"Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?": Response # 15

Since Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the GOP have asked, I will answer their question.
Response # 15 to the question:  "Are YOU better off than you were 4 years ago?"
The answer is yes.  Yes, I am better off. 
I am better off because my president believes in marriage equality.  Four years ago, my president did not.  And, as far as I can tell, not one president before Barack Obama came out in favor of marriage equality while in office.
I have written about this issue before on the blog, so here's the short version.  
I have always believed in marriage equality.  And now, I quite strongly believe in it.  Love is love, and two adults who want to marry should be allowed to.  
It breaks my heart to read of two devoted men, or two women who have been together for 40 or more years and are denied equality in our modern society.  Why is their relationship "not real", but a man and a woman who have gone to Vegas, married, sobered up, and divorced in 2 days--their marriage is real?  That's just stupid, as well as wrong.
In the United States, marriage is a legal contract.  In most states, only 1 man and 1 woman are allowed to go to City Hall, fill out the papers, and obtain a marriage license.  The man and the woman who enter into the contract find recognition at the state level, and at the federal level, they receive over 1,100 benefits that are denied same sex couples who are denied the opportunity to enter into the same type of legal contract.  
Our nation may have been founded on the ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but a majority of people have used religiously based reasoning to deny these ideals to minorities. How utterly unfair, and again--how utterly stupid.  Our nation, thankfully, is a republic, not a theocracy--a distinction that is lost on too many people.  When you consider that our country is not ruled by the leaders of any one religion, AND that marriage is a legal contract--nothing more--then there is no valid argument to deny two adults the right to marry.   
No valid argument.
President Obama understands this.  Until this year, he was quite willing to go along with the illogical "religious"-based argument against marriage equality, but now he's changed his mind.  He's sent a clear message to the world that gays and lesbians should have the same rights as every other American.  
Thanks to him, and his stand on the side of love, my world is a better place than it was four years ago.  It's not perfect, but some days, you're grateful for the baby steps.