A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds support for gay marriage is now 58%, a new high, “marking a dramatic change in public attitudes on the subject across the past decade.”
“That number has grown sharply… from a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, advancing to a narrow majority for the first time only two years ago, and now up again to a significant majority for the first time.”
Hillary Clinton endorsed gay marriage in a new video saying “that her views on the issue have evolved as a result of her experiences personally and as secretary of state,” Politico reports.
Said Clinton: “I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law. Marriage is a fundamental building block of our society – a great joy and, yes, a great responsibility … To deny the opportunity to any of our daughters and sons solely on the basis of who they are and who they love is to deny them the chance to live up to their own God-given abilities.”
In a moving video, Minnesota state Rep. Lynne Osterman (R) admits she made a “politically expedient” vote ten years ago. Now she’s trying to fix her mistake.
The Cloakroom: Our political debates might be very different if lawmakers thought of other people’s children too.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), “a possible 2016 presidential contender, announced Friday that he now supports gay marriage rights – a ‘change of heart’ he arrived at after his son Will confided that he was gay,” Roll Call reports.
Portman announced his support in a Columbus Dispatch op-ed.
“They’re trying to redefine marriage. It’s a completely disordered relationship and when you have a disordered relationship, you don’t ever get order out of that. So I’m more than happy to take a ‘no’ vote on the issue of homosexual marriage.”
— Illinois state Rep. Jeanne Ives (R), on the Catholic Conference of Illinois Radio Hour.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told National Review that the federal tax code should be reformed in a way to not exclude same-sex marriage.
Said Paul: “I’m an old-fashioned traditionalist. I believe in the historic and religious definition of marriage. That being said, I’m not for eliminating contracts between adults. I think there are ways to make the tax code more neutral, so it doesn’t mention marriage. Then we don’t have to redefine what marriage is; we just don’t have marriage in the tax code.”
Ahead of a same-sex marriage debate to resume in Minnesota, state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R), a staunch opponent, got a headstart with an awkward use of a “point of personal privilege.”
Said Gruenhagen: “I have a close friend here — the last couple years — his name is Kevin Petersen. Kevin, why don’t you stand up and say hi? The interesting thing about Kevin is he was active in the gay lifestyle for about 10 years, and then he left it, got married, and he now has three children. Thank you.”
A new Quinnipiac poll finds support for same-sex marriage is inching up and now stands at 47% to 43%, including 54% to 38% among Catholic voters.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Catholic voters are leading American voters toward support for same-sex marriage. Among all voters, there is almost no gender gap, but a big age gap. Voters 18 to 34 years old support same sex marriage 62% to 30%; voters 35 to 54 years old are divided 48% to 45% and voters over 55 are opposed 50% to 39%.”
Bill Clinton writes in the Washington Post that as the president who signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law, he has come to believe that the act is contrary to freedom, equality and justice.
“When I signed the bill, I included a statement with the admonition that ‘enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination.’ Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned.”
Andrew Sullivan: “He knew it then of course too. But it’s churlish to cavil. If we can forgive Ken Mehlman, we can surely forgive Bill Clinton. And welcome him to the civil rights cause of our time.”
The Week: 4 signs than DOMA is doomed.
Just as the Obama administration filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down California’s ban on same-sex marriage, a new Field Poll finds that support for same-sex marriage in the state has increased drastically since the ban was passed.
Key findings: 61% say they support same-sex marriage, with just 32% were against. The ban passes in 2008 by a 52% to 48% margin.
“Throwing unprecedented political weight into legalizing same-sex marriage, the Obama administration urged the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down California’s ban on gay nuptials,” the San Jose Mercury News reports.
“In a friend-of-the-court brief, the administration for the first time stepped into the four-year legal battle over Proposition 8, arguing that the 2008 voter-approved law violates the federal equal protection rights of gay and lesbian couples and does ‘not substantially further any important government interest.'”
Minnesota state Rep. Glenn Gruenhagen (R) said that homosexuality is a choice and form of sexual addiction, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Said Gruenhagen: “It’s an unhealthy, sexual addiction.”
“Gruenhagen made the statements after advocates unveiled their proposal to legalize same-sex marriage, which would make Minnesota among nearly a dozen states that allow gays and lesbians to wed.”
“Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election,” the New York Times reports.
The Supreme Court next month will hear back-to-back arguments in a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and another case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.”
“Legal analysts said the brief had the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments.”
“Jon Huntsman would make a great Democrat.”
— Utah Democratic Party Chairman Jim Dabakis, quoted by the Deseret News, in response to Jon Huntsman’s support of same-sex marriage.
Jon Huntsman writes in The American Conservative that he favors same-sex marriage rights and encouraged other Republicans to join him:
“Today we have an opportunity to do more: conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry. I’ve been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love.”
The White House “is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Obama to rights for gay couples,” the AP reports.
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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