Gives Thanks

Political Wives Support Equality

As political wives go, Cindy McCain (pictured) and Laura Bush have always seemed a bit inaccessible. Maybe because they weren’t fashion icons like Jackie Kennedy and Michelle Obama or intriguingly self-destructive like Mary Todd Lincoln and Betty Ford, the wives of U.S. senator John McCain and former president George W. Bush didn’t capture a large gay following. But when Mrs. McCain and Mrs. Bush declared themselves proud proponents of marriage equality this year, gays found a reason to be enamored. In January, Mrs. McCain posed for a photo in the No H8 campaign, which raises money for equal marriage rights and other gay causes. She then caused a stir in November when she appeared in a PSA for NoH8 condemning the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, only to tweet a day later:  "I
fully support the NOH8 campaign and all it stands for and am proud to
be a part of it. But I stand by my husband's stance on DADT."

Ultimately, it was the even-tempered Laura Bush who m ade people sit up and pay attention when she declared on Larry King Live in May that committed gay couples “ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights that everyone has." When a Republican former first lady, so well liked and respected by middle America, endorses marriage equality, you know the national sentiment is evolving.