Today, former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman published an op-ed in the American Conservative urging his fellow Republicans to get on board with the majority of Americans who support marriage equality.
Huntsman wrote:
While serving as governor of Utah, I pushed for civil unions and expanded reciprocal benefits for gay citizens. I did so not because of political pressure—indeed, at the time 70 percent of Utahns were opposed—but because as governor my role was to work for everybody, even those who didn’t have access to a powerful lobby. Civil unions, I believed, were a practical step that would bring all citizens more fully into the fabric of a state they already were—and always had been—a part of.
That was four years ago. Today we have an opportunity to do more: conservatives should start to lead again and push their states to join the nine others that allow all their citizens to marry. I’ve been married for 29 years. My marriage has been the greatest joy of my life. There is nothing conservative about denying other Americans the ability to forge that same relationship with the person they love.
All Americans should be treated equally by the law, whether they marry in a church, another religious institution, or a town hall. This does not mean that any religious group would be forced by the state to recognize relationships that run counter to their conscience. Civil equality is compatible with, and indeed promotes, freedom of conscience.
Marriage is not an issue that people rationalize through the abstract lens of the law; rather it is something understood emotionally through one’s own experience with family, neighbors, and friends. The party of Lincoln should stand with our best tradition of equality and support full civil marriage for all Americans.
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin issued the following statement in response to Huntsman’s piece:
“Gov. Jon Huntsman is one of a growing number of Republicans to embrace the idea that marriage should be for all Americans. From former Vice President Dick Cheney to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Huntsman is yet another high profile Republican official to make the case that treating people equally under the law is an American value.”
The op-ed stresses that the party will end up on the wrong side of history unless it takes immediate action to shift its position in the direction of fairness. Huntsman’s argument echoes the results of a new poll released yesterday showing that 77 percent of Americans believe nationwide marriage equality will be a reality in just a few short years, including a majority of registered Republicans.
