Retired Gen. Colin Powell — the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whose voice in 1993 in support of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was used by those fighting to uphold the law in Congress and the courts up until its repeal in 2010 — is as strong a sign as any of the changing views of the country on marriage equality.
Today, in an interview clip just released, the former secretary of state told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of same-sex couples that he knows, “[T]hey are as stable a family as my family is … [a]nd so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
Powell served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005, and his name was raised often as a potential Republican presidential or vice presidential candidate — although he declined interest in either role.
The news comes two weeks after President Obama announced on May 9 that he had “evolved” on the issue and now believes that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. Blitzer referenced Powell’s role in “installing” DADT and then asked, “Are you with the President in supporting gay marriage?”
Powell responded, “I have no problem with it. And, it was the Congress that imposed ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ though it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall. But as I’ve thought about gay marriage, I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is, and they raise children. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
David Urban, a Republican strategist and CNN commentator who served as a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, has written an op-ed accusing Democrats of fear-mongering for suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court might overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
In his USA Today op-ed, Urban accuses "hyperpartisan liberals" of trying to "sow fear and discontent" by suggesting that the Supreme Court could reverse its own precedent and strike down the 2015 ruling -- a move that would immediately reinstate same-sex marriage bans still on the books in 32 states.
On Monday, November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected former Kentucky county clerk and same-sex marriage opponent Kim Davis' appeal of a lower court's decision against her -- including a petition demanding that the court revisit and overturn its landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nation's highest court denied a writ of certiorari, which would have signaled its intention to review Davis' case -- and the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodgesdecision, which struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage. It would have taken four justices to agree to hear Davis' challenge.
In a historic but under-the-radar move, South Korea's Ministry of Data and Statistics has updated its digital registration system for the 2025 Population and Housing Census to recognize "spouse" or "cohabitating partner" as valid responses for same-sex households.
The change fixes a long-standing issue from previous censuses, when same-sex partners who selected "spouse" saw their answers flagged as errors -- forcing them to instead list themselves as "other cohabitants," according to Time magazine.
The system's failure to accept "spouse" from same-sex couples effectively erased them from the data, rendering LGBTQ households invisible to government agencies and civic organizations that rely on census information to allocate resources and funding.
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Today, in an interview clip just released, the former secretary of state told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of same-sex couples that he knows, “[T]hey are as stable a family as my family is … [a]nd so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”
