U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R- Ohio) did a major flip-flop Thursday on his longtime opposition to same-sex marriage, saying he now supports it after learning his 21-year-old son, Will, is gay.

“I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married,” The Republican Senator wrote in an op-ed published Friday in the Columbus Dispatch.

“That isn’t how I’ve always felt. As a congressman, and more recently as a senator, I opposed marriage for same-sex couples. Then something happened that led me to think through my position in a much deeper way," Portman added.

Portman said his son, Will, a junior at Yale University, told him and his wife, Jane, that