Iowa Republicans For Freedom

Washington Blade:

Delaware state Rep. Mike Ramone (R-Middle Run Valley) (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

DOVER, Del.—The only Republican co-sponsor of Delaware’s same-sex marriage bill told the Washington Blade during an exclusive interview on Wednesday he supports the measure because it’s “the right thing” to do.

“I always try to be respectful of what people think and how they think and we are supporters of treating everyone equally,” state Rep. Mike Ramone (R-Middle Run Valley) said while discussing he and his wife Lisa’s decision to support House Bill 75. He noted during the interview he has a gay son and several of those who have worked at the six flower shops and floral warehouse they own throughout Delaware are out. “Gay people have become very close to us. We just don’t believe that they shouldn’t be treated equally like everyone else and have the opportunity to get married.”

Ramone spoke with the Blade less than three hours before the House Administration Committee voted 4-1 to move HB 75 to the full House. He and his wife also attended the April 11 press conference in Wilmington at which state Rep. Melanie George Smith (D-Bear) announced she had introduced it.

The New Castle County Republican who has represented House District 21 since 2008 told the Blade he did not want Equality Delaware and other HB 75 supporters to officially announce his co-sponsorship of the bill during the press conference because he wanted to talk with his GOP colleagues about his position at first.

“They’ve been very kind and understanding,” Ramone said. “This is one of those things where we’re on different sides. We just are looking at it from different sets of glasses.”

He added he has received what he described as “an enormous amount of calls and letters because I am a Republican and a lot of people would have thought a Republican wouldn’t have done this.” Ramone said they have come from same-sex marriage and opponents alike.
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NY Daily News:

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan supports same-sex marriage, her daughter Patti Davis claims.

“She does,” Davis said when asked if her mother supported marriage equality.

“I’m hesitant to speak for anyone else, and she’s not comfortable going out in the public eye and getting in the firing line of anything,” Davis told Michael Signorile on the SiriusXM show “OutQ.”

Davis, the daughter of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan, made headlines earlier this month when she said that her father would have supported the right of same-sex couples to get married.

Davis said she never discussed the topic with her father before he died in 2004, but told The New York Times that Reagan would have “been puzzled,” by the debate over gay marriage due to what the newspaper described as his “distaste for government intrusion into private lives.”

“(He) did not believe that gayness was a choice,” she added.

Her comments about her parents come as attitudes among lawmakers quickly shift on the controversial issue.
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Examiner.com:

Supporting gay marriage would be “suicidal” for the Republican Party… this according to Rick Santorum. On April 9, the Washington Post reported that the former presidential candidate is speaking out on gay marriage… and the new drive to make it legal across the country isn’t something that he supports — and he doesn’t think the GOP should support it either.

“The Republican Party’s not going to change on this issue. In my opinion it would be suicidal if it did,” said Santorum. This isn’t the first time that Santorum has spoken out about the controversial issue, but his wording this time around is being debated more than his feelings on the matter.

Gay marriage could be suicidal for the GOP in the sense that it’s the one thing the party is hanging on to — according to Rick Santorum. While many republicans seem to be embracing gay marriage and the fight for equality, others (like Santorum) hang on to these values that some may call “dated.”

Some republicans (like Chris Christie) seem to want to sail closer to the middle of the aisle and to accept things like gay marriage or abortion — things that essentially were the backbone of the GOP. However, would a shift in beliefs actually kill the party? Some believe that it will do just the opposite.

Perhaps gay marriage won’t be suicidal for the GOP… perhaps it will be reviving. Thoughts?

Read the article from examiner.com.

Chicago Tribune:

State Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. of Mundelein

State Rep. Ed Sullivan Jr. of Mundelein said Sunday he will support a bill to allow gay marriage in Illinois, becoming the second House Republican to do so and first among leadership.

Sullivan, who is chairman of the House Republican campaign organization, said his decision to back same-sex marriage represented a personal and family evolution on the issue. Previously an opponent of civil unions, Sullivan told the Tribune that his mother-in-law, who lives in the southwest suburbs, has been in a same-sex relationship.

“The first reaction from people might be, ‘Well he might be voting for that just because of his mother-in-law,’” Sullivan said. “The reality is, because my mother-in-law is gay, I have more of an understanding and familiarity with same-sex couples.”

A state representative since 2003, Sullivan and state Rep. Ron Sandack of Downers Grove are the only House Republicans to publicly announce their backing of the same-sex marriage bill, which already passed the state Senate. With House lawmakers returning to Springfield on Monday after a two-week break, supporters of the measure have said they were within a dozen votes of the 60 needed to pass it.

Sullivan said he believes more Republicans among the 47 in the House will sign on.

“There is tremendous momentum leading up to this vote. I think we’re very close,” he said. “There’s many of my colleagues that have talked about this, that have said it’s the right thing to do.”
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PHOTO: PETE MAROVICH/ZUMA PRESS/CORBIS

Chicago Phoenix:

Amid a turning tide of national support for same-sex marriage, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, joined growing ranks of state and federal lawmakers Tuesday who stand behind full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.

He is the second sitting GOP Senator to endorse same-sex marriage.

In a statement on his website, Kirk said he vowed to return to the U.S. Capitol after his stroke last year “with an open mind and greater respect for others.”

Kirk is the 50th U.S. Senator to back legal gay and lesbian nuptials in the wake of new polling demonstrating massive national approval for same-sex marriage and as the U.S. Supreme Court mulls two same-sex marriage cases with federal implications.

“Same-sex couples should have the right to civil marriage,” Kirk said. “Our time on this Earth is limited, I know that better than most.  Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back — government has no place in the middle.”

Kirk’s Senate colleague, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), announced his support last month. In addition, dozens of Democrats have announced have come out for marriage equality, such as Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who on Tuesday released a statement saying, “… all Americans ultimately should be free to marry the people they love and intend to share their lives with, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that’s why today, after a great deal of soul searching, I’m endorsing marriage equality.”

Recent data from the Pew Research Center suggests that two thirds of Americans, or 66 percent, agree that gay and lesbian couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples. Various other polls also demonstrate dramatic changes in public opinion on the matter.
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Wall Street Journal:

From Alaska to North Carolina, a significant number of prominent political figures in recent weeks have announced an about-face in support of same-sex marriage.

Only one was a Republican.

But more is going on behind the scenes in the Republican Party, where a movement is building to change GOP politicians’ views on the issue. It’s an effort that is meeting resistance among some conservative leaders as well as the party’s core voters.

For now, there remains a marked disparity between the Democratic and Republican parties in embracing gay marriage—a trend that worries some GOP strategists and party leaders as they watch the rapid rise in public acceptance.

“On no issue in American life have attitudes changed so breathtakingly fast as on gay rights,” said Whit Ayres, a veteran Republican pollster. “We have to be careful we aren’t left behind.”

During a week when the Supreme Court held two days of arguments on the rights of gay and lesbian couples to wed, five Democratic senators—four of them from predominately Republican states—announced they were shifting to support same-sex marriage.

Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portmanmade his own high-profile move in that direction earlier this month, becoming the only Senate Republican to embrace the practice.
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MSNBC (video):

Conservative Ken Mehlman talks with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts about the marriage equality cases pending at the Supreme Court and the growing bipartisan support for the freedom to marry.