Massachusetts Senator John Kerry argues
that President Barack Obama has a right to change his mind on gay
marriage.
The 67-year-old Democrat made his
comments in an op-ed
published Sunday in the Boston Globe.
Obama, who supports recognizing gay and
lesbian couples with civil unions, has said he's “evolving” on
marriage, prompting progressives to call on Obama to “evolve
already” and analysts to question whether the move would hurt the
president's political future.
Kerry called the debate “phony.”
“Everyone is entitled to his own
view, in his own time, including the president,” Kerry wrote.
“Seeing is believing. Many of us who
once believed civil unions were sufficient to protect legal rights
because we thought of marriage as a religious sacrament between a man
and a woman, have seen that no church has been forced to do anything
that contradicts its teaching. But when two committed people apply
for a Massachusetts marriage license, they are equal whether they are
gay or straight. It's not about a word – it's about equality under
the law.”
Kerry added that it was time for
Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law
that bars federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of
gay couples.
“Is this a journey for all of us?”
Kerry concluded. “Yes – and appropriately so, because it's a
journey for our country. And although it sometimes takes too long,
America always ends up on the right side of history.”