Retired Gen. Colin Powell — the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whose voice in 1993 in support of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was used by those fighting to uphold the law in Congress and the courts up until its repeal in 2010 — is as strong a sign as any of the changing views of the country on marriage equality.
Today, in an interview clip just released, the former secretary of state told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of same-sex couples that he knows, “[T]hey are as stable a family as my family is … [a]nd so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
Powell served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, and his name was raised often as a potential Republican presidential or vice presidential candidate — although he declined interest in either role.
The news comes two weeks after President Obama announced on May 9 that he had “evolved” on the issue and now believes that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. Blitzer referenced Powell’s role in “installing” DADT and then asked, “Are you with the President in supporting gay marriage?”
Powell responded, “I have no problem with it. And, it was the Congress that imposed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ though it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall. But as I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is, and they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
John Reid, the gay Republican nominee for Virginia lieutenant governor, has defended the right of his running mate, current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, to oppose same-sex marriage -- even though he personally disagrees with her on the issue.
Speaking on the conservative talk radio program The Wilkow Majority on SiriusXM, Reid said he and Earle-Sears are "willing to put aside our differences" to support policies they believe are best for Virginia. Host Andrew Wilkow then asked Reid to name an issue on which the two disagree.
"She's not for gay marriage. She's 100 percent against it," Reid said. "You know, she's from Jamaica, and her religious background tells her a very different narrative than my Episcopalian white-guy Virginia background. I understand!"
FBI Director Kash Patel has allegedly fired a former FBI employee and new agent trainee for displaying a gay Pride flag on his desk at a California field office last year, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The trainee, who worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles, received a termination letter dated October 1 -- the first day of the government shutdown -- and signed by Patel, claiming he had displayed an improper “political” message in the workplace, according to CNN.
At the time, he was completing new agent training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate's past opposition to marriage equality during a "Muslims4Jack" event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
"We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage," Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
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Today, in an interview clip just released, the former secretary of state told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of same-sex couples that he knows, “[T]hey are as stable a family as my family is … [a]nd so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
