Bush daughter and Manhattan resident Barbara Bush is coming out — in favor of gay marriage. It’s a stance that puts her at odds with her father and grandfather; nevertheless, Bush has recorded a video for the Human Rights Campaign’s “New Yorkers for Marriage Equality” campaign. In the brief video, Bush states: “I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality. New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.”
Barbara Bush typically keeps a relatively low political profile — but her advocacy around gay rights may have been fomented through her friendships with several gay students while at Yale. “She was loved by the gay community at Yale,” said C. Brian Smith, one of Bush’s openly gay Yalie friends.
She may have also had support from inside the Bush family. Mother Laura has hinted of her support for gay rights. “I think that we ought to definitely look at it and debate it,” said Laura Bush last May. “I think there are a lot of people who have trouble coming to terms with that because they see marriage as traditionally between a man and a woman, but I also know that when couples are committed to each other and love each other that they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.”
This isn’t the first time members of the Bush clan have publicly disagreed with their two presidential kin. Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, is pro-choice, unlike both her husband and son.
Barbara Bush Endorses Marriage Equality [HuffPo]
Bush Child, in a Break, Endorses Gay Marriage [NYT]
