Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) on Wednesday announced his support for same-sex marriage.
“Life is too short to have the force of government stand in the way of two adults whose pursuit of happiness includes marriage,” he said in a statement to the Washington Post.
After a federal court struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on gay marriage last week, Dent congratulated same-sex couples but stopped short of supporting gay marriage.
“I will have more to say about marriage equality in the near future,” he told the Post last week. “Now that the judge ruled, it caused me to reconsider my views on the matter.”
In his Wednesday statement Dent quoted the Pennsylvania ruling, “in future generations the label same-sex marriage will be abandoned, to be replaced simply by marriage,” and said that through “conversations with my family, I have come to realize that they already see the world through that lens.”
He added that support for same-sex marriage fits with the GOP push for limited government.
“As a Republican, I value equality, personal freedom and a more limited role for government in our lives,” he said in his statement. “I believe this philosophy should apply to the issue of marriage as well.”
