Obama Backs Gay Marriage, Malloy Agrees [Poll]

The day after voters in North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, President Obama told ABC News on Wednesday that he now supports gay marriage.

The president -- who still supports states deciding the issue on their own -- said his personal views had gone through an "evolution" based on conversations with family and friends and the views of his own daughters.

"They are much more comfortable with it," the president told Robin Roberts in an interview to be shown on ABC's "Good Morning America" Thursday. Excerpts will air tonight on ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer."

"You know, Malia and Sasha, they have friends whose parents are same-sex couples," Obama said in the interview. "There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and we're talking about their friends and their parents and Malia and Sasha, it wouldn't dawn on them that somehow their friends' parents would be treated differently. It doesn't make sense to them and frankly, that's the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective."

In a statement, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy responded to Obama. 

"I applaud President Obama's support for same-sex marriage. This is an historic day for civil rights," Malloy said. "Equal rights should be granted to all. We in Connecticut agree."

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