U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) is the latest senator to come out for marriage equality. The 51st, actually. He writes in a piece for the Tampa Bay Times:
“It is generally accepted in American law and U.S. society today ‘that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.’
I believe that. The civil rights and responsibilities for one must pertain to all.
Thus, to discriminate against one class and not another is wrong for me.
If we are endowed by our Creator with rights, then why shouldn’t those be attainable by gays and lesbians?
Simply put, if the Lord made homosexuals as well as heterosexuals, why should I discriminate against their civil marriage? I shouldn’t, and I won’t.
So I will add my name to the petition of senators asking the Supreme Court to declare the law that prohibits gay marriage unconstitutional.”
Two Democratic senators, Bob Casey (Pa.) and Tom Carper (Del.), declared their support earlier this week, reports The Huffington Post. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) became the second Republican senator to back gay marriage, following Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio.
Four remaining Democratic senators do not support gay marriage. Sens. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) all do not support gay marriage. All of the states they hail from are substantially more conservative than the perennial swing state of Florida that Nelson represents; all four states went for GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Donnelly (D.-Ind.) voiced support for same-sex marriage this morning.
Equality Florida launched a Twitter campaign aimed at Nelson on Tuesday, pushing him to back gay marriage, which appears to have resulted in an opinion piece in the Tampa Bay Times tearing him apart for his silence on the matter. Nelson’s response was the above statement submitted to the newspaper, reversing his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Photo: Twitter
