![Former First Lady Laura Bush - wife of George W. Bush - wants off a pro-gay marriage ad but group is not honoring her request. Pictured here on CNN's "Larry King Live" program where she made the pro-gay marriage comment.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/ff/c8/ffc889a1a8fc698a70afbce91f98266d.jpg?itok=1CemdyZE "Former First Lady Laura Bush - wife of George W. Bush - wants off a pro-gay marriage ad but group is not honoring her request. Pictured here on CNN's "Larry King Live" program where she made the pro-gay marriage comment.")
UPDATE: By late Thursday afternoon, the Respect for Marriage Coalition said that they would replace the pro-gay marriage ad that included a quote from former First Lady Laura Bush. While they regret her decision to not want to be part of the ad campaign, they are now respecting her wishes.
Original report:
According to CBS News on Thursday, former First Lady Laura Bush was surprised to find herself featured on a television advertisement in support of gay marriage and has now asked to be taken off the ad.
The ad was created by the Respect for Marriage Coalition and includes a statement the former First Lady made when interviewed by Larry King on CNN’s “Larry King Live” program in 2010. During her interview in which she was talking about and promoting her memoir “Spoken from the Heart,” she told King:
When couples are committed to each other and love each other, then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.
In spite of Laura Bush’s statement made three years ago, via an office spokesperson for the former First Lady, she did not give her consent to be on the ad and would like to be removed from it.
Besides Bush being on the ad, it also features audio-visual quotes from former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Vice President Dick Cheney, and President Barack Obama. The quote from Obama was taken directly from his second inaugural address given in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 21 when he said that gays and lesbians must be “treated like anyone else under the law.”
While Obama and Cheney obviously support gay marriage, neither one of them supports a federal law for it. As Obama has stated in the past, he believes it is an issue that needs to be worked out at the local level. He said it has not historically been a federal issue.
The $1 million ad campaign produced by the Respect for Marriage group is currently running nationally.
The group says that it used public comments for the ad that have been made by American leaders who expressed support for civil marriage. The group says that they are sorry Mrs. Bush did not want to be included, but it definitely looks like she will not be removed from the ad.
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