Laura Bush admits supporting gay marriage and abortion rights

Laura Bush has admitted secretly supporting gay marriage and abortion rights during her husband's eight years as president.

By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 5:56PM BST 13 May 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7720546/Laura-Bush-admits-supporting-gay-marriage-and-abortion-rights.html

The former first lady said she kept quiet so as not to be seen backing measures which George W Bush had strongly opposed and used to galvanise support during his election campaigns.

Mrs Bush said in a television interview that the couple shared their disagreements in private but were not "argumentative".

"I understand his viewpoint and he understands mine," she said. "I think we ought to look at gay marriage and debate it. A lot of people have trouble coming to terms with it, because they see marriage traditionally as a man and woman. But I also know that when couples are committed to each other and love each other, they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has."

Asked if the US could accept gay marriage, she told CNN: "I think we could ... It's also a generational thing."

Mrs Bush said she didn't discuss the issues when her husband was president because she was rarely asked about them.

She recalled the turmoil she faced when asked about her views on the Supreme Court judgment that legalised abortion during an interview on her husband's inauguration day in 2001.

But in the interview with CNN this week she was more expansive, saying that abortion should "remain legal, because I think it's important for people, for medical reasons and other reasons".

<SNIP>

Ouch!

Even Barbara DOES. Problem is that both support their men who DON'T.

:shrug:

nt