Conservative former Marine Craig Stowell talks about why he supports marriage for all couples

Last month, Freedom to Marry hosted our kick-off recepetion for Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, our new campaign to amplify the voices of young people who identify as conservative and support marriage for same-sex couples. At the reception, several members of our Young Conservatives Leadership Committee - as well as our National Campaign Director Marc Solomon and Republican Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, the first GOP co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act - delivered speeches about the campaign's mission.

One of the speakers was Craig Stowell, who has spoken before about the intersections of his work as an advocate for the freedom to marry and his conservative ideology. Craig is a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, and he asserts that he doesn't support marriage for all couples in spite of his conservative values, but rather because of them. At the reception, Craig explained more:

"As a conservative, I believe in limited government, and limited government isn't something that takes away rights from our friends and family. The government shouldn't be managing the personal lives of any decent law-abiding citizen in any state."

Watch an excerpt from Craig's speech below!

Before signing onto our Young Conservatives campaign, Craig served as Republican Co-Chair for Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, which led the successful campaign to uphold New Hampshire's popular marriage law even with a Republican super-majority in the state's legislature. Craig has stood by his younger brother Calvin, who is gay, during his years of advocacy work on behalf of same-sex couples' freedom to marry. 

Watch the video below, and join us over on the Young Conservatives Facebook page to stand with the campaign and get all of the updates!