Obama Faces Pressure on Gay Rights

“With the Supreme Court only days away from major rulings on same-sex marriage, President Obama faces the prospect of having to make his own difficult decisions about the definition of wedlock,” the Washington Post reports.

“Gay rights advocates are already pressing Obama to immediately broaden the federal government’s recognition of legally married same-sex couples if the court strikes down a ban on providing federal benefits to them. The question for Obama turns on whether the federal government should extend full benefits to gay couples living in states that don’t recognize their marriages.”

“Obama would face rare, concrete decisions on the politically combustible question of same-sex marriage — an area he has largely left to the purview of courts and state legislatures.”