Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist
has applauded a judge's ruling striking down the state's ban on gay
marriage.
On Friday, Judge Sarah Zabel of the
Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court in Miami ordered Miami-Dade County to
allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Zabel stayed her order. The
ruling is the second blow to the ban. Earlier this month, Monroe
County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia declared the marriage ban
unconstitutional. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has appealed
both cases.
Crist filed an amicus brief in
support of plaintiffs in the Miami-Dade case.
(Related: Charlie
Crist files brief in support of marriage equality.)
“I was proud to file a brief in this
case, an important step in the fight for marriage equality,” he
tweeted Friday to his more than 20,000 followers.
In a follow up tweet on Sunday, Crist
messaged: “I believe that all people should be able to marry the
person they love.”
Crist, who previously supported the ban
and is currently campaigning for his old job as a Democrat, has cited
the GOP's opposition to marriage equality as chief among his reasons
for leaving the Republican Party.