The Rev. Paul McDaniel speaks to a Wednesday night congregation in the chapel at Second Missionary Baptist Church. McDaniel said President Barack Obama’s support for gay marriage rights should not be an issue for black voters in his re-election campaign.Whether or not President Obama supports gay marriage is much ado about nothing and should be of little concern to black Christians, according to the Rev. Paul McDaniel.
“I don’t hold that against him,” said the longtime pastor of Second Missionary Baptist Church and a former Hamilton County commissioner. “It’s not one of the major issues. Too often, we’ve made the minor issues the major issues.”
McDaniel said it won’t affect his support of Obama in the presidential election and won’t be a vital issue for other black voters.
The Democratic National Convention begins Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C., and some have suggested that Obama’s views on same-sex marriage could cost him some support among a black populace that overwhelmingly backed him in 2008.
A Pew Research Center poll in April found that 49 percent of blacks oppose legalized same-sex marriage while 39 percent support it. A plurality of whites — 47 percent — favored same-sex marriage, while 43 percent opposed it.