It's been kind of a long day (after a rather long leave-of-absence from writing diaries...I just moved to Texas for grad school), so I just found this bit of news this evening. I didn't see anything here on Daily Kos about it, so I thought I'd write a short diary for everybody who hasn't seen it yet.
Eighteen. That's the number of U.S. Senators who are now on record as supporting marriage equality.
News broke today that Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) came out Saturday in full support of marriage equality across the United States.
Previously, he had been in the civil unions camp, calling marriage a state issue. Hmmm, sounds familiar. He has always been pretty good on LGBT issues, including the repeal of DADT and DOMA. But he left many Democrats, including the President, in a cloud of dust and boarded the marriage equality train, even as his own state recognizes neither civil unions nor marriage for same-sex couples.
He was in attendance Saturday at the Ally Awards, a fundraiser for the gay rights group One Colorado, where he was questioned by activist Sunnivie Brydum on the issue. He had this to say:
I support marriage equality. We have work to do. Let's go do it...I think the way in which it is unfolding has lessons for all of us. Let's work in our states, let's work with our neighbors, let's work with our communities, let's work with our elected officials...I have no doubt that soon we'll reach marriage equality in states, and then across our nation.
And here's the video:
Good for him (and for us!). Eighteen out of 100 is still pretty low considering we control the Senate. Here's hoping other Senators and Representatives catch the equality bug - and maybe even the President.