Politicians Supporting Marriage Equality

This week the Supreme Court is hearing two very important cases. I call them important because they will decide (at least for a while) whether the U.S. Constitution means what it says in guaranteeing equal rights to all people in the United States. The first case is to decide whether Proposition 8 (which denied same-sex marriage rights in California) is legal or not. The second case is to determine the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples who have married.

I have made no secret of my view. I believe ALL Americans should have the same rights as all other Americans. If heterosexuals have a right to marry, with all the benefits guaranteed by state and federal governments to married couples, then those in the LGBT community should also have that same right -- and the sex of the two people getting married should not matter in the least. After all, the Constitution makes no exception in its guarantee of equality under the law.

Having said that, I have absolutely no idea what the court will decide. I hope they strike down both Prop 8 and DOMA as being unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court in its long history has not always been a supporter of equal rights (check out the Dred Scott decision in your history books). Sometimes the court opts to protect political ideology instead of the Constitution, and leaves it to a future court to correct their grievous mistake -- and there are some justices on the current court who may be prone to opt for ideology. The question is how many. Unfortunately, we will have to wait another three months (sometime in June) to find out.

But while we're waiting to find out how the justices of the Supreme Court fell about equal rights, there are some politicians who have had the political courage to take a stand on the issue. The good folks over at Mother Jones magazine have compiled a list of some of the more well-known of those people (and when they made their decision to support same-sex marriage). Here is their list:

1996
Barack Obama (President)

1998
Eliot Spitzer (former Gov. of New York)

2004
Gavin Newsom (Lt. Gov. of California)
Lincoln Chafee (Gov. of Rhode Island)
Nancy Pelosi (U.S. Rep. from California)
Dick Cheney (former Vice-President)

2005
Deval Patrick (Gov. of Massachusetts)

2006
Andrew Cuomo (Gov. of New York)

2008
Al Gore (former Vice-President)
Hilda Solis (former Sec. of Labor)
Arnold Schwarzenegger (former Gov. of California)

2009
Kirsten Gillibrand (U.S. Senator from New York)
Chuck Schumer (U.S. Senator from New York)
Steve Schmidt (former McCain political advisor)
Howard Dean (former Gov. of Vermont & DNC chairman)
Patrick Leahy (U.S. Senator from Vermont)

2010
Cindy McCain (wife of Senator John McCain from Arizona)
Laura Bush (wife of former President George W. Bush)
Ken Mehlman (former RNC chairman)

2011
Eric Holder (Attorney General)
Patty Murray (U.S. Senator from Washington)
John Kerry (Sec. of State)
Bill Clinton (former President)
Martin O'Malley (Gov. of Maryland)
Shaun Donovan (Sec. of Housing and Urban Development)
Tom Vilsack (Sec. of Agriculture)

2012
Jimmy Carter (former President)
Joe Biden (Vice-President)
Arne Duncan (Sec. of Education)
Harry Reid (U.S. Senator from Nevada)
Steny Hoyer (U.S. Rep. from Maryland)
James Clyburn (U.S. Rep. from South Carolina)
Colin Powell (former Sec. of State)
John Bryson (former Sec. of Commerce)
Tim Geithner (former Sec. of Treasury)
Kathleen Sebelius (Sec. of Health and Human Services)
Max Baucus (U.S. Senator from Montana)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (U.S. Rep. from Florida)
Richard Hanna U.S. Rep. from New York)

2013
Chuck Hagel (Sec. of Defense)
Jon Huntsman (former Ambassador to China)
Tom Ridge (former Sec. of Homeland Security)
Mary Bono Mack (former U.S. Rep. from California)
Charlie Bass (U.S. Rep. from New Hampshire)
Beth Myers (former Romney advisor)
Rob Portman (U.S. Senator from Ohio)
Hillary Clinton (former Sec. of State)
Claire McCaskill (U.S. Senator from Missouri)
Mark Warner (U.S. Senator from Virginia)
Mark Begich (U.S. Senator from Alaska)
Jon Tester (U.S. Senator from Montana)

Regardless of political party (or other political ideology), all of these people should be congratulated for supporting marriage equality.