Obama's Affirmation of Same-Sex Marriage Dominates Twitter (VIDEO)
President Barack Obama, despite being a professed Christian, made history Wednesday by becoming the first sitting U.S. president to openly express support for same-sex marriage in an ABC interview. As the announcement was made, the public turned to Twitter to offer their reactions to the news.
After days of his administration pussyfooting around the subject, Obama's statement Wednesday sparked phrases such as "MarriageEquality" and "IfIWasPresident" to start climbing high on Twitter's Trend List.
"I think same-sex couples should be able to marry," President Obama said Wednesday afternoon during his interview with Robin Roberts, whose name also emerged on Twitter's list of most-discussed topics.
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Those using the hashtag "#MarriageEquality" expressed the following views in reaction to Obama's historic statement:
Tyler Jones @Jonezzin - "Obama's conscience finally came out of the closet!!! #yahooo! #marriageequality"
Brianne Houston @BR3Houston - "If you want to be respected for your beliefs then you must respect those that don't believe in your beliefs. #MarriageEquality"
Twitter users writing to the theme "Mr. President," shared:
Sean Eldridge @SeanEldridge - "As someone who is getting married next month, this is the greatest wedding gift of all. Thank you Mr. President."
Joe Hernandez-Kolski @pochojoe - "Well, Mr. President, you just got my donation to the campaign."
A few Christian leaders also took to Twitter to offer their reaction to Obama's un-Biblical stance on marriage.
Pastor Jamal Bryant of Empowerment Temple in Washington, D.C., wrote: "For the church to be against same sex marriage doesn't make it bashing or homophobic!"
The Washington pastor added: "I have gay people in my church and in my family...I love them BUT I won't be marrying them!"
John Piper's Desiring God ministry posted an excerpt from a 2011 post written by the pastor on marriage in light of the news: "In God's eyes, there simply is no such thing as so-called gay marriage. It does not exist. It cannot be made to exist."
Other phrases on Twitter's Trend List Wednesday included: #IfIWasPresident, Log Cabin Republicans, North Carolina, and Shep Smith.
Viewers of reporter Shephard Smith's news block on Fox News, known for its conservative stance on such hot-button issues, were surprised to hear the anchor say Obama was "now in the 21st century" for expressing his support for gay marriage.
