Prominent GOP Figure Endorses Gay Marriage
By: NBC News
Updated: March 15, 2013
Republican Senator Rob Portman has announced his support for same-sex marriage, saying he reversed his position on the divisive social issue after his son came out as gay.
"I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married," Portman wrote in an op-ed published Friday in the Columbus Dispatch.
"That isn't how I've always felt. As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way," Portman wrote in the op-ed.
The decision came after long consideration, the Ohio lawmaker told newspapers from his home state on Thursday. Portman's 21-year-old son Will, who is a junior at Yale University, discussed his sexual orientation with Portman and his wife in 2011, the senator said.
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