Mayes Now On FBI's Most Wanted List
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Good morning to you. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Ashleigh Banfield.</s>ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN HOST: And I'm Zoraida Sambolin. We are bringing you the news from "A" to "Z." We're really happy you're with us this morning. It's 6:00 a.m. in the east, so let's get started here for you. Up first, the fallout from what could be the biggest gamble of the Obama presidency. No sitting president has ever done what Barack Obama did yesterday in an interview with ABC News. He publicly came out in support of same-sex marriage. Here are the words that may have redefined the race for the White House.</s>OBAMA: I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.</s>DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the president had been under a lot of pressure and as you point out there were key members of his administration who had over the last few days stated their position in support of same-sex marriage. And so the president decided to go public with this after hearing from his friends, his daughters and his wife.</s>OBAMA: For me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.</s>LOTHIAN (voice-over): President Obama made the announcement Wednesday in an interview with ABC News becoming the first sitting U.S. president to publicly support same-sex marriage. His remarks come on the heels of North Carolina passing a state constitutional amendment banning same same-sex marriage and Vice President Biden's public support on "Meet The Press" on Sunday.</s>JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexuals are entitled to the same exact right, all the civil rights and all civil liberties.</s>LOTHIAN: Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney reiterated his long-standing position on the issue after the president's interview.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My view is that marriage itself is a relationship between a man and a woman and that's my own preference.</s>LOTHIAN: Mr. Obama once opposed same-sex marriage, but says his stance on the issue evolved after conversations with the first lady, his daughters and friends.</s>OBAMA: I've always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.</s>LOTHIAN: In 1996 then Illinois Senate candidate Barack Obama supported marriages for same-sex couples. In a questionnaire for a gay newspaper, he responded, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." By 2004, the political climate was demanding clarity. In a debate, Obama classified.</s>OBAMA: I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman.</s>LOTHIAN: That was before this, his 2004 convention speech.</s>OBAMA: We coach little league in the blue states, and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states.</s>LOTHIAN: And then once in the White House.</s>OBAMA: My feelings about this are constantly evolving. I struggle with this. Everyone ought to be treated equally and everybody deserves to be able to live and love as they see fit.</s>LOTHIAN: With a nation split on the issue of same-sex marriage, the president called his endorsement one of personal conviction. With less than six months before the election, a decision fraught with political implications.</s>LOTHIAN: Some of the president's critics are accused him of pandering saying he only went public with this in order to raise money for his campaign in order to get votes and they believe this could all backfire come election day -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: I understand he did raise a lot of money in a very short period of time. Dan Lothian live for us in Washington, thank you very much.</s>LOTHIAN: OK.</s>BANFIELD: Also three minutes now past 6:00. I want to bring in Neil Giuliano, who is the CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and also the former president of GLAAD and the former mayor of Tempe, Arizona. Neil, thanks for coming in to talk about this. Obviously, everybody caught off guard yesterday. It wasn't something what everyone was really expecting and it's not like this was a slow roll of administrators coming out to lay the groundwork for the president. When it comes to this, though, do you think as an advocate for the gay community, do you think the gay community may have won this battle, but if it alienates a lot of voters for Obama or energizes voters for Romney that, you know, we could see a President Romney who would roll back a lot of rights for the gay community and, thus, they might lose the ultimate war.</s>NEIL GIULIANO, CEO, SAN FRANCISCO AIDS FOUNDATION: I don't think so. I think the culture is evolving so fast if you look at the trajectory of the gay rights movement over the last 43 years and stonewalled. It's only been 43 years. Just in the last administration, we had a president who wanted to constitutionalize never being allowed to get married. Here with Barack Obama we had a president who is saying peopel should be able to get married to whoever they want to get married. So it's quite an evolution. It's quite a cultural change. I think the political fallout remains to be seen, but I think it's going to end up being a plus for the president.