusion.
Prior to Obama's evolution on the issue, several advocates saw the growing divide between the party's more liberal members and Obama on the issue as a potential sticking point at the convention.
With Obama on board, though, the measure was easily adopted, as were other pro-LGBT provisions.
