Laura Bush Supports Gay Marriage, Abortion

May 12, 2010— -- Former first lady Laura Bush has broken with her husband on the premier social issues of his administration and said she backs gay marriage and abortion.

After more than eight years of silence on the controversial issues, Mrs. Bush said in an interview with CNN's Larry KingTuesday, that gay marriage and abortion were points of contention with her husband, former President George W. Bush.

Mrs. Bush in recent weeks has been promoting her memoir "Spoken from the Heart," in which she writes about her life both before and after becoming first lady.

In response to a question about gay marriage, she said, "There are a lot of people who have trouble coming to terms with that because they see marriage as traditionally between a man and a woman. But I also know that, you know, when couples are committed to each other and love each other, that they ought to have, I think, the same sort of rights that everyone has."

Mrs. Bush said she and the ex-president "disagree" on legalizing same-sex marriage.

"I understand totally what George thinks and what other people think about marriage being between a man and a woman. And it's a real, you know, reversal really for [them] to accept gay marriage," she said.

When King asked if she could accept gay marriage, the first lady said: "I think we could, yeah.""You think [legalization of same-sex marriage] is coming?" asked King.

"Yeah, that will come, I think," she replied.

Laura Bush called gay marriage the "social issue" of her husband's second campaign in 2004. In February of that year, weeks after a Massachusetts court ruled same-sex couples could marry in that state, her husband endorsed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.