Sen. Bill Nelson Flips Position on Gay Marriage, Now Endorses Same-Sex Marriage
Florida Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson added his name to the steadily growing list of legislators switching their position on same-sex marriage in recent weeks.
The announcement by Nelson Thursday came after several politicians switched their position in favor of gay marriage, which was spurred by Sen. Rob Portman's revelation that he was now endorsing same-sex marriage because his son is gay.
"(T)o 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?" Nelson said in a statement to The Tampa Bay Times editorial board.
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"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," he added.
But Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), who has a gay child, feels that the social institution of traditional marriage is what is best for American society as a whole.
"As responsible members of society, we must look to what is best for the culture as a whole. All of my children, homosexual and heterosexual, benefit by living in a free society that is made possible only by legal and cultural encouragement of strong, mother-father-based families," Griggs wrote.
PFOX maintains that the push for same-sex marriage also comes with unintended consequences such as the denial of rights for heterosexual couples.
"The homosexual push for 'equal marriage,' otherwise known as genderless marriage, can only lead to a ban on heterosexual rights. With a president in power who endorses gay causes and readily misuses executive orders, and emboldened by their numerous wins for gay rights at the legislative and judicial level, homosexuals have now moved beyond equal rights to the 'more equal than you' level," Greg Quinlan, president of PFOX, said in a statement last year before the November General Elections.
