Obama supports repeal of US law against gay marriage

US President Barack Obama supports repealing legislation which bans federal authorities from recognizing gay marriage, his spokesman said Tuesday.

The “Defense of Marriage Act” was brought in in 1996 by then president Bill Clinton and stipulates that the federal state only recognizes marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman.

California Senator Diane Feinstein has introduced draft legislation calling for the law to be repealed, which is set to be debated Wednesday in the US Senate. But there is little guarantee that it will pass through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.