Obama Announces Support for Gay Marriage

Earlier today, the Huffington Post reported that President Obama became the first sitting president to announce his support for same-sex marriage, in an interview with ABC News.

"At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married," he said in the interview.

Meanwhile, in the wake of North Carolina's decision to amend its Constitution to ban same sex unions, The Guardian website has created a model looking at gay rights in each state.

According to the graphic, Washington, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, along with Iowa and the District of Columbia, have the most rights afforded to gays.

Washington allows:

• same sex marriage;
• hospital visitation by same sex partners or spouses;
• gays to adopt, either singly or as a couple.

Washington prohibits:

• employment discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation;
• housing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation;
• harassment in schools based on gender identity or sexual orientation

Also, Washington's hate crime laws include crimes committed based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

However, the issue of same sex marriage in Washington is up in the air, because opponents have until June 6 to get enough signatures to put Referendum 74, which would affirm the recently passed law, on the November ballot. For details, about that, click here.

In addition to comparing states' level of gay rights, the Guardian graphic allows you to log in through Facebook and see what rights are afforded in the states where all your Facebook friends live.