WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- Potential presidential contender Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., favors legalizing same-sex marriages and will try to defeat laws banning them, a report said.
Feingold announced his support of same-sex marriages during a weekend gathering, at which he opposed a "mean-spirited" constitutional amendment in Wisconsin that would ban gay and lesbian marriages.
"Obviously, it's a very difficult issue and evokes a lot of emotions," Feingold told The Washington Post. "I think it's something ultimately that people throughout the country will accept, but it's not an easy issue."
Feingold accused the Bush administration and GOP of using the issue to drive a wedge among Democrats who oppose discrimination.
Feingold, a possible presidential contender in 2008, said his first priorities are defeating the Wisconsin constitutional amendment as well as a federal constitutional amendment that may be called for a Senate vote later this spring.
