Rep. David Jolly on Monday became the
second Republican House member from Florida to endorse marriage
equality.
The Washington Post asked Jolly
his stance on the subject, just days after a state judge struck down
Florida's ban.
“As a matter of my Christian faith, I
believe in traditional marriage,” Jolly told The
Post. “But as a matter of Constitutional principle I
believe in a form of limited government that protects personal
liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one's marriage
should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their
state. Accordingly, I believe it is fully appropriate for a state to
recognize both traditional marriage as well as same-sex marriage, and
therefore I support the recent decision by a Monroe County Circuit
Judge.”
Marc Solomon, national campaign
director for Freedom to Marry, congratulated Jolly for “doing the
right thing by his constituents and his country in supporting the
freedom to marry.”
“He joins the growing wave of
Republicans across America who recognize that marriage for same-sex
couples is in sync with Republican values of individual liberty and
strong families. All committed couples across the Sunshine State
should have the freedom to marry and share in the protections of
marriage that are crucial to building a family and taking care of
their loved ones,” he added.
Jolly joins Republican House colleagues
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Richard Hanna of New York and Charlie
Dent of Pennsylvania and GOP Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rob
Portman of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mark Kirk of Illinois
in publicly coming out in support of marriage equality.