R****y
发帖数: 456 | 1 Sen. Rob Portman, who voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996,
says he has changed his mind on the matter since one of his sons came out
as gay in 2011.
CINCINNATI — Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is now supporting gay
marriage and says his reversal on the issue began when he learned one of his
sons is gay.
Ohio's junior senator disclosed his change of heart in interviews with
several Ohio newspapers and CNN. In an op-ed published Friday in The
Columbus Dispatch, he said the decision came after a lot of thought.
"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," he wrote.
As a member of the House in 1996, Portman voted in favor of the Defense of
Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman and bars
federal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Portman said his views on gay marriage began changing in 2011 when his son,
Will, then a freshman at Yale University, told his parents that he was gay
and that it wasn't a choice but "part of who he was." Portman said he and
his wife, Jane, were very surprised but also supportive.
He said it prompted him to reconsider gay marriage from a different
perspective — that of a father who wants all three of his children to have
happy lives with people they love.
Portman said he talked to his pastor and people on both sides of the gay
marriage issue, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who
is opposed to gay marriage, and former Vice President Dick Cheney, who
supports it. Cheney's daughter is a lesbian.
Portman told reporters Thursday that his previous views on marriage were
rooted in his Methodist faith.
"Ultimately, for me, it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love
and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God," he wrote.
The well-known Ohio conservative, a former U.S. trade representative and
White House budget chief, was considered but not chosen as Republican
presidential nominee Mitt Romney's running mate. Portman told the newspapers
Romney was informed about Will's sexuality last year.
Portman's reversal comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear
arguments this month in a challenge to a provision of the Defense of
Marriage Act.
Portman said he would like Congress to repeal the provision of the act that
bans federal recognition of gay marriage, though he still supports the part
of the law that says states should not be forced to recognize such marriages.
A group working to overturn Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage praised Portman'
s comments.
查了下Wiki Portman was considered to be openly hostile to gay rights based
on his voting record. He was a co-sponsor of the federal ban on same-sex
marriage and also voted for a measure prohibiting same-sex couples in
Washington from adopting children.他儿子其实两年前便跟他出柜，他选择这个时候
出来站出来说，是为了放眼更加广阔的政治前景，还是良心过不去，咱拭目以待。 | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 2 所以说，这些恐同的不是不明白，而是装糊涂。为了自己的政治前途，良心都可以喂狗
。 | D**S
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