Sen. Tim Johnson Endorses Gay Marriage

[DonViejo]

Source: TPM

Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), one of the last remaining Democratic holdouts to oppose same-sex marriage, announced Monday that he now supports gay nuptials.

"After lengthy consideration, my views have evolved sufficiently to support marriage equality legislation," Johnson said in a statement. "This position doesn't require any religious denomination to alter any of its tenets; it simply forbids government from discrimination regarding who can marry whom."

As one Democrat after another came out in support of marriage equality over the last month, Johnson's reticence on the subject confused some, as he will not seek re-election next year and therefore faced no political damage for changing positions. Some speculated that he remained silent in order to avoid undermining the political prospects of his son, U.S. attorney Brendan Johnson, who is said to be considering a run in next year's open U.S. Senate race.

Johnson's reversal leaves only three Democratic senators who still oppose same-sex marriage: Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Mark Pryor (D-AK) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA). Manchin reiterated his opposition last week, while Pryor said he's "undecided" on the matter.

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Read more: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/sen-tim-johnson-endorses-gay-marriage

[demwing]

1. Boom! and then there were THREE

and I called Johnson on Friday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=445450

[brooklynite]

2. Okay, 'fess up: NOBODY had Johnson in their Gay Marriage bracket...

[demwing]

8. read post 1

Cause I did

[iandhr]

3. Another small step toward progress.

[William769]

4. 3 to go!

Let's keep the pressure up.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Heads will be exploding in South Dakota.

It was only a few years ago that they passed the anti-gay marriage initiative. That was the year they knocked off Tom Daschle. It was like, "Vote for Daschle, and you'll have to get gay married, and burn an American flag at the ceremony."

[iandhr]

6. Johnson is leaving office.

That allows him to do the right thing.

[bballguy7013]

7. Sounds great but...

Almost all of these people that are supporting same-sex marriage are doing it for purely political reasons. I think when same-sex marriage becomes legal people like gavin newsom should be praised for believing in it, prior to it being popular.

[demwing]

9. That proves we've won, right?

Supporting gay marriage has become the safe position,

[FreeState]

10. Newsom's place in history is already cemented in

In 50-100 years history books are going to have a paragraph or two on Newsom because he was the catalyst to the current actions, without his San Francisco marriages much of what we are seeing would not have happened so quickly, he humanized the gay population in a very effective way. It would be very hard to tell the story of Marriage equality and not focus part of the story on him.

[bballguy7013]

11. Still

I understand in 50-100 years he will be considered a champion of this issue, I just wish the public knew now that people were in support of same sex marriage before Obama supported in in 2012. Newsom for all of his issues really was a visonary on this issue