Greg Hecht, the Democratic nominee for Georgia Attorney General, has come out in support of same-sex marriage, drawing a solid line between him and his Republican opponent, Attorney General Sam Olens, who announced on Monday that he will defend the state’s 2004 same-sex marriage ban.
“It is time we had an Attorney General who will protect all citizens’ freedom to share in the right to marry and pursue happiness, as opposed to an Attorney General that makes decisions based on political calculation,” Hecht, a former Georgia state senator, said in a statement released by his campaign.
Hecht’s stance is a significant one in that, if elected this November and once he took office, he could decide not to defend Georgia’s same-sex marriage ban in the federal class action suit filed by Lambda Legal that is attempting to strike it down, assuming the case has not been decided by then.
Attorneys general in Virginia, Oregon, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nevada and Kentucky have already done the same, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has stated that state attorneys general are not required to defend same-sex marriage bans if they feel they are unconstitutional.
Hecht’s stance on the issue is sure to make him a major draw for the LGBT community and the more progressive blocs of Georgia voters as they head to the polls in November.