U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is changing his position on gay marriage.
Nelson said last month that he didn’t favor marriage for gay couples, but on Thursday he sent out a statement changing his position. Nelson said he believes in the constitutional protection of unalienable rights for all.
“The civil rights and responsibilities for one must pertain to all,” Nelson wrote in a piece he sent to the Tampa Bay Times. “If we are endowed by our Creator with rights, then why shouldn’t those be attainable by gays and lesbians?” Nelson wrote. “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.”
Nelson had been one of only a handful of Democrats in the Senate who had opposed gay marriage.
