Long Island Assemblyman Fred Thiele issued a statement on Monday, supporting marriage equality, showing an evolution in his position over the past two years.

“I didn’t support the bill in 2007 because I thought equal rights could be guaranteed through civil unions. Since then more states have experimented with civil unions as separate but equal, only to find that discrimination persisted in health care and other areas. The only way to ensure equality is by giving all couples access to the same civil right – the right to marry.”

Separate but equal, is still not equal–and it is good to hear the case being made by conservatives like Assemblyman Thiele.