Former strategist claims Obama lied about being against gay marriage

Barack Obama’s former strategist has claimed that the President lied about being against same-sex marriage during his 2008 Presidential election.

David Axelrod makes the claims in his new book Believer: My Forty Years in Politics, saying that Obama was always in support of same-sex marriage, despite claiming to only support Civil Unions during his election campaign.

In the book, Axelrod suggests that Obama – arguably the most progressive President the US has ever seen – was forced to lie about his viewpoint in order to attract more votes from the black religious community.

“Opposition to gay marriage was particularly strong in the black church, and as he ran for higher office, he grudgingly accepted the counsel of more pragmatic folks like me, and modified his position to support civil unions rather than marriage, which he would term a ‘sacred union’,” says a passage in the book.

He goes on to claim that Obama “never felt comfortable” with lying about his viewpoint on same-sex marriage, saying that the President “stumbled over the question” whenever it came up in interviews.

Axelrod’s claims are supported by a questionnaire that the President filled out in 1996 during his time as a senate candidate, in which he wrote that he supported same-sex marriages and would “fight to legalise” them.

Meanwhile, the US government has announced it is to appoint an LGBT Rights Envoy – find out more here.

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