Elizabeth Edwards supports gay marriage

Candidate husband has a different opinion on the subject

SAN FRANCISCO -- Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco's annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized gay marriage.

Elizabeth Edwards announced her backing of same-sex marriage, a hot-button departure from what she said was her husband's opposition.

"I don't know why someone else's marriage has anything to do with me," Elizabeth Edwards said at a news conference before the parade started. "I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage."

She made the remark almost offhandedly in answering the final question from reporters after delivering a standard campaign stump speech during a breakfast hosted by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club, an influential San Francisco political organization. California's presidential primary is Feb. 5, one of the earliest contests in the nation.

She conceded her support puts her at odds with her husband, a former U.S. senator from North Carolina who she said supports civil unions among gay couples -- but not same-sex marriages.

"John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted," she said. "He has a deeply held belief against any form of discrimination, but that's up against his being raised in the 1950s in a rural southern town."

No serious presidential candidate from either major party has publicly supported gay marriage.

"John believes that couples in committed long-term relationships should enjoy the same rights, benefits and responsibilities regardless of whether they are straight couples or same-sex couples," Elizabeth Edwards said earlier during her speech. "He supports civil unions."

She delivered her speech before a roomful of San Francisco's most powerful politicians that included Mayor Gavin Newsom, who in 2004 legalized gay marriage in San Francisco. The California Supreme Court has since prohibited same-sex marriages while it considers the legality of the issue.

Elizabeth Edwards also said that her husband believes in ending the "don't ask, don't tell" government policy regarding gays serving in the military.

"The military is already sexually integrated," she said to rousing laughter and applause.

She said she didn't consider her appearance itself before a gay political organization to be a political statement.

"We didn't think we were making some bold statement, just that we were spending time with people who care about the same things we care about, whose opinions we respect and whose support we would like to have," she said.

Julius Turman, the Toklas organization's co-chairman, said all major Democratic candidates were invited to address the club.

San Francisco's gay pride parade is a campy civil rights celebration that cuts through the heart of the gayest of American cities, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators sprinkled with drag queens, leather chaps and a healthy dose of nudity -- but few, if any, mainstream, national politicians. Even San Francisco resident Sen. Dianne Feinstein, when she served as mayor here from 1978 to 1988, never rode in the annual parade that started in 1970.

That's why local politicians and activists hailed Elizabeth Edwards' appearance Sunday as another step for gay civil rights.

Still, for many other gay leaders such as San Francisco Assemblyman Mark Leno, Elizabeth Edwards' appearance was to be lauded, but he argued it still didn't go far enough.

"This is definitely a step in the right direction in the evolution of the civil rights fight," Leno said. "But it's not like she's out there riding with me in the parade."

The same sentiment was heard along the mile-long parade route under sunny skies. The San Francisco march is just one of dozens that take place annually around the world. It commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, in which patrons of a Greenwich Village gay bar resisted a police raid.

"I'd like to see her in a car in the parade," said San Francisco resident Tony Russos, 56.

Another parade watcher, Judy Ellerman of San Francisco, said she would rather have seen the candidate than the spouse appear in San Francisco.

"She herself isn't running for president," Ellerman said.

But for San Franciscan Ofer Ravner, 33, the Elizabeth Edwards appearance and the parade itself were to be celebrated.

"It's all about celebrating diversity," said Ravner, who had his 3-year-old daughter hoisted on his shoulders.