Laura Bush, Colin Powell and Dick Cheney Featured in...New Gay Rights Ad

The Respect for Marriage Coalition, a group pushing to end the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), is likely to catch the ire of social conservatives with a new spot that features prominent Republican voices speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage. The individuals shown in the clip are former Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush and former Sec. of State Colin Powell. President Barack Obama's comments about gays and lesbians from last month's inaugural address are also included.

The group, which is a combined effort of the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry, is planning to spend $1 million to air the spot as well as to place a print version featuring quotes from these Republicans in prominent newspapers. In addition to full-page ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, these blurbs will also appear online.

Photo Credit: YouTube

The video ad is entitled, "Leadership," and it features a voice over that advances the notion that Americans are increasingly becoming supportive of gay rights and same-sex marriage (public opinion polls corroborate this claim).

"None of us would want to be told we can’t marry the person we love. That’s why a growing majority of Americans believe it’s time to allow marriage for gay and lesbian couples," the ad proclaims.

Bush is then shown in a 2010 CNN interview saying, "When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has." In a separate CNN exchange from last year, Powell notes, "Allowing them to live together with the protection of law, it seems to me is the way we should be moving in this country." And Cheney says that "freedom means freedom for everyone."

Watch the controversial spot, below:

(H/T: CNN)

--

Related Gay Marriage Stories:

• eHarmony CEO Says Gay Marriage ‘Damaged’ His Company — and Explains Why He Hired Guards to Protect Against Angry Christians
• U.S. Gov’t Extends Select Military Benefits to Same-Sex Partners