Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk became the 50th U.S. Senator — and second Republican Senator, after Rob Portman — to come out in support of same-sex marriage.
Sen. Kirk made the announcement on his blog today:
“When I climbed the Capitol steps in January, I promised myself that I would return to the Senate with an open mind and greater respect for others. Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage. Our time on this earth is limited, I know that better than most. Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back–government has no place in the middle.”
Freedom to Marry applauded Kirk’s statement of support, noting that the Senate is “on the verge of a majority for marriage.”
“As members of Congress are talking with their family, friends, colleagues, and constituents, they come to understand why marriage matters to gay couples as to non-gay, and speak up in support of fairness and freedom,” said Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson. “Senator Kirk’s heartfelt words about values of treating others as we’d all want to be treated in our precious time on this planet powerfully make the case for the freedom to marry — and the need for decision-makers to end marriage discrimination in the United States.”
Cam
And don’t forget…all of these Senators who used to be opposed to gay marriage are the same politicians that HRC used to tell the LGBT community to leave alone! They claimed that if we pressured them they would attack us etc…
Funny, just a little pressure and they are tripping over themselves to support us.
Turns out Joe Solomnase in HRC wasn’t just not helping the gay community, he seems as if he was actively an enemy of progress and rights for LGBTs
MuscleModelBlog.com
This is great! Now both senators from my state support marriage equality!
Hunter
I’m not really surprised — after some missteps in the beginning, Kirk turned out to be a real Illinois Republican — moderate on social issues, and on economic issues, slightly to the left of Barack Obama.
1EqualityUSA
Thanks for your support, Senator Kirk. Now go tell your latent John Boehner to get out of the tanning booth and come to his senses.