A majority of Americans favor same-sex marriages, including a third of Republicans and 70 percent of voters under 30. The nation's direction is clear, and now prominent Republicans see that to remain a relevant party, it must give up this prejudice.
Former first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell have spoken in support of gay marriage. Now, more than 75 prominent conservative Republicans have signed a legal brief to the Supreme Cout supporting same-sex marriage because it promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes and advances conservative values of "limited government and maximizing individual freedom."
The signers include: Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley; Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; top Bush Justice Department official James Comey; President Ronald Reagan's budget director David Stockman; former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; and former Massachusetts governors William Weld and Jane Swift.
The dominos are falling. How far we have come from when President George W. Bush campaigned in 2004 for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
As Cheney said years ago, "Freedom means freedom for everybody."
Alan Simon
Providence