On Wednesday, at approximately 2:35 p.m. EST, President Obama became the first president of the United States to openly endorse same-sex marriage. I say “first” here instead of “only” because of its semantic meaning. “First” in that he is the first to have done so, yes, but also “first” in that he will not be the last. Obama may lose to Mitt Romney, who, as much as he has flip-flopped in other areas, is unwavering in his belief that marriage is an institution between a man and woman. Romney may even serve two terms, up until 2020. The candidate who follows him may not even support gay marriage. It is possible it will take until 2028, 2032, sometime around there to have another president who supports same-sex marriage. But there will be another. It’s inevitable. It is important to realize that there was no promise of policy or reform in the president’s statements. Obama is not adding a cornerstone to his campaign platform, nor is he promising future legislature of any kind. Not yet, at least. For the moment, all he is recognizing is that the institution of marriage should be open to all people who love each other. Hey, we’ll take it. Obama’s comments followed the unsettling news on Tuesday that North Carolina passed an amendment to the state’s constitution outlining “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state.” The amendment passed with a surprising 61 percent of the vote; many pundits were predicting the amendment’s passing, but with a closer margin. Obama just barely scraped up enough votes to capture North Carolina in the 2008 campaign, but it is very much an undecided swing state in the upcoming election. The state is crucial to the Obama campaign strategy, which will be hosting the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this year. It will be the first national convention ever held in North Carolina by either party. And Obama may have just shot himself in the foot. It is possble he lost the election with this move, although votes he loses in North Carolina may be picked up elsewhere in more liberal-minded states. Twitter was abuzz after North Carolina’s amendment passed on Tuesday. Reports, coupled with photo evidence, claimed North Carolina’s only other constitutional amendment regarding marriage of any form came in 1875, when the state banned interracial marriage. The amendment, which admittedly went through waning and waxing periods of enforcement, nevertheless remained in the state’s constitution until 1971. When our generation looks back on this amendment, it is impossible to feel anything other than shame. The interracial marriage amendment looks foolish in hindsight. To me, the most astonishing fact is how the state ever had the brash belief it had the authority to invade one’s personal sphere and dictate who its citizens could and could not marry. When viewed this way, the conflicts are the same; the issue is not the color of one’s skin or one’s sexual orientation, but who is able to marry whom, and unfortunately, the state still believes it has the authority to decide. I don’t mean to pick on the state of North Carolina here. I’m sure there are many fine upstanding North Carolinians at this university who feel a similar pang of remorse for their home state, much like how I felt any time fellow Pennsylvanian Rick Santorum made headlines in the past calendar year. Though Tuesday’s news made me feel sick to my stomach, my unease is lessened slightly by the response of the youth movement. The president attributed his change of heart to a number of factors, including a higher understanding of his faith and the Golden Rule, interactions with gay members of his administration and even Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on Sunday saying he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. The president also mentioned that he and the first lady, who came to a similar position regarding same-sex marriage, were ultimately swayed in large part by conversations with their two daughters, Malia and Sasha. The president said Malia and Sasha would talk about their friends, many of whom have gay parents, and were unable to understand how they were different in any way, why they had different rights than everybody else, their childish innocence shielding the fact that their father, as leader of the free world, was doing his part to keep their friends’ parents alienated from the rest of society. One of my all-time favorite Onion articles was published Feb. 8, 2011. Its title says it all: “Future U.S. History Students: ‘It’s Pretty Embarrassing How Long You Guys Took To Legalize Gay Marriage.'” Future generations will look back on this era as we look back on North Carolina’s interracial marriage ban. It sounds