Murkowski endorses same-sex marriage

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 19 (UPI) -- Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, endorsed same-sex marriage, becoming the third Republican senator to do so.

She made her comments Wednesday morning KTUU, Anchorage, and in an essay on her website, Politico reported.

"I am a life-long Republican because I believe in promoting freedom and limiting the reach of government. When government does act, I believe it should encourage family values. I support the right of all Americans to marry the person they love and choose because I believe doing so promotes both values: it keeps politicians out of most private and personal aspects of peoples' lives, while encouraging more families to form, and more adults to make a lifetime commitment to one another," she wrote on her website.

Murkowski joins Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of Illinois as the only Republican senators to announce their approval of same-sex marriage.