Speed Reads

Change of heart

Prop 8 lawyer says his views on gay marriage are 'evolving'

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Charles Cooper, the lawyer who argued before the Supreme Court in defense of California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, announced that his views on the matter are "evolving."

The change of heart occurred after Cooper learned his stepdaughter was gay. The Associated Press reports that in a new book about Proposition 8, Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality, Cooper says, "My views evolve on issues of this kind the same way as other people's do, and how I view this down the road may not be the way I view it now, or how I viewed it ten years ago."

As the AP points out, Cooper isn't alone in changing his mind on same-sex marriage after learning a child is gay. In 2013, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) reversed his opposition after he found out his son was gay.

Cooper's stepdaughter, Ashley, is set to marry her partner in Massachusetts this summer.