A young couple listens to speeches at an election watch party for proponents of Referendum 74, which would uphold the state's new same-sex marriage law, on Nov. 6, 2012, in Seattle.
In an exclusive May interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, President Obama performed a political volte face and declared his support for gay marriage. Earlier, his public stance had been to back civil unions, but shy away from opening up the institution of marriage itself to gay couples. His Administration had earlier struck down the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, while also disavowing the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act. Obama’s coming out for gay marriage was unprecedented for an American president. But the future of gay marriage, for the time being, remains in the hands of the individual American states — and of the Supreme Court.