James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln notwithstanding, Newsweek has officially (and somewhat confusingly) declared openly straight Barack Obama the first gay president after last week's historic announcement on gay marriage. More of an ode to Bill Clinton being labeled the first black president than a nod to Barack's sexuality, Andrew Sullivan writes: "When you step back a little and assess the record of Obama on gay rights, you see, in fact, that this was not an aberration. It was an inevitable culmination of three years of work." Sullivan goes on to point out that Obama has much in common with LGBT ilk, noting, "He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family."
Sullivan's piece will appear in the May 21st issue. And look! The cover boasts an Obama crowned with a rainbow-colored halo — or as Newsweek editor Tina Brown calls it, a "gaylo." (How... hunky.) Brown explained to POLITICO today why she gave Obama a galyo, saying "If President Clinton was the 'first black president' then Obama earns every stripe in that 'gaylo' with last week’s gay marriage proclamation...Newsweek’s cover pays tribute to his newly ordained place in history."
Another fun fact: gaylo is also a derragatory term used by people who don't enjoy Halo games. The more you know...