The Buckingham

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President Barack Obama has declared his support for same-sex marriage.

After several years of avoiding the question, Obama revealed his opinion in a hastily-arranged interview with ABC News.  He was slightly forced to publicly announce his support after remarks by Vice President Joe Biden were made over the weekend.

Obama said in the interview that he had always been a supporter of civil unions, but his position on marriage began to evolve due to the traditions and religious beliefs attached to the word marriage.

The president said that he was most persuaded to change his opinion due to lesbians and gay men who are serving in the military.

“At a certain point I just concluded, 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,” Obama said.

His opinion is currently only a symbolic one, as he has stated he respects the decisions of the 30-states who currently have constitutional bans against gay marriage, including the recently added North Carolina, who just passed a law on this on May 8.

But, regardless of this, Obama is now the first president to publicly announce his support for same-sex marriage.