Senator Bill Nelson just released the following statement to 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.
And that makes 51. A majority (but not enough to pass legislation) of the US Senate.
There are now six Democratic US Senators who have not endorsed marriage equality and two US Senators, Senator Collins of Maine, and Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, from states which have legalized same-sex marriage, who have not sided with their state. (Senator Grassley from Iowa also does not support same sex marriage; Iowa legalized same sex marriage via their Supreme Court's decision, while Maine and New Hampshire did so via a public referendum and legislative action, respectively).
3:47 PM PT: Heh. How quickly we evolve:
The Florida senator as recently as last week was opposed to same-sex marriage.
In a report from The Huffington Post identifying the Democratic U.S. senators who don’t support marriage equality, Nelson spokesperson Ryan Brown was quoted as saying, “Sen. Nelson strongly supports civil rights for same-sex couples, while believing marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
http://www.washingtonblade.com/...
3:49 PM PT:
Equality Florida, a statewide LGBT rights group, on Tuesday organized a Twitterbomb for @SenBillNelson with the hashtag #TimeToEvolve.
The website MoveOn.org also launched a petition calling on Nelson to endorse marriage equality. As of the time the senator announced his change in position on Thursday, the petition had 4,945 signatures.