US / Pat Brady Illinois' GOP Chair Backs Same-Sex Marriage Says it 'honors the best conservative principles' By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff Posted Jan 3, 2013 9:54 AM CST Copied In this August 2009 file photo, newly-elected Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady acknowledges applause while at the Illinois State Fair during a Republican Day rally in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File) Are Republicans changing their tune on gay marriage? Illinois Party Chairman Pat Brady is. He issued a statement yesterday saying that he's throwing his "full support" behind the state's pending marriage equality legislation, saying that it "honors the best conservative principles," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "More and more Americans understand that if two people want to make a lifelong commitment to each other, government should not stand in their way," Brady said. "It strengthens families and reinforces a key Republican value—that the law should treat all citizens equally." He also noted that the law preserved religious liberty by specifying that no church could be "required to perform a union with which it disagrees." (More Pat Brady stories.) Report an error