Former US Secretary of State, General Colin Powell has come out to support gay marriage. Click below to see what he has to say about the issue.

Melissa Nash

One of the nation’s most beloved soldiers came out in favor of gay marriage Wednesday.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell said in a CNN interview he has gay friends and has “no problem” with same sex couples tying the knot.

“I know a lot of friends who are individually gay but are in partnerships with loved ones, and they are as stable a family as my family is, and they raise children,” said Powell. “And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married.”

Powell told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he believes most Americans have also come around to accept gay marriage.

What makes Powell’s change of heart on the contentious issue all the more remarkable is that as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, he helped installed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that prevented gays from serving openly in the military.

Powell said Congress imposed the policy but added that “it was certainly my position and my recommendation to get us out of an even worse outcome that could have occurred, as you’ll recall.”

A Republican who served in the Bush Administration, Powell endorsed President Obama in the last presidential election.