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By Stephen Peters

Today HRC announced for the first time ever members of Congress were scored on their support for marriage equality as part of its soon-to-be-released Scorecard for the 113^th����DzԲ��������.

“Marriage equality is a critical component of full equality for LGBT people and their families,” said David Stacy, HRC’s Government Affairs Director. “Inclusion of marriage equality in this scorecard helps constituents to assess their elected officials’ commitment to equality and fairness.”

HRC has long scored members of Congress based on their support of pro-equality legislation including nondiscrimination, protection from bias-motivated violence and domestic violence, and relationship recognition. Scoring support for marriage equality is the next logical step given its importance to full equality for LGBT people and their families.

Support for marriage equality in Congress is at an all-time high, with huge jumps in support in both the House and Senate. These dramatic increases are primarily due to major gains in support among Democrats—95% of Senate Democrats and 90% of House Democrats support marriage equality. While support among Congressional Republicans has also increased over the past two years—eight GOP members in the House and Senate combined—there is a clear disparity in support between parties.