American Foundation for Equal Rights

Marriage News Blog

John Bolton Expresses Support for Marriage Equality

Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton has joined other prominent Republicans in expressing his support for marriage equality.

In an interview with the conservative National Review about a potential presidential run in 2016, he made his support unequivocal:

“On gay marriage, I support it, at both the state level and the federal level. Gay marriage is something I’ve thought about at length as I’ve looked at my future. I concluded, a couple years ago, that I think it should be permissible and treated the same at both levels.

If he seeks the nomination, Bolton will be the first major Republican presidential candidate to support marriage equality.

Bolton joins a growing list of other prominent Republicans, including three sitting U.S. senators, several members of Congress, former governors and a whole host of top-level advisors and political operatives. In advance of the U.S. Supreme Court’s oral argument of AFER’s case against Prop. 8, over 130 conservative leaders—including Mary Bono Mack, James B. Comey, Jon Huntsman, Ken Mehlman, Steve Schmidt, William F. Weld, and Meg Whitman—called on the Court to recognize marriage equality for all by filing an amicus brief in February.