Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), one of the few prominent Democrats who had not yet endorsed marriage equality, on Sunday evening announced her support for gay marriage in a post on her Tumblr.
“I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love,” McCaskill wrote. “While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry.”
McCaskill cites her own friends and colleagues who are in committed, same-sex relationships as part of the reason she has changed her mind on this issue. “I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality,” she wrote.
McCaskill’s post did not say whether she thought the question should be left up to states to decide or whether she would favor a Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the country.
The announcement comes days before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in two major gay marriage cases on California’s Proposition 8 and on the Defense of Marriage Act. McCaskill was one of a dwindling number of Democrats, largely from Republican-leaning states, who have not endorsed gay marriage.
