Two more Senators have expressed their full support for marriage equality, joining Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who endorsed the freedom to marry earlier this week.
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich (D) issued a statement Monday night supporting same-sex couples’ rights to marry:
BEGICH: I believe that same sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple. Government should keep out of individuals’ personal lives — if someone wants to marry someone they love, they should be able to. Alaskans are fed up with government intrusion into our private lives, our daily business, and in the way we manage our resources and economy.
Similarly, Sen. John “Jay” Rockefeller (D-WV) told ABC News that government should not discriminate against couples based on their sexual orientation:
ROCKEFELLER: Like so many of my generation, my views on allowing gay couples to marry have been challenged in recent years by a new, more open generation. Churches and ministers should never have to perform marriages that violate their religious beliefs, but the government shouldn’t discriminate against people who want to marry just because of their gender.
Younger people in West Virginia and even my own children have grown up in a much more equal society and they rightly push us to question old assumptions — to think deeply about what it means for all Americans to be created equal. This has been a process for me, but at this point I think it’s clear that DOMA is discriminatory. I’m against discrimination in all its forms, and I think we can move forward in our progress toward true equality by repealing DOMA.
Rockefeller joins 21 other Senators who originally voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and later opposed it.
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