Meg Whitman, the president and chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, who, as a GOP candidate for Governor of California in 2010 supported Proposition 8, the voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, is now one of more than 75 prominent Republicans to publicly support marriage equality for gays and lesbians.
Whitman is among dozens of GOP leaders to have signed an amicus brief that will be filed this week in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, the federal challenge seeking to strike down Proposition 8.
In a statement posted on LinkedIn Tuesday, Whitman explains her new found support for same-sex marriage:
I have come to embrace same-sex marriage after a period of careful review and reflection. As a candidate for governor three years ago, I supported Proposition 8. At the time, I believed the people of California had weighed in on this question and that overturning the will of the people was the wrong approach. The facts and arguments presented during the legal process since then have had a profound impact on my thinking.
[...]
I have come to embrace same-sex marriage after a period of careful review and reflection. As a candidate for governor three years ago, I supported Proposition 8. At the time, I believed the people of California had weighed in on this question and that overturning the will of the people was the wrong approach. The facts and arguments presented during the legal process since then have had a profound impact on my thinking.
Whitman concludes that she, like several others who have either sought or held public office, “including President Obama, I have changed my mind on this issue.”
“Same-sex couples and their children should have equal access to the benefits of marriage,” she wrote.
The amicus brief argues that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes, and that it advances conservative values of “limited government and maximizing individual freedom.” (A complete list of signatories on the brief is here.)
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on March 26.
Filed under: Newsmakers














She found her brain!!!!
She has figured out she wants to be on the right side of History.
’bout freaked time.
What is she running for now
So she stopped pandering to the fundamentalists fools.
If she HAD won office, who really thinks this “realization” would have happened?
You supported 8 when you were hunting for votes, I say thanks, too finally the correct position far too late.
LMAO
Better late than never!
sounds like a Mitt Romney move to me!
Hmm this hypocrite doesn’t want to go down in history as a bigot
Richard she helped get prop8 passed in CA screw that better late then never crap
I don’t care if these people are just flip flopping for popularity (that’s just what politicians do), as long as they’re on our side, I’m pretty damn happy! The more the merrier! If they flip flop back like Romney, then we have the right to be all judgmental and angry.
betcha its just for votes…hell i think shed say just about anything to get votes
At least the ugly bitch did something right.
Great! But a whole lot of nothing way to late.
yeah I think it’s to gain popularity so she can spend her wealth to buy something else besides trying to buy the Governors mansion in California. If they really have a change of conscience it’s one thing but just flipping for popularity and votes, I don’t trust them
Still don’t like her, but will take support for equality wherever it can be found.
I’m not sure panderers who recant are particularly praiseworthy.
She’s still a frickin’ phoney ass be-otch! Don’t like her and will never like her! You can’t do harm to someone and then expect them to forgive you! Stupid hypocritical c**t!
Where is her check?
Fair weathered friend. She’s not running for anything so she has nothing to lose. I still wouldn’t own an HP.
suddenly, supporting same-sex marriage is trendy? Hey, I’ll take it!
Convenient politics.
A GOP who reviewed the facts, THOUGHT about it and changed her mind? I never thought I’d see that in my lifetime…
It’s not a CHANGE OF HEART OR MIND. It’s a matter of SHE WANTS YOUR VOTES and YOUR MONEY!
I would still tell her to piss off.
She doesn’t want your votes — she’s not running for office anymore. SHe’s the CEO of Hewlett Packard.
I don’t want her on my side. HP is a crappy company, my three year old, $1,800.00 laptop, has been fixed twice, since I purchased it, now, the same problem, no part, HP doesn’t care and I’m out another $250.00 to fix it. I don’t want nothing to with HP and I don’t want them to represent me, since my money is not represented!