Portman 'Change Of Heart': Republican Senator Supports Same-Sex Marriage After Son Comes Out

Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, changed his position on gay marriage on Friday. The social-values conservative now says he supports same-sex marriage after his college student son, Will, had a private discussion with his parents about his sexuality.

Portman did not take make the switch lightly, writing in the Columbus Dispatch that it was hard to validate his decision to support gay rights given his deep Christian faith.

"I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment as his brother and sister. Ultimately, it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God," Portman wrote.

Senator Portman also noted that British Prime Minister David Cameron exhibits the same views Portman now has, saying the European leader "supports allowing gay couples to marry because he is a conservative, not in spite of it." He cited Cameron's belief that in the fight for individual liberty, shared by all conservatives, disallowing an act like same-sex marriage would be counterintuitive to their philosophy.

Senator Rob Portman's decision is an ideological U-turn from then-Rep. Portman's vote for 1996's Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. The bill defines marriage as "between a man and a woman." He now says he is against the initiative.

Portman was said to be a contender in the 2012 Republican "Veepstakes," in that a number of politicos believed he may have been chosen instead of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., as Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate.

Before announcing his decision to support same-sex marriage, he discussed the issue with former Vice President Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., another outspoken conservative, whose daughter Mary recently married her gay partner. Cheney reportedly told Portman to "follow your heart."

As the nation's most popular conservative conference, CPAC, convened Thursday in Oxon Hill, Md. -- the first year the conference is taking place outside the District of Columbia -- reminders of the internal battle over the issue resurfaced. Organizers of the conference have in the past reportedly clashed with republicans and interest groups that support the issue. Jimmy LaSalvia of GOProud, a republican gay rights organization, confirmed to the "Huffington Post" that they would not be attending the conference, saying his group was "kicked out" of the 2012 conference in Washington, D.C. because of its social ideology.

Many conservatives say that legislative inclusion of acts such as gay marriage and abortion into our society have been eating away at the framework the Founding Fathers created. Former Senator Rick Santorum, R-Pa., who agrees with Portman on economic matters, has repeatedly spoken out against gay marriage, calling support for the issue a "secular revolution" that will "destroy the family" structure that has been extremely beneficial to America since its inception. He, like many conservatives throughout the country, hold the heartfelt belief that the decline of the nuclear family over the past few decades is reason for alarm, blaming the media and film for the normalization of same-sex marriage in America.

In the past, despite the split on social values, the movement still unites when it counts. Conservatives and socially moderate republicans alike rallied around candidate Mitt Romney in his quest to defeat President Obama in 2012.