In a new ad promoting marriage equality, former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson expresses his change of heart on letting gays and lesbians marry, the Huffington Post reported.
"I was raised here, Cody, Wyoming," Simpson says in the video. "It was a town of western values: independence, freedom. I'm a Republican and the party's basic core is government out of your life and the right to be left alone. Whether you're gay or lesbian or straight, if you love someone, and you want to marry them, marry them."
"I have had a wonderful married life, why shouldn't somebody else have the joy of marriage? Live and let live. It is very simple."
The video is being released by Freedom to Marry and will begin airing on Tuesday on national cable networks and Sunday on political talk shows in the D.C., Colorado, Oklahoma, and Wyoming markets.
Evan Wolfson, president of the pro-gay marriage organization, released a statement explaining why Simpson was a great aspect of the ad.
"Speaking as a conservative, a lifelong Republican, and a son of the West, Senator Simpson talks of his values of freedom and limited government and the joy of marriage," Wolfson said. "The ad shows the bipartisan momentum for the freedom to marry. And recent rulings against marriage discrimination by nine out of nine federal district judges show the legal trajectory of our campaign: toward more freedom, more dignity, and more families enjoying equality under the law."
The support for gay marriage in the U.S. continues to soar. In March, a poll conducted by the Washington Post/ABC demonstrated six in 10 Americans approve of same-sex marriage.
Democrats were most likely to support gay marriage at 70 percent, followed by independents at 61 percent and Republicans at 40 percent. Additionally, age was a major factor in support, with three-quarters of Americans under 30 supporting it and less than half of seniors supporting it.
