Republican leaders sign Supreme Court brief supporting the freedom to marry

This week, over 75 key Republican figures and politicians signed onto a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. The brief will be filed in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case, which argues that Proposition 8, the 2008 constitutional amendment excluding same-sex couples from marriage in California, is unconstitutional. 

The signers include several top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors, and two members of Congress, the first Republicans to sponsor legislation that would repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which federally prohibits respect for legal marriages between same-sex couples. Other prominent signers include former Republican presidential candidate and Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who penned an editorial last week in support of marriage; Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for governor of California; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio. 

On Monday, Pryce said, "Like a lot of the country, my views have evolved on this from the first day I set foot in Congress. I think it's just the right thing, and I think it's on solid legal footing, too."

Freedom to Marry founder and president Evan Wolfson applauded the support from the Republican voices today. He said: 

A who's who of the Republican Party has come before the Supreme Court to affirm that support for the freedom to marry is a mainstream position that reflects American values of freedom, family, and fairness, as well as conservative values of limited government and personal responsibility. As opposition to the freedom to marry becomes increasingly isolated and the exclusion from marriage increasingly indefensible, Americans all across the political spectrum are saying it's time to end marriage discrimination, do right by families, and get our country on the right side of history. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case on March 26, 2013. Learn more about the marriage cases at the Supreme Court HERE.