WASHINGTON (BP) -- President Obama's re-election campaign has fully embraced his public support of gay "marriage" and seems poised to make it a general election issue -- even to the point of ridiculing Mitt Romney's backing of traditional marriage.

Hours after Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to declare public support for the issue, his campaign sent out an email to supporters with the subject line "Marriage."

"I believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry," Obama said in the email. "... What I've come to realize is that for loving, same-sex couples, the denial of marriage equality means that, in their eyes and the eyes of their children, they are still considered less than full citizens."

The email concluded, "If you agree, you can stand up with me here" -- and a link to donate money was provided.

The Democratic National Committee also sent out an email from chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, embracing the issue.

"Folks, this is what Democrats are all about -- and I'm so proud we have a president who's willing to stand up and say it," she wrote. "Let's join him. Show your support for marriage equality today."

The issue of gay "marriage" was the dominant theme May 10 at BarackObama.com -- Obama's campaign website -- where visitors encountered a large picture of Obama with the words, "same-sex couples should be able to get married." The campaign also sent out multiple Tweets and Facebook messages spreading the president's position.

But perhaps the biggest embrace of the issue came in an Internet video where the campaign re-played Obama's statement and Romney's previous statements, and even twisted President Bush's words on civil unions -- all in about 90 seconds.

The Obama re-election video ends with a clip of GOP presumptive nominee Romney at a Republican debate. Romney says, "Calling [a gay relationship] a marriage creates a whole host of problems for families, for the law, for the practice of religion, for education. Let me say this, 3,000 years of human history shouldn't be discarded so quickly." The video then ends with words on the screen: "President Obama is Moving us Forward." The implication: Romney is backwards. In fact, that's the name the campaign gave the video: "Mitt Romney: Backwards on Equality." Read More