Laura Bush Asks to Be Removed from Pro-Gay Marriage Ad

A pro-gay marriage group will replace ads that featured Laura Bush after the former first lady asked to be removed from the campaign, Politico reports.

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The Respect for Marriage Coalition said it is "sorry" that Bush asked to be taken out, but that the campaign will move forward. The group's print, television and online ads launched this week and featured pro-gay marriage comments Bush made in a 2010 CNN interview: "When couples are committed to each other and love each other than they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has." Also featured in the ad are two members of her husband George W. Bush's cabinet, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Vice President Dick Cheney.

On Wednesday, the day the TV ads began airing, Bush's spokeswoman Anne MacDonald told the Dallas Morning News that the former first lady "did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated with the group that made the ad in any way."

"We used public comments for this ad from American leaders who have expressed support for civil marriage," the RMC said. "We appreciate Mrs. Bush's previous comments but are sorry she didn't want to be included in an ad. The ad launched a public education campaign that will now move to new and different voices that reflect the depth and breadth of our support."

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Bush has long disagreed with her husband's stances on gay marriage, though the former president made same-sex marriage a central issue in his 2004 reelection bid. During Bush's full CNN interview with Larry King, she explained the couple's differences in regards to gay marriage.

"I guess that would be an area where we disagree," Bush said. "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 reversal really for that — to accept gay marriage."

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Bush also told King that she believes gay marriage will eventually be legal throughout the United States, saying the resistance was only a "generational thing."

Watch Bush speak out for gay marriage in the CNN interview below: