In an editorial for the Yale student newspaper, Will Portman says he is "proud" of his dad for his evolution on gay marriage.
Will Portman told his family he was gay two years ago, leading Rob Portman, the prominent Republican senator from Ohio, to have a change of heart on the issue of gay marriage.
As Mark reported, Portman, who was considered to be Mitt Romney's running mate, now says he supports gay marriage.
In his editorial, Will says he came out to his parents in a letter.
"They called as soon as they got the letter," Will writes. "They were surprised to learn I was gay, and full of questions, but absolutely rock-solid supportive. That was the beginning of the end of feeling ashamed about who I was."
As for why it took his father two years to change his stance on gay marriage, Will writes that was because he had to take his time thinking about the issue more deeply and Will was also reluctant to make his personal life public.
Will concludes:
"I'm proud of my dad, not necessarily because of where he is now on marriage equality (although I'm pretty psyched about that), but because he's been thoughtful and open-minded in how he's approached the issue, and because he's shown that he's willing to take a political risk in order to take a principled stand. He was a good man before he changed his position, and he's a good man now, just as there are good people on either side of this issue today.
"We're all the products of our backgrounds and environments, and the issue of marriage for same-sex couples is a complicated nexus of love, identity, politics, ideology and religious beliefs. We should think twice before using terms like 'bigoted' to describe the position of those opposed to same-sex marriage or 'immoral' to describe the position of those in favor, and always strive to cultivate humility in ourselves as we listen to others' perspectives and share our own."
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