Social Policy
The Almanac of American Politics (2008) rated Obama's overall social policies in 2006 as more conservative than 21 percent of the Senate, and more liberal than 77 percent of the Senate (18 percent and 77 percent, respectively, in 2005).
In 2010, Obama signed into law the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 which ended a policy of not allowing gays to state their sexual orientation openly in the military. In May 2012, he became the first sitting U.S. president to announce his support for the legalization of same-sex marriage.
During his second inaugural address on January 21, 2013, Obama called for full equality for gays: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.” This was a historic moment, being the first time that a president mentioned gay rights or the word "gay" in an inaugural address.
Read more about this topic: Political Positions Of Barack Obama
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