Sponsors of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage, cited Obama's current position in their 2008 campaign and have quoted him in their defense of the measure during a federal court trial in San Francisco. Gay rights groups, noting that Obama actually opposed Prop. 8, have urged him to take a stance on the lawsuit, without success.

What has received much less attention is Obama's unexplained reversal of the position he once held backing same-sex marriage - the position still held by the church he attended for most of his adult life.

Obama was running for the Illinois state Senate in Chicago in February 1996 when he answered a questionnaire from a gay-oriented newspaper, Outlines, on gay rights issues. One of his answers was, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriage, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

The Windy City Times, which later acquired Outlines, said it interviewed Obama in 2004, when he was a state legislator running for the U.S. Senate. In a January 2009 article recapping the interview, the newspaper quoted him as saying he no longer supported same-sex marriage "primarily just as a strategic issue," and not because he had changed his philosophy.

Religious connotation

"I think that marriage, in the minds of a lot of voters, has a religious connotation," Obama said, according to the article. "I know that's true in the African American community, for example." Instead, he endorsed civil unions, a designation that did not exist in 1996.

Obama takes the same stance today - yes on equal rights and civil unions, no on same-sex marriage - but attributes the distinction to his religious convictions.

As he put it in an August 2008 presidential candidates' forum, "I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian ... it is also a sacred union. God's in the mix."

He is far from unique among presidents in changing positions he held before his election. But presidents usually attribute their turnabouts to external events or congressional resistance.

Differs with Obama's church

Obama's reference to his religious convictions about marriage also contrasts with the position of the denomination with which he has been most closely associated, the United Church of Christ.

Obama attended the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago for 20 years and has said he found his faith there. He resigned in May 2008 during an uproar over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's sermons that labeled the United States a racist, warmongering nation.

In 2005, the United Church of Christ's governing General Synod passed a resolution endorsing "equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender." The church, with 1.1 million members, is the largest U.S. denomination to support same-sex marriage.

Since becoming president, Obama has attended services at several Washington churches but has not joined one. Asked about the president's current affiliation, the White House press office described him as a "committed Christian" who prays daily.

The United Church of Christ says resolutions of its General Synod are only recommendations to regional councils and congregations.

The 2005 resolution on same-sex marriage acknowledged that it would cause "pain and struggle" within the church. About 200 of the 5,200 congregations have disaffiliated in response to the resolution, said a church spokesman, the Rev. Gregg Brekke. He said Obama's former church remains a member.

Flyers praise 'sacred union'

"We believe in freedom of conscience," Brekke said. "Within our congregations, a variety of viewpoints exist on any number of hotbed issues, including same-sex marriage."

During the 2008 campaign over Prop. 8, the measure's backers quoted Obama's reference to male-female marriage as a "sacred union" in campaign flyers and used his voice in phone messages. They targeted the African American community, which strongly backed the measure.

At the federal court trial of a lawsuit challenging Prop. 8, lawyers for the measure's sponsors have cited Obama's opposition to same-sex marriage as evidence that people who favor a traditional view of marriage are not necessarily prejudiced against gays and lesbians.

Legally, the distinction is crucial - if Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who is hearing the case without a jury, decides that discrimination was the main motivation behind Prop. 8, he could overturn the measure without having to decide whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry.

Activist sees 'pure politics'

Equality California, the state's largest gay rights group, submitted almost 100,000 signatures on petitions urging the Obama administration to file arguments against Prop. 8 in the court case. The administration did not respond by Walker's Feb. 3 deadline.

The White House did not reply to questions about how Obama's religious interpretation of marriage might have changed over the years.

Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, dismissed the president's shifting stance as "pure politics."

"When he was running for office in Chicago and wanted strong support from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, he made it clear he supported full equality," Kors said. "Since he has continued to seek higher office, he has changed his position for the worse.

"It's especially appalling that he is citing his religious beliefs as grounds for his public government position on the civil marriage issue because he knows better," Kors said.

Using Bill Clinton as model

Another gay rights advocate, Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, struck a softer tone.

"I'm sure the president would agree that personal religious beliefs should not dictate whether government treats people equally," he said. "My advice to the president would be to be authentic and real and make the case for equality that you repeatedly declare yourself in favor of."

A good role model, Wolfson said, would be Bill Clinton, who as president signed a 1996 law denying federal marriage benefits for same-sex couples. Clinton, whose Methodist Church opposes same-sex marriage, said in September that he now favors marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

"I realized that I was over 60 years old, I grew up at a different time, and I was hung up about the word" marriage, Clinton told CNN.

"I was wrong," Clinton said. "If gay couples want to call their union marriage and a state agrees ... I don't think the rest of us should get in the way."  [Link]