over same-sex marriage is heating up this weekend. about an hour ago republican presidential candidate mitt romney defended that position on the issue during a commencement speech at liberty university of evangelical christian college in virginia. culture, what you believe, how you value, how you live matters. now, as fundamental as these principles are, they may become topics of democratic debate from time to time, so it is today with the enduring institution of marriage, marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman. now, several prominent african-american pastors are also voicing their opposition to the president s decision to support gay marriage. and the issue is expected to be a focus of sermons in churches all across the country this mother s day. ahead of sunday s services a group of civil rights leaders, include al sharpton and joseph lowery have written an open letter to the african-american community embracing the president s decision. it says, we c
the president make clear his support is for civil marriage for same-sex couples and he s fully committed to protecting the ability of religious institutions to make their own decisions about their own sacraments. there will be those who seek to use the issue to divide our community as a people, we cannot afford such division. end quote. so the gay marriage debate is heating up across the country since president obama changed his position. wednesday, athena jones joins us with the latest public reaction to the president s decision. what more are you hearing there from that farmer s market? that s right. we have been here all day talking to all kinds of people, more than a dozen people about their opinions on this issue. before i get to that, i want to mention the latest national polling. gallup released a pole late yesterday, the first national pole done since the president made his remarks. that poll showed 51% approve of the president s decision. 45% disapprove. one of the
been called a circus by one observer. some say the judge is serving more as ring master. our chris lawrence is in cuba. reporter: the 9/11 terror subjects turned the court into a circus. the accused refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the military commissions as demonstrated through their silence. they have endured years of inhumane treatment and torture. this has had serious long term effects and will infect every aspect of the try buenningal. i m confident that the commission that was convened to try the charges referred to it will answer with fairness and justice. the family members had to watch as one defendant made a paper airplane and set it on the desk. others passed around copies of the economist magazine. one defendant as his attorney was describing mistreatment took off his shirt exposing his bare chest. and still another defendant shouted out in the courtroom maybe this is the last time you ll see us alleging that the guards may try to kill them and
college crowd? reporter: yeah, mostly college. mixed crowd, fredricka, still not full but they have an hour to go. the message you ll hear is effectively the president preempting a tax on the economic conditions in the u.s. he expects the romney campaign is going to attack the unemployment rate and the president s stewardship on the economy, so you ll hear him talk about how hard the economy was hit before he got in office, what he inherited, and how he made things better, how much worse they could have been, in the president s view, and what he could do going forward. he ll also, because this is a manufacturing state, a big emphasis on how he believes the auto bailout made conditions better. that s a popular theme in ohio. then you ll also hear the broader messages you ve heard him emphasize, a much more political speech. the first campaign official campaign rally to date. he s appearing as well with the first lady. so this crowd is excited, fredricka. so jessica, pret
this has been an incredible saga. if you look back at the past week, he escaped house arrest, he took rev few in the u.s. embassy. today it looks as though there was a breakthrough. he walks there the embassy a free man, he was taken to a hospital for medical treatment, reunited with the family. but how there has been a complete back flip. speaking to him, he says he kne feels he s been let down by the united states, that while in the embassy, he was cut off from the news and he was encouraged to leave. when he left, he went to the hospital, he met his wife, and his wife told him what had been happening to her ever since he fled. she told him that the guards who were locking them down in their village took her away, tieder h to a chair and interrogated her, said they were waiting for them with weapons back in their house. chen told me very clearly that if he stays in china, he fears for his life. initially he wanted to stay in the country. he says he can no longer live it the