President Bush’s daughter supports
gay marriage
(New York) Former President George W. Bush’s daughter
Barbara has announced her support for gay marriage, breaking with her father on
a key social issue but joining her mother and other prominent Republicans who
back same-sex unions.
“I’m a New Yorker for marriage equality,” Bush says in the
video. “New York is about fairness and equality and everyone should have the
right to marry the person that they love.” Paul Guequierre, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign,
said the video was produced to help promote efforts to win same-sex marriage
rights in New York. A bill legalizing gay marriage passed the New York state
Assembly in 2009 but was defeated in the state Senate that year. But Gov.
Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has announced his support for same-sex marriage, and
advocates believe they have enough votes in both chambers for a bill to pass
this year. “New York is one of our priority states,” Guequierre said. Barbara Bush’s advocacy for gay marriage is a sharp
departure from her father’s position on the issue. The former president was an opponent of same-sex marriage
and in 2004 announced his support for a proposed constitutional amendment to
outlaw it. But his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, has said she supports
gay marriage as does former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Mary is
gay. Advocates say they approached Bush to appear in the video
after she attended a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights,
an organization created to challenge California’s Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot
initiative that struck down gay marriage in that state. The group was founded
by attorney Ted Olson, a prominent Republican who with Democratic attorney
David Boies challenged Proposition 8 in federal court. Barbara Bush’s twin sister, Jenna Bush Hager, has not
indicated her position on gay marriage. 