President LBJ’s daughters say their dad would have supported marriage
April 09, 2014
This week, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, the daughters of President Lyndon B. Johnson - the Texan who served as president of the United States from 1963 to 1969 - spoke out about their support for the freedom to marry and explained that their father would have likely been supportive of marriage for all.
On Yahoo Global News, the daughters, who hail from Texas and represent the growing majority of Southerners who support the freedom to marry, spoke out about civil rights with Katie Couric.
"I think my father felt very strongly that when there was bigotry anywhere, prejudice anywhere, all of us lose out," Johnson said, adding that the freedom to marry is "a great civil rights concern of our day." She also passionately voiced her personal support for marriage, saying, "To deny someone the chance to have the kind of love that I have in my marriage simply based upon the fact that the person whom they love is of the same gender seems to me to be morally wrong and deeply tragic. I don't see how giving them the blessing of respect hurts me in any way."
Robb added: "It's hard to project what Daddy would have thought about that, because that wasn't an issue that had come upon the stage at that time. But I know he really wanted everybody to be able to live up to the best that God gave them."
Through Southerners for the Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide is amplifying strong voices who support marriage for gay and lesbian couples in 14 Southern states. Alongside 16 state and regional partner organizations, Freedom to Marry is working to foster this support in the South and make the case that all of America is ready for the freedom to marry.