In an apparent shift from comments last summer, Hillary Clinton is urging the Supreme Court to rule to allow same-sex couples nationwide to marry, calling it a “constitutional right.”
In a statement reported in the Washington Blade and confirmed to NBC News, campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod said: “Hillary Clinton supports marriage equality and hopes the Supreme Court will come down on the side of same-sex couples being guaranteed that constitutional right."
That seems to be a shift for Clinton, who made headlines in June of last year for appearing to suggest in a contentious interview with NPR that she believes the issue of same-sex marriage is best handled on a state-by-state basis.
In that interview, Clinton conceded that, like the president, she had not supported gay marriage during her previous presidential run.
But, she added, "just because you're a politician, doesn't mean you're not a thinking human being. And you gather information. You think through positions. You're not 100 percent set - thank goodness - you're constantly reevaluating where you stand. That was true for me."
"So, for me," she continued, "marriage had always been a matter left to the states. And in many of the conversations that I and my colleagues and supporters had, I fully endorse the efforts by activists who work state-by-state and in fact that is what is working."
- Carrie Dann