Influential Sen. Rob Portman became the first sitting Republican U.S. senator to endorse same-sex marriage Friday (March 15), saying a development in his family led him to "wrestle" with his faith and decide that homosexuals should be allowed to marry.
In an opinion piece in The Columbus Dispatch, the senator from Ohio said two years ago his son Will, who was a freshman at Yale University at the time, disclosed to his parents that he is gay.
"He said he'd known for some time, and that his sexual orientation wasn't something he chose; it was simply a part of who he is," Portman wrote, adding that he and his wife Jane were proud of their son's honesty and courage....