McCain & Obama Both Oppose Gay Marriage

Neither presidential candidate supports gay marriage.

McCain issued the following statement:

"I support the efforts of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman, just as we did in my home state of Arizona. I do not believe judges should be making these decisions."

As U.S. News & World Report puts it: "As McCain's stance on same-sex marriage comes as no surprise to political analysts, since he has never varied widely from the mainstream of the Republican Party on the issue. While McCain voted against a federal constitutional amendment supported by President Bush in 2004, he has said he thinks states should be able to determine their own approaches to marriage—and he has repeatedly said the matter should be left to voters, not judges, to decide."

Previously, Obama told the Chicago Daily Tribune, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue, I do believe that tradition, and my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."

Obama has gone much farther than McCain in supporting issues of importance to the gay community.

And while the Mormon and Catholic churches are ginning up efforts to defeat gay marriage proposals, other denominations including Episcopalians and even Presbyterians are re-examining their own prohibitions. The American religious mainstream may arrive at its own acceptance far sooner than McCain & Obama.