Former Secretary of State Colin Powell became the latest public official to back gay marriage on Wednesday.

"I have no problem with it," he said on CNN, "and it was the Congress that imposed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, though 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."

"But as I’ve thought about gay marriage, 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. And so I don’t see any reason not to say that they should be able to get married," he said.

Powell flipped and announced his support for the repeal of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy in February 2010 after opposing efforts in the 1990s to allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Earlier Wednesday, Powell slammed Mitt Romney's foreign policy advisers for their hawkish views. He has declined thus far to endorse a presidential candidate in 2012 after endorsing Barack Obama in 2008.

Below, a slideshow of politicians' reactions to Obama's support of gay marriage:

PHOTO GALLERY Politicians React To Obama On Same-Sex Marriage