Gay identity in contemporary USA

Obama's view on gay marriage is very typical of many people within America at the present time, and more commonly people from the pasts views on same-sex marriage. After receiving what appears to be quite a simple request from the host, "Define marriage", Obama instantly responds and reinforces the fact that he believes marriage is the connection between specifically a man and a woman; which is greeted by a lengthy round of applause from the audience.

Although he does state the fact that due to his Christian beliefs he thinks marriage is something that is holy and involves God, as well as the man and the woman; Obama cleverly makes sure that he doesn't think gay people shouldn't be legally separated as it would go against their human and civil rights- this ensures that he remains popular amongst his people as the president.

What this does show is that America is quite socially undeveloped in respect to its view on gay marriage. In the UK and plenty of other countries worldwide, gay marriage is acceptable and is within the law, however, in some states in the US, it is illegal- proving how Americans aren't always the most welcoming of change and aspects of their culture that are deemed to be different or abnormal.

Many campaigns within America have led to same sex partnerships to become increasingly acceptable in the US, such as the 'It Gets Better' youtube campaign, which aimed to support gay people, especially gay american youths. A large majority of the comments on this video itself focus on how America is a "Free country" and gay people should be allowed to do what they want, and that the government should focus on more important things such as its own debt and the high unemployment rates within America. Despite these supportive comments and campaigns, there are still plenty of Americans who are very set in their traditional ways and are extremely against gay marriage because it goes against the bible- something which is very important as such a high percentage of the American population are Christian. This shows two very contrasting sides of the scale, and explains the conflicting views and importance that beliefs on gay marriage hold within America, in both a religious and a political way.