Five localish reactions to President Obama’s support of same-sex marriage

By Las Vegas Weekly Staff (contact)

Wednesday, May 16, 2012 | 4:01 p.m.

My personal belief is that marriage is between a man and a woman. But in a civil society, I believe that people should be able to marry whomever they want, and it’s no business of mine if two men or two women want to get married. The idea that allowing two loving, committed people to marry would have any impact on my life, or on my family’s life, always struck me as absurd. —Harry Reid, U.S. Senator (D-NV)

God’s words first ... obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man. ... It should not be of the same sex so as to adulterate the altar of matrimony, like in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah of old. —Manny Pacquiao, boxer, in an interview with the National Conservative Examiner

Today President Obama became the first sitting president to openly come out in support of marriage equality. We applaud his “evolution” and know that millions of families will now find comfort and hope in their country’s leader, who believes in fairness for all. —Candice Nichols, Executive Director of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada

I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and would not support changing that. —Dean Heller, U.S. Senator (R-NV)

I think it’s easy to make knee-jerk reactions to something like this; it’s going to take awhile to play out. ... I don’t think you can immediately say this is a plus for the president, except it certainly could help him with fund-raising. There’s a lot of money from the gay community to be had; he raised a million dollars, as you probably know, right after this announcement was made. —Jon Ralston, Las Vegas Sun political columnist