stepping on a political landmine

Friends,

In 1995 I was running for my first term as U.S. Senator when I was asked a question that was uncommon for the time: Do you support gay marriage?

I answered honestly – saying, yes, I do – and became the first Senator to support marriage equality. The experts told me same-sex marriage is a political landmine, but guess what? We won.

It wasn’t always easy. I was one of only fourteen Senators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act in the ‘90s. Back then, our allies were few and far between.

So I’m proud that we’ve made so much progress for the LGBT community.

We’ve seen an end to ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ We’ve made progress on workplace protections. Just this week, the White House announced an Executive Order barring federal contractors from discriminating based on sexual preference.

And finally – finally – after years of hard work, marriage equality has come to Oregon.

It’s about time, and we aren’t done yet. We have work ahead to win full equality for the LGBT community.

June is Pride Month, so let’s get out there!

Ron Wyden