Obama says ‘yea’ to gays – finally

It was from an American president the boldest declaration yet (which doesn't actually change federal policy):

"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 Barack Obama Wednesday.

The president had said his position on the issue was evolving, and he experienced some punctuated equilibrium thanks to Vice President Joe Biden's endorsement of same-sex marriage on Sunday and Education Secretary Arne Duncan's ditto on Monday. By the time Obama got around to it on Wednesday, it was almost cliché.

(The nobility of his stand was cheapened by the fact that he followed it up immediately with an email to supporters asking them to stand with him, and once they did, asking them for money.)

None of this diminishes the moment, however: Never before has a sitting president declared that same-gendered couples should enjoy both the benefits and the title of marriage. It evoked strong emotions, exemplified by the reaction of Alan van Capelle, CEO of the Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice. "Tonight, when I go home and look at my 6-month-old son it will be the first time I will be able to tell him that our president believes we are a family," van Capelle said in a statement.

Not that van Capelle's wasn't a family before; it's just now a family the top officials of the federal government say they're comfortable with.

Obama's declaration puts him squarely at odds with his Republican rival, Mitt Romney. Notwithstanding Romney's disdain for federal intervention in the economy, he believes strongly in federal intervention at the altar by favoring a constitutional amendment to prevent gays from marrying.

Here in Nevada, gay marriage is still illegal, thanks to a constitutional amendment approved in 2000 and 2002. Assemblyman Tick Segerblom, now running for state Senate, says he'll begin the process of re-amending the constitution to strike it, which if all goes according to plan will come before voters in 2016.

It's more likely a federal lawsuit filed last month by Lambda Legal will go before the U.S. Supreme Court before Nevada's voters get a chance to undo what they did.

But if voters do get their shot, they'll have at least one more supporter: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. While Reid said he personally believes marriage should be between a man and a woman, he said civil laws should allow same-sex couples to marry, and prohibitions in order to "protect" straight marriage "always struck me as absurd."

Well, not always: Reid voted for the anti-gay marriage amendment in Nevada in 2000 and 2002, or at least he told a constituent in a letter that he planned to do so. (Reid's position was evolving back then: He told another constituent that the Defense of Marriage Act and a Nevada state law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was sufficient, and that "I am concerned that the [anti-gay marriage] petition and subsequent ballot initiative is intended to be divisive and redundant rather than protective of the institution of marriage.")

It's understandable liberals welcome Obama, Biden and Reid to the side of marriage equality, but they shouldn't forget that legions of people were already there. It's another healthy reminder that, while we call them our leaders, all too often elected officials only act when the choice is safe or when their hand is forced. But the commitment is nonetheless welcome, as much more work remains before gays achieve marriage equality, and, as St. James says, faith without works is dead.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.