Bloomberg endorses Obama

Michael Bloomberg on Thursday endorsed President Obama’s re-election campaign (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday cited marriage rights for same-sex couples in his decision to endorse President Obama’s re-election campaign.

“When I step into the voting booth, I think about the world I want to leave my two daughters, and the values that are require to guide us there. The two parties’ nominees for president offer different visions of where they want to lead America,” he wrote in column posted to his website. “One recognizes marriage equality as consistent with America’s march of freedom; one does not. I want our president to be on the right side of history.”

Bloomberg endorsed the president less than a month after he donated $250,000 to Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the campaign defending Maryland’s same-sex marriage law in the Nov. 6 referendum. The Johns Hopkins University alum has also given $500,000 to efforts in support of nuptials for gays and lesbians in Maine, Minnesota and Washington.

Bloomberg, who backed Obama three days after Superstorm Sandy devastated wide swaths of the five boroughs, cited climate change as among the other issues on which he decided to endorse the president over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

“One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not,” said Bloomberg. “I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics.”