</s>BANFIELD: Well, that remains to be seen. It's like a really big little tag you just said. I think it was a million dollars that came in within, you know, an hour of this announcement to the Obama campaign.</s>GIULIANO: Sure.</s>BANFIELD: If you know, what is the money situation? What will this represent to President Obama's campaign in terms of support from the gay community financially?</s>GIULIANO: Well, there had been some pretty significant leaders of the gay community with some deep pockets who had said they wanted to make that initial contribution. But they would hold back a little bit to see how the president evolved and to see how much he would champion some of the remaining issues, employment, non-discrimination act for one, marriage being another.</s>BANFIELD: Some people have said that the gay community is far greater than Wall Street in terms of what they can potentially donate.</s>GIULIANO: Well, I think you have to remember the gay community leadership perhaps may be perceived as having a lot of money, but gay Americans are just like every other American and they come from all walks of life and all different demographic pieces within society. So I think it's not necessarily true to say that all gay people can simply start writing big checks for President Obama as a result of this, but I think the gay community who is capable of writing those checks will step up their support and be very supportive.</s>BANFIELD: Is there any thought to the idea that perhaps gay black Americans may align, come forward with the movement to try to swing their black American co-voters to not shy away from the polls? I had an interview in the last half hour with a black reverend who I asked, is he swapping out one demographic for another alienating very socially conservative when it comes to sexual issue, black voters for gay American voters.</s>GIULIANO: I think at the end of the day, President Barack Obama does not lose his African-American support.</s>BANFIELD: Are you sure about that?</s>GIULIANO: Well, who is sure about anything? But that's my belief. My belief is he doesn't lose his African-American support because of his view and his statement.</s>BANFIELD: Do you know why I ask are you sure about that? Because when you look at the list of swing states it is pretty daunting. I man, wow, in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. Those are the ones with bans. I mean, these are swing states where you have real --</s>GIULIANO: The president is clearly taking a decisive step for full equality and he does so with some political risk.</s>BANFIELD: Leap of faith as Ron Brownstein calls it.</s>GIULIANO: That's a good way to call it too. But what is significant he does so and he helps further evolve the culture just as his own evolution has taken place and it's very significant to have President Obama take this step.</s>BANFIELD: Want to end the interview with the same impression. You think ultimately gay Americans will win the war, which would mean winning this election and getting progressive movements with the Barack Obama administration. As opposed to losing this election because of this announcement now and losing the war because of a Republican administration that doesn't favor gay American rights.</s>GIULIANO: Barack Obama does not lose the election because of this issue. This is his statement actually is with the majority of Americans and certainly where the majority of Americans are moving toward with regard to full equality for gay and lesbian Americans.</s>BANFIELD: Neil Giuliano. It's good to have you in. I hear you travel in between Arizona, San Francisco, New York so we're lucky to catch you live. Thanks for coming in. Appreciate it -- Zoraida. Before I go to Zoraida, in the next half hour, we're also going to be joined by Richard Socarides who is the former senior adviser to Bill Clinton on gay civil rights issues and also the first openly gay person to hold the position of White House liaison to the gay community. Did I pronounce that right? Socarides. He'll be coming up in the next half hour -- Zoraida.</s>SAMBOLIN: All right, thank you, Ashleigh. The FBI raising the stakes in the hunt for Adam Mayes. He is the man suspected of kidnapping four members of a Tennessee family killing two of them. Mayes is now on the bureaus' ten most wanted list. Authorities believe he is still holding these two -- those are the two he killed. He's holding the two young girls. There's a $175,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. And in just a few hours jury deliberations resume in the triple murder trial of Jennifer Hudson's former brother-in-law in Chicago. William Balfour is accused of killing Hudson's mother, brother and nephew as an act of revenge against his ex-wife. Jurors will be sequestered until they reach a verdict. The horrific video of a police beating that led to a mentally ill homeless man's death. The victim pleading for his life as they're beating him. An officer talking about smashing his face to hell and now we'll find out whether these cops are cold-blooded killers. A judge's decision on whether they will stand trial. That's coming up next.