Washington, DC – Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy praised President Barack Obama for his clear statement in support of marriage equality for the LGBT community. His statement follows:

President Obama’s affirmation of the right to same gender marriage today is an important and historic moment in the life of the nation.  His statement shows that he understands his role is to protect Constitutional principles over sectarian ideology. While I appreciate that the president thinks his position is consistent with his faith – a belief I have long held – it is the Constitution, not his religion that should form the basis of his position.  The continued denial of equality to the LGBT community is an anachronism in today’s world. I hope and trust that the President will now lead us down a path towards public policy that codifies the right to marriage equality for the LGBT community.

Interfaith Alliance celebrates religious freedom by championing individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy, and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism. Founded in 1994, Interfaith Alliance has 185,000 members across the country from 75 faith traditions as well as those without a faith tradition. For more information, visit www.interfaithalliance.org.

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With the formal announcement of his support for same-gender marriage rights today on ABC News, President Obama has taken a courageous and historical step in the life of our nation, and prfoedictably unleashed hornets nests from the right – and the left.

Our friends at RightWingWatch.org have compiled the initial responses – including misguided criticism from GOP gay rights groups who focus on the timing of the announcement in relation to Tuesday’s Amendment One vote in North Carolina (completely ignoring, in their “day late-dollar short” rhetoric that defeating Amendment One would have done nothing for the state’s same-gender families, since an existing law already banned same-gender marriage there), and the predictable giddy outrage from the far right, who are celebrating the President’s principled move as a guarantee of his defeat in November.

A favorite State of Belief guest, Jay Michaelson, makes some great points on the subject in his Huffington Post post.

We’ll be discussing this development on this weekend’s State of Belief Radio with Religion Dispatches Senior Editor Sarah Posner – be sure to tune in!