Jay-Z backs Obama on gay marriage

Rapper Jay-Z is standing beside President Obama as a supporter of gay marriage.

Jay-Z told CNN, "I've always thought it as something that was still holding the country back. What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That's their business. It's no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination plain and simple."

According to the Daily Beast, Jay-Z doesn't believe the decision to support gay marriage will affect votes. Jay-Z said, “It’s really not about votes, it’s about people. Whether it costs him votes or not it’s the right thing to do, as a human being.”

While Jay-Z is backing Obama's decision, many Americans are struggling to believe it came from the heart. According to The New York Times, "Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed by The New York Times and CBS News since the announcement said they thought that Mr. Obama had made it 'mostly for political reasons,' while 24 percent said it was 'mostly because he thinks it is right.' Independents were more likely to attribute it to politics, with nearly half of Democrats agreeing."

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The NYT noted several Democratic strategists and White House aids were fearful people would see the announcement as a calculated move just days after Vice President Biden expressed his support of gay marriage. 

Jay-Z told CNN, he believed politics to be much like the 'hook' of a song. "Politicians"argue points and they forget that at the end of those points are real people, and real people going through real problems," Jay-Z said. "So people put up these talking points and then they say, ok, we got something. It's almost like the hook of a song. Like I would go in a studio and say, I have this huge hook.At the end of [the rhetoric] there's real people."

For more, check out GlobalPost's past coverage of the Global Gay Right's movement.