As more Republicans throw their name in for a chance at becoming President of the United States, one thing remains clear: None has a strong record on supporting marriage equality, writes Hayley Miller on the HRC Blog.
Through their careers, these presidential hopefuls, including current candidates Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, have been outspoken opponents of marriage equality and LGBT progress.
While 60 percent of American voters support marriage equality, the GOP candidates has largely remained obstinately out of step–even as Republicans under 35 support marriage equality.
Here’s what the candidates and other hopefuls have to say:
Jeb Bush: As governor, Bush said he believed marriage was between “one man” and “one woman” and eventually supported amending Florida’s constitution to oppose same-sex marriage.
In February, he reaffirmed his opposition when asked about his support for marriage equality. “”No. I believe in traditional marriage,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
Chris Christie: As governor, Christie has drawn a consistent line opposing marriage equality. He vetoed a bill that would have allowed same-sex marriages to proceed in New Jersey, and even after a court ruling allowed same-sex marriages, said he opposed marriage equality – Christie favors civil unions for LGBT couples instead. Christie has stated he stopped defending New Jersey’s same-sex marriage ban because “when I know I’ve been defeated, you don’t bang your head against the wall anymore and spend taxpayer money to do it.” Nevertheless, same-sex marriage became legal in New Jersey under Chris Christie’s watch.
Ted Cruz: Ted Cruz led the charge to deny Texas couples marriage equality. In the Senate, he has supported a constitutional amendment that would prevent the federal government from recognizing marriage equality.
Earlier this year, he argued that court rulings upholding marriage equality are “a real danger to our liberty” in a radio interview. Cruz was also one of over 50 Republicans in Congress to sign a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court against nationwide marriage equality.
Mike Huckabee: Huckabee opposes marriage equality and has suggested judges who rule in favor of it should be impeached.
Rand Paul: As a candidate in 2010, Paul said he was committed to supporting a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman. He later suggested that marriage should be left to the states to decide, so that opponents of marriage equality could keep fighting the issue for “decades,” even if that means “New York State may have gay marriage, but Alabama not.”
In an interview earlier this year, Paul told Fox News that marriage for same-sex couples was offensive. ““I’m for traditional marriage,” Paul said. “I think marriage is between a man and a woman. Ultimately, we could have fixed this a long time ago if we just allowed contracts between adults. We didn’t have to call it marriage, which offends myself and a lot of people.”
Marco Rubio: Rubio has consistently opposed marriage equality. He’s made a special point to correct press reports that suggest he is open to marriage equality. And he even thanked Speaker John Boehner for spending taxpayer dollars to protect the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Scott Walker: Walker has consistently opposed marriage equality. He supported the original constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage in Wisconsin, supported an appeal that would have prevented same-sex marriages, and affirmed his opposition to marriage-equality in a letter after they were made legal in Wisconsin.
