in may 2012, barack obama took another step towards historic significance. he became the first president to declare his support for same-sex marriage. he chose to do it in an interview with "good morning america's" robin roberts. >> i think same-sex couples should be able to get married. >> the president was pushed, it appeared to everyone, by his vice president's full-hearted backing of gay marriage on nbc news's "meet the press" three days earlier. obama had already overturned the pentagon's don't ask, don't tell policy, opening the military to gays. while his administration also refused to defend the defense of marriage act, the federal law defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman. now he'd taken the historic step. >> the president has said, loud and clear, that we are as equal as any family in this country, and it's really historic and momentous, and it makes me feel proud.