Washington state Senator Steve Litzow
has said he will be the first Republican in the Senate to support a
gay marriage bill, The
Seattle
Times reported.
Governor Chris Gregoire on Wednesday
said she would introduce a
bill in the upcoming legislative session that if approved would make
Washington the seventh state to legalize gay marriage. In
announcing her decision, Gregoire said she had struggle with the
issue of marriage equality.
“I am a traditional Republican,”
the freshman senator told The Seattle Times' editorial board.
“When you think about gay marriage, it's the right thing to do and
it's very consistent with the tenets of being a Republican – such
as individual freedom and personal responsibility.”
While the Republican Party remains
officially opposed to giving gay and lesbian couples the right to
marry, a growing number of members are speaking out in favor of
marriage equality. Four Republicans helped pass a gay marriage law
in New York last year. And a
group of Republicans in Minnesota is working to defeat a proposed gay
marriage ban in that state.