Ohio Senator Rob Portman will become
the first Senate Republican to co-sponsor legislation repealing the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). So says to a gay GOP group.
Gregory Angelo, the newly installed
executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, told gay weekly the
Washington
Blade that he expects Portman will back the proposed
legislation.
“Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and Congressman Richard Hanna were Republican co-sponsors in the
112th Congress, and we have every expectation they will
continue as co-sponsors when the bill is reintroduced,” Angelo
said. “Given his recent evolution on marriage equality, we expect
Republican Senator Portman to be a co-sponsor in the Senate.”
In March, Portman announced in an op-ed
that he had reversed course on the issue of marriage equality and
credited his son's recent coming out for changing his heart.
However, in his original remarks on the
subject, Portman said that “change should come about through the
democratic process in the states,” and he also warned against
“judicial intervention from Washington.”
“An expansive court ruling would run
the risk of deepening divisions rather than resolving them,” he
wrote.
Reintroduction of the legislation,
known as the Respect for Marriage Act, is being delayed until after
the Supreme Court hands down a much-anticipated ruling on DOMA in
June.