Illinois Senator Mark Kirk on Monday
congratulated Illinois on becoming the 15th state to
legalize gay marriage.
(Related: Illinois'
Pat Quinn to sign gay marriage bill Nov. 20 at UIC Forum.)
Earlier this year, Kirk became the
second Republican member of the Senate to endorse marriage equality.
Kirk made his remarks after a Veterans
Day medal ceremony at Buffalo Grove High School, according to the
Chicago
Sun-Times.
“For me, I backed it,” Kirk said.
“I applaud the state Legislature who just did that.”
Kirk also offered some advice to
Republican candidates.
“It's pretty tough to win statewide
as a Republican in Illinois,” he said. “I would just urge be a
moderate on the social issues.”
“I would say that any statewide
candidate has got to have moderate views to reflect the whole state,”
Kirk added. “Many times when you look at the political spectrum
you'll see everything that goes way out to the extreme right, way out
to the extreme left – the question the candidates have to ask
themselves: 'Who represents everybody in the middle?' So you gotta
represent the vast bulk of us who are not extreme right or extreme
left.”
(Related: Sen.
Mark Kirk endorses ENDA in first speech since stroke.)