Susan Collins is the 4th, and least-surprising, GOP senator to come out for gay marriage

Susan Collins is the 4th, and least-surprising, GOP senator to come out for gay marriage
(Image credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, hours after being endorsed by LGBT-rights group the Human Rights Campaign, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced that she supports the right of same-sex couples to marry — as long as a state has decided that it's all right. In the fall, Collins is facing Democratic challenger Shenna Bellows, a former ACLU Maine executive director who was instrumental in Maine's successful 2012 referendum to legalize gay marriage.

"A number of states, including my home state of Maine, have now legalized same-sex marriage, and I agree with that decision," Collins said in a statement, in response to media inquiries. "Nearly 44 percent of Americans live in a state where same-sex couples can be legally married, and I believe this number will only continue to grow."

Collins is only the fourth Republican in the Senate to endorse same-sex marriage, after Rob Portman (Ohio), Mark Kirk (Ill.), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). So in that sense, it's a big deal, ensuring that there will be a solid Senate majority in favor of gay marriage no matter which party controls the upper chamber next year.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But unlike with, say, Portman, her endorsement can't be much of a surprise to anyone. Sure, the Maine GOP still officially calls for one man–one woman matrimony, but Collins has twice voted against a constitutional amendment trying to enshrine that position, she helped pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in the Senate, and in 2010, Collins and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) sponsored the bill that ended the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay service members.

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.