Illinois' GOP Chair Backs Same-Sex Marriage

Are Republicans changing their tune on gay marriage? Illinois Party Chairman Pat Brady is. He issued a statement yesterday saying that he's throwing his "full support" behind the state's pending marriage equality legislation, saying that it "honors the best conservative principles," the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

"More and more Americans understand that if two people want to make a lifelong commitment to each other, government should not stand in their way," Brady said. "It strengthens families and reinforces a key Republican value—that the law should treat all citizens equally." He also noted that the law preserved religious liberty by specifying that no church could be "required to perform a union with which it disagrees." (More Pat Brady stories.)