Preview of Newsweek story calling Obama 'first gay president' stokes media firestorm

Only a couple of days after Time Magazine’s latest issue caused a controversy over its breast feeding cover page, Newsweek has declared Obama “ The first Gay President”, following his announcement in support of gay marriages. The attachment story for the cover title, by columnist Andrew Sullivan, tells how Obama’s life as a bi-racial man could explain his backing for marriage equality.

The magazine’s cover features Obama with his head crowned with a rainbow halo. Andrew Sullivan, a longtime champion of gay rights, argued in the article that given Obama’s track record, it was only a matter of time, that he would publically support gay marriages. Obama, Sullivan writes, "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."

While the full cover story is yet to be published online, it has already stirred a lot of media controversy. The cover page looks like more in response to Time Magazine’s recent cover, rather than genuinely aimed at commending Obama over the stand he took. A spokesman for Newsweek has confirmed that the magazine’s editor, Tina Brown saw the Time Magazine cover and said laughing, “Let the games begin”. Sure enough, it has created an equal amount of controversy, if not more, than the Time Magazine’s breast feeding cover.

Its not the first time, Obama has been targeted by a magazine. In 2008, Newsweek called Obama the first “Women President” implying that his wisdom, values and management style were similar to a female president. In 2009, the Associated Press asked if he was the first “Asian American” President while in 2011 New York magazine declared his the first “Jewish President”. “Expectations were high that Editor Tina Brown would do something typically attention-grabbing to mark this occasion, but this effort seems, well, cliché,” Eric Randall at the Atlantic Wire writes.

Brad Knickerbocker said that gay marriage issues can never eclipse economic concerns so Newsweek’s is focusing on something that is of little significance to the election. Jim Loewen at Salon argued that the claim for Newsweek is false altogether because Obama is not gay, because America already had James Buchanan, and there was no doubt about it.

When asked what the President has to say about this, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, said "I don't know if he's seen it and I haven't spoken to him about it."