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GOP senator reverses gay-marriage stance after son comes out | The Ticket - Yahoo! News
Good for him. However, this won't mean much considering:
Rob Portman on the Issues
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told reporters from the Columbus Dispatch and other Ohio newspapers that his change of heart on the hot-button issue came two years after his son, Will, told him and his wife that he is gay."It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective, and that's of a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have—to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years," Portman said.
In an interview with CNN, Portman said his son, then a freshman at Yale University, told him "that he was gay, and that it was not a choice, and that it's just part of who he is, and that he'd been that way for as long as he could remember."
The dramatic announcement comes just a week before the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriage, a measure Portman co-sponsored as a member of the House in 1996
Good for him. However, this won't mean much considering:
Rob Portman on the Issues
- Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Sep 2004)
- Voted YES on protecting the Pledge of Allegiance. (Sep 2004)
- Voted YES on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
- Voted YES on banning gay adoptions in DC. (Jul 1999)
- Voted YES on ending preferential treatment by race in college admissions. (May 1998)
- Supports anti-flag desecration amendment. (Mar 2001)
- Rated 7% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
- Supports Amendment to prevent same sex marriage. (Aug 2010)