Politico reports that Colin Powell endorses marriage equality:
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell supports same-sex marriage — and he doesn’t necessarily believe the issue should be left up to states.
“I have no problems with it,” Powell, who served under George W. Bush, says in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that airs in full at 5 p.m. Wednesday. “I don’t see any reason not to say that [same-sex couples] should be able to get married under the laws of their state or the laws of the country.”
A story in Parade Magazine relates that when Powell served as Senior Warden at his local Episcopal Church and says he learned about kindness from the priest:
Many years ago I was the warden—the senior layperson—of a small suburban Episcopal church in northern Virginia. During that time, the bishop assigned to our parish an elderly priest, in some kind of distress and in need of a parish, to serve as an assistant pastor. I never knew the nature of his problem. We just welcomed him into the church, treated him as one of us, and ministered to him, just as we ministered to one another. He was with us for a year. On his last Sunday, he was assigned the sermon. As he finished, he looked out over the congregation and with a smile on his face quietly concluded, “Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.” That sentence hit me with a special force that has remained with me for four decades. His lesson was clear: Kindness is not just about being nice; it’s about recognizing another human being who deserves care and respect.