Marriage equality has received former U.S. Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell’s endorsement, according to the Human Rights Campaign. His pledge of support comes after President Obama’s marriage equality endorsement. Powell stressed his support of Obama’s decision during an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“I have no problem with it,” Powell said
Witnessing his GLBT friends’ commitment to their relationships, he said, prompted his support.
“As I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is, and they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married,” he told Blitzer.
He has joined a growing number of prominent African-Americans supporting marriage equality, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Jay-Z. Support among African-Americans, in general, is growing as well.
Nearly 60 percent of African-Americans, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Wednesday, support marriage equality.
That poll also found that support for gay marriage—nationwide—has reached 53 percent. Even some Republicans are becoming more supportive, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. About 50 percent of GOPers under age 35 support marriage equality.
Some might find Powell’s marriage equality support ironic. Metro Weekly reports Powell’s 1993 support of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” kept the law alive until its 2010 repeal.
“It was the Congress that imposed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ though it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall,” Powell said.
He served as George W. Bush’s secretary of state from 2001 to 2005.
Photo: prweb.com; Video: cnn.com
