Norman Lear Reverses Course, Will Donate to Obama Campaign After Same-Sex Marriage Endorsement

In the wake of President Barack Obama’s announcement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage, political hold-out Norman Lear said he and his wife have decided to donate  the maximum allowed by law — $40,000 each — in support of Obama’s candidacy.

Previously, the Lears were reluctant to give full financial support to Obama’s reelection campaign because they, like other people in Hollywood, were frustrated by the president’s perceived willingness to compromise on key liberal issues.

“He came out in support of marriage equality,” Lear said in a telephone interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “He didn’t have to do it, but he did it. And it’s what the country needs. So I said, ‘let’s max out.'”

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Lear’s about-face was first reported by the New York Times in a piece about Hollywood fundraising.

Obama is expected to see a fundraising boon in Hollywood in the wake of his Wednesday announcement. He’ll be in Los Angeles Thursday evening for a sold-out fundraiser at George Clooney’s house. Then he’ll be returning for an LGBT gala in Beverly Hills on June 6.

Dustin Lance Black, who previously expressed frustration with the president’s “evolving” stance on same-sex marriage in a THR op-ed, called Obama’s announcement a “gamechanger.”

“It does show leadership. It shows strength. And all these things I’ve been waiting to see,” Black told the Huffington Post. “I’ve caught myself saying, ‘Yes we can’ again.”

Black said he wasn’t planning to attend the president’s LGBT fundraiser next month, but now he’s trying to clear his schedule so he can go.