Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the third GOP senator to publicly support same-sex marriage on Wednesday, only a few days before the Supreme Court will decide on two milestone LGBT union cases.
Murkowski posted an op-ed on her Senate website that intimated her stance on marriage equality. She said that America is currently up against " a significant moment for our nation when it comes to rethinking our society's priorities and the role of the government in Americans' private lives and decisions."
She said that freedom to marry stands upon one of the main tenets of Republicanism-keeping the government out of private affairs.
"I am a life-long Republican because I believe in promoting freedom and limiting the reach of government," she continued in her post. "I support the right of all Americans to marry the person they love and choose because I believe doing so promotes both values: it keeps politicians out of the most private and personal aspects of peoples' lives while also encouraging more families to form and more adults to make a lifetime commitment to another. Why should the federal government be telling adults who love one another that they cannot get married, simply because they happen to be gay?"
Murkowski, a steadily moderate member of the GOP, stressed that her support for same-sex marriage comes from being "equally committed to guaranteeing that religious freedoms remain inviolate, so that churches and other religious institutions can continue to determine and practice their own definition of marriage."
Murkowski now joins Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk as the three Senators who have announced their support for same-sex marriage.
According to CBS, The Human Rights Campaign applauded Murkowski's "courageous and principled announcement," when they released a statement in response to the Alaska Senator's.
"As the Supreme Court prepares to rule in two landmark marriage cases this month, a growing bipartisan coalition is standing up for the right of all couples to marry-and there is no turning back that tide," Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said.
