Tom Williams
Vice President Joe Biden talks with reporters in this 2011 file photo. To buy this photo, go to: http://roll.cl/cqrcpix
Vice President Joe Biden became the highest-ranking U.S. official to endorse same-sex marriage this morning.
In a wide-ranging interview on “Meet the Press,” Biden said he has no problem with gays and lesbians having marriage rights.
“The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Biden said, according to Reuters.
Biden did not say whether the White House would take concrete steps to help legalize gay marriage if President Obama wins a second term.
Obama has said his views on same-sex marriage are “evolving” and that it is a matter best left to the states.
Obama senior campaign adviser David Axelrod attempted to walk the statement back a little immediately after the interview aired.
On his personal Twitter account, Axelrod wrote that what Biden said “that all married couples should have exactly the same legal rights” is “precisely” the position of Obama.
