equal rites

George H.W. Bush Served As Witness at a Lesbian Wedding

Image via Helen Thorgalsen’s Facebook. Photo: Helen Thorgalsen/Facebook

People are often surprised to learn that members of the Bush family support gay marriage, though Laura Bush, her daughter Barbara Bush, and Dick Cheney have declared they believe in marriage equality. (It probably has something to do with George W. Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.) Apparently W.’s parents are okay with gay marriage too, since they not only attended a lesbian couple’s wedding on Saturday, but served as witnesses as well.

Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen have been together for twelve years and are co-owners of a general store in Kennebunk, Maine. They have been friends with the former First Couple, who own a compound in neighboring Kennebunkport, for years. In an e-mail to the Washington Post, Clement said they asked George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush to be witnesses after thinking about “how blessed we are to be in their lives.” She added, “Who would be best to help us acknowledge the importance of our wedding as our friends and as the former leader of the free world. When they agreed to do so we just felt that it was the next acknowledgment of being ‘real and normal.’”

Since leaving office, George W. Bush has made some vaguely tolerant comments about gay marriage, but he’s refused to comment on the issue directly and had nothing to say about his parents’ participation in the wedding. H.W.’s office didn’t make any sweeping declarations about marriage equality either, saying only, “They were private citizens attending a private ceremony for two friends.”

George H.W. Bush Witness at Lesbian Wedding