White House Anticipates More Questions for Obama on 'Personal' Gay Marriage Views, Won't Comment For Him

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was questioned again by reporters today on President Obama's 'evolution' on marriage:

Q    On the gay marriage issue, Jay, has the intensity of interest in this and the statements from some of the President's supporters led him to consider clarifying his position?  And considering that his views are evolving, does he want to maybe consider his views more thoroughly?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I don't have a readout of any conversations involving the President on that issue.  I can tell you that I'm sure it is the case that he will be asked again at some point when he gives interviews or press conferences about this issue, and I'll leave it to him to describe his personal views.

I think it's important to note, as I attempted to do yesterday, that what is abundantly clear is this President's firm commitment to the protection of and securing of the same rights and obligations for LGBT citizens as other Americans enjoy.  He has been a strong proponent of LGBT rights, and I think that's demonstrated by his record, which is unparalleled, as President in support of those rights.

Q    Jay, you said yesterday on this issue in reference to Vice President Biden's remarks and the President's, that the President's personal views obviously were evolving, and you stressed the personal views.  I guess is there maybe a disconnect between his policies and his personal views in terms of maybe his policies are ahead of his personal views on this?

MR. CARNEY:  No, I don’t think so.  I think the President's absolute commitment to the rights of LGBT citizens demonstrated by the path he took to ensure the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell," the opposition that he and his administration have expressed towards DOMA and the fact that he believes it ought to be repealed.  It is also the case that the President and the Attorney General believe that Section 3 of DOMA is unconstitutional, which is why the federal government no longer defends Section 3.  And from hate crimes legislation to hospital visitation rights, the list of accomplishments is quite long and I think demonstrates his feelings about, broadly, this issue.

The press gaggle was held aboard Air Force One on the way to Albany, New York where Obama would be meeting with Governor Cuomo.

Q    Do you think he'll talk about it with Cuomo considering he's received a lot of plaudits from the LGBT community?

MR. CARNEY:  Well, I think -- I don’t know what their conversations will contain.  I know that they'll focus on the issue that the President has come to discuss in upstate New York. I think the President has taken a position on some of these state issues, and I think he did on New York and he has in North Carolina.  And I think the position he takes has -- the positions he has taken are consistent with his belief that it is wrong to take actions that would deny rights to LGBT citizens or rescind rights already provided to LGBT Americans.  And that’s a position that you can fully expect him to maintain.

For a brief time on Wednesday of last week, Obama had been scheduled to be in North Carolina today, where of course, Amendment One is topic #1, the News Observer reports:

The White House initially did not respond to questions about the scheduling snafu but later spokeswoman Joanna Rosholm issued a statement: "Any confusion around today's travel plans is due to an internal miscommunication at the White House. The President will travel to North Carolina again soon."

The alert about the Obama visit came about noon Wednesday and was changed by 5 p.m. The White House's official week-ahead schedule released at the end of last week put the president in New York today, not Asheville.

MSNBC's Thomas Roberts Questions Anti-Gay NC Pastor on 'Amendment One': VIDEO

Thomas Roberts today talked with Jeremy Kennedy, the campaign manager for the Coalition to Protect All NC Families, and Baptist Pastor Mark Harris about the election today in which voters take on Amendment One.

Roberts questions Harris about anti-gay groups cherry-picking religious arguments from the Bible in the evangelical quest to oppress gay people, and Kennedy says he's still holding out hope for an upset victory against the measure.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1120

XTRA: An interview with Jake Shears and Del Marquis of the Scissor Sisters.

RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin's inauguration motorcade is a major production, with no one on the streets to observe it.

Oakland A's: It Gets Better. Featuring Brandon McCarthy, who also recently condemned homophobia caused by stadium kiss cams.

DELTA HEAVY: "Get By", a stop-motion dubstep delight.

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News: Empire State, Tuna, Ed Rendell, China, Met Gala, Vin Diesel

Tuna scrape, the pink slime of sushi.

Longest-serving GOP Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) could go down in primary.

Tom Brady works new up-do.

Dlisted parses the dirty details of the John Travolta masseur lawsuit.

Accuser: 'I have proof'.

China expels Al Jazeera English language channel: "The network’s correspondent Melissa Chan was scheduled to leave Beijing by jet Monday night after the government refused normally routine requests to renew her press credentials or to allow another correspondent to replace her."

Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell: Obama should "man up" and embrace same-sex marriage.

New York Senate considers GENDA, transgender non-discrimination bill: "Legislation approved 81-59 by the state Assembly last week would add gender identity and expression to state laws banning discrimination based on race, religion, sex, disability and sexual orientation. It would become a hate crime, with increased penalties, to harass or attack someone for being transgender."

Who wore what at the 2012 Met Costume Institute Gala?

Bigger the better: Nelly Furtado premieres new video for "Big Hoops".

Empire State Building gets new LED lighting system: "Because the colors of each LED fixture can be manipulated independently and instantaneously via computer, lighting effects — including rainbows, ripples, cross-fades and burst effects — can be created that appear to be animated, continuously moving and changing."

Rooting for...Joshua Ledet.

Dozens testify at Lincoln, Nebraska hearing for LGBT rights ordinance: "The Lincoln City Council heard from more than 70 people in a 6½-hour marathon hearing Monday night expressing their strong feelings — pro and con — about a proposed ordinance that would protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations." The City Council is expected to vote May 14.

WWE's CM Punk opposes NC's Amendment One, hashes it out with fans: "Having expressed his disgust at the perceived likelihood that the Amendment 1 ballot measure in North Carolina's ban on gay marriage will pass in the US state, the WWE champion continued a Twitter dialogue on the subject with other users throughout the day."

Giant Sleeper Shark may be 'monster' living in Alaska's lakes.

Vin Diesel works a big bone in new Riddick still.

Catholic schools in Wales under fire for reading anti-gay letter to students promoting marriage between a man and a woman: "The Welsh administration said on Tuesday it did not fault the Catholic Education Service (CES), which wrote to 359 state schools in England and Wales earlier this year to promote its view of marriage as between one man and one woman, but the schools that read it out. Leighton Andrews, the Welsh minister for education and skills, said not providing a converse view to students could be seen as a political act."

Male model fix: Samuel Trepanier.

The Chicago Tribune looks at GLASS — or Gay, Lesbian and Supporting Sailors: "The Navy's support for GLASS is extraordinary, advocates say, considering it follows decades in which the military banned gays from service, pretended they didn't exist or required soldiers to stay closeted to keep their careers. Especially dramatic is the turnabout for the Navy base near North Chicago, where, in the early 1980s, the Naval Investigative Service aggressively purged gays from its branch after a 21-year-old sailor, Melvin Dahl, challenged the ban. Dahl, who was honorably discharged in 1982, won a federal lawsuit in 1993 that had helped pave the way for the now-defunct 'don't ask, don't tell' policy."

Stephen Colbert Interviews Bravo's Andy Cohen: VIDEO

Andy Cohen sat down at The Colbert Report last night and was grilled about his new memoir Most Talkative, how he ended up deciding to give himself his own show at Bravo, and the preponderance of photos of himself with his mouth open.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Rally at Colorado Capitol Demands House Vote on Civil Union Bill as GOP Stall Threatens to Kill It: VIDEO

(photo ladd bosworth, one colorado)

Demonstrators at the Colorado capitol this morning demanded a House vote on the civil union bill, which Republican leadership is threatening to stall.

The Denver Post reports:

The bill is scheduled to be heard this afternoon by the House Appropriations Committee, and then head to the floor where GOP leadership will decide whether it will be called up for debate. If it is not heard today on the House floor, Senate Bill 2 is dead.

"All of Colorado is watching," said Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, who sponsored the measure in the Senate.
Two Republicans spoke at the rally. Jack Findlaw, who is gay, is the legal counsel for Gov. John Hickenlooper. Mario Nicolais used to work for former GOP Congressman Marilyn Musgrave, and now is the spokesman for the pro-civil unions GOP group, Coloradans for Freedom.

Both urged passage of the bill.

OutFront Colorado posted an interview with GOP House Speaker Frank McNulty, who has said he's "under no obligation" to bring up the bill, yesterday:

"McNulty told Out Front Colorado he thinks supporters of the bill should be upset at Democrats, not Republicans, if the bill ultimately dies because there isn't enough time to debate it.

McNulty's contact info is HERE.

Listen to the interview, AFTER THE JUMP...