Democratic presidential hopeful Carol Moseley Braun said Wednesday she favors gay marriages:

Comparing laws against same-sex marriages to those that once barred blacks from marrying whites, Democratic presidential candidate Carol Moseley Braun said Wednesday that she favors gay marriage. She said it was preferable to civil unions that do not "carry the same prerogatives and legal rights as marriage does."

"People should not be discriminated against in the exercise of their civil rights, and the right to marry who you want to marry is one of those rights," Braun, 56, told USA TODAY's editorial board a day after Massachusetts' highest court recognized a right for gays to marry. The issue has potential to rival abortion as a dividing line in next year's elections.

Oliver Willis weighs in with a similar view. Legal experts say the ruling seems air-tight.