HRC Blog

This morning U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) announced his support for marriage equality on his Facebook page. 

He wrote,

“In recent years, our country has been involved in an important discussion on the issue of marriage equality. While serving in the House of Representatives, I had the opportunity to act on a core belief of mine: we are a stronger country when we draw on the strengths of all Americans. I voted to repeal ‘don't ask, don't tell’ and was an original supporter of the bill that would make it illegal to discriminate against someone in the workplace because of their sexual orientation. It is also for that reason that I oppose amending either Indiana’s or our nation’s constitution to enshrine in those documents an ‘us’ and a ‘them,’ instead of a ‘we.’ With the recent Supreme Court arguments and accompanying public discussion of same-sex marriage, I have been thinking about my past positions and votes. In doing so, I have concluded that the right thing to do is to support marriage equality for all.”

Sen. Donnelly is the 52nd U.S. Senator to endorse marriage equality.

Earlier this week we celebrated announcements from Sens. Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware, Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois, and Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, in support of loving, committed same-sex couples.  Only five Democratic Senators have yet to publicly support marriage for gay and lesbian couples.

And with Nelson and Donnelly's announcements, a majority of the United States Senate supports marriage equality.