Edwards's Wife Says She
Backs Gay Marriage
Associated Press
Monday, June 25, 2007; A13
SAN FRANCISCO, June 24 -- Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco's annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with
her husband over support for legalized same-sex marriage.
"I don't know why someone else's marriage has anything to do with me,"
Edwards said at a news conference before the parade. "I'm completely comfortable
with gay marriage."
Edwards made the remark almost offhandedly in answering a question from
reporters. The topic arose after she delivered a standard campaign stump speech
during a breakfast hosted by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual
Transgender Democratic Club, an influential San Francisco political
organization.
The Edwardses' daughter Cate, a 25-year-old law student, also supports
same-sex marriage.
Elizabeth Edwards conceded that her support puts her at odds with her
husband, a former senator from North Carolina. She said he supports civil unions for same-sex
couples, but not marriages.
"John has been pretty clear . . . that he is very conflicted," she said. "He
has a deeply held belief against any form of discrimination, but that's up
against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural Southern town."
None of the leading presidential candidates has publicly supported same-sex
marriage.
San Francisco's gay pride parade is a campy civil rights celebration,
sprinkled with drag queens, leather chaps and nudity. Very rarely do mainstream,
national politicians ride or march in the parade.
© 2007 The
Washington Post Company