Is Obama the 'first gay president' as Newsweek proclaims?

Is Obama the 'first gay president' as Newsweek proclaims?

Newsweek proclaims Obama America's 'first gay president'

Newsweek Magazine designates Obama as “First Gay President”

Newsweek's May 21 issue will feature a cover story on Obama as the country's first gay president, with an article written by longtime Obama fan and gay political writer Andrew Sullivan. The cover shows Obama adorned with a rainbow halo.

Newsweek Magazine's Cover Proclaims Obama the 'First Gay President'

Of course, this is a symbolic title — Sullivan's not throwing shade in the president's direction. But in the same way Bill Clinton was called "the first black president," Obama is "the first gay president" in the eyes of one of his staunchest gay supporters. Obama's certainly gayer than his predecessors, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — the latter of whom signed DOMA and DADT into law despite his liberal leanings.

Sullivan's story is not available online yet, but he did write a short and emotional blog post in response to Obama's announcement last week.

I think of all the gay kids out there who now know they have their president on their side. I think of Maurice Sendak, who just died, whose decades-long relationship was never given the respect it deserved. I think of the centuries and decades in which gay people found it impossible to believe that marriage and inclusion in their own families was possible for them, so crushed were they by the weight of social and religious pressure. I think of all those in the plague years shut out of hospital rooms, thrown out of apartments, written out of wills, treated like human garbage because they loved another human being. I think of Frank Kameny. I think of the gay parents who now feel their president is behind their sacrifices and their love for their children.

Newsweek refers to Obama as first gay president

Obama ‘first gay president’