President Obama announced Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage, a major election-year shift on a controversial social issue.

“I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told ABC News’ Robin Roberts.

In 2008, Obama said he believed marriage should only be between a man and a woman, and two years ago, he described his position as “evolving.” Now, he is the first U.S. president to support the right of gays and lesbians to marry.

But Wednesday’s decision comes after the president was put on the defensive over the issue by members of his base and two high-profile administration officials.

The conventional wisdom before Wednesday was that Obama wouldn’t come out in favor of same-sex marriage due to the potential political risks he could face with religious minority groups, including blacks and Latinos.

Indeed, Latinos have long been framed as a solid socially-conservative voting bloc.

“Latinos believe in family, in God, in the nation, and in protecting life,” Newt Gingrich’s campaign wrote in Spanish-language campaign literature during the GOP presidential primary.

Read the full story at Univision News