Rep. David Jolly Becomes Latest Republican To Support Same-Sex Marriage
David Jolly, who won a Special Election in March to replace long time Congressman Bill Young in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, has become the latest Republican to come out in support of same-sex marriage:
Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) announced his support for gay marriage Monday, saying that he believes it is “fully appropriate” for a state to recognize both same-sex marriages and “traditional” ones, even though he, as a Christian, believes in the the latter.
When asked by The Washington Post whether he supports gay marriage, in light of a Florida judge’s decision last week to overturn the state’s ban, Jolly said that his personal views on marriage are that it should be limited to one man and one woman. But, he added, states should not be defining the “sanctity” of marriage.
“As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage,” said Jolly in a statement to The Post. “But as a matter of Constitutional principle I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one’s marriage should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their state. Accordingly, I believe it is fully appropriate for a state to recognize both traditional marriage as well as same-sex marriage, and therefore I support the recent decision by a Monroe County Circuit Judge.”
Jolly becomes the eighth current Republican member of Congress to come out in support of gay marriage. He joins Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), and Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.).
Jolly isn’t taking much of a political risk here. He faces no opponent in the Republican primary, and the candidate that Democrats had recruited to run against him in November dropped out of the race several months ago. Nonetheless, it’s always good to see someone getting on board with the idea that people should be treated equally under the law.
Wow, somebody who understands the difference between religion and government. What a concept!
Yep, just proves Republicans, as the true civil rights leaders, have been for gay marriage all along. It’s the liberals who have been fighting them tooth and nail. Just part of the revisionist history we can expect. I must admit that I didn’t expect it as soon as 2016.
Then he jolly well needs to get on the blower to Pam Bondi ASAP because the woman won an emergency stay in defiance of Jolly’s jolly.
@rudderpedals: I was pleasantly surprised by my new congressman. Pam Bondi probably hears the ‘earth shifting under my feet’ — in a way the Carol King never did.
This is probably just an example of Republicans ‘improving their messaging.’ They’ll still vote against it when they get there. The most important part, though, is getting there.
@Tony W: So you turn an article reporting that there are now 8 Rs in Congress who support same sex marriage into one that says Republicans are better on gay rights and SSM than Democrats?? Neither Doug nor the article implied any such thing. One would think anyone who actually supports equality would celebrate the changes happening in the Republican Party, but you turn it into some partisan jab. You’re an idiot.
@David Lampo: Call me an ‘idiot’ if you must – I am not offended at all, just predicting the future – using the past as a guide.
Maybe you haven’t seen the comments on Breitbart where Republicans claim that Democrats are the true racists because Jesse Helms was a racist/Democrat? Perhaps you missed the claim that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, therefore Republicans are the civil rights leaders? That’s the revisionist history I am predicting. Seems quite reasonable