Katie Couric global anchor : Talks Gay Rights With LBJ’s Daughters

The late president, a strong supporter of civil rights for African-Americans, was sympathetic to marginalized groups in general, say his daughters.

It’s impossible to say how the late president Lyndon B. Johnson would feel about marriage equality — but his daughters suspect he would be for it, they told Katie Couric in a recent interview for Yahoo! News.

“I think my father felt very strongly that when there was bigotry anywhere, prejudice anywhere, all of us lose out,” Johnson said. “Because it’s just one more expression of hate.”

For her part, Robb said she didn’t know what her father would say, because same-sex marriage was not an issue when he was in public life.

“It’s hard to project what Daddy would have thought about that because that wasn’t an issue that had come upon the stage at that time,” Robb said. “But I know he really wanted everybody to be able to live up to the best that God gave them.”

Both Robb and Johnson said they personally believe gay marriage should be allowed.

“I certainly think that, if God made you a homosexual, that you should have love and affection with somebody,” Robb said. “And I would not want to deny anybody that opportunity to be happy.”

“It’s a great civil rights concern of our day,” Johnson added.

Agencies