Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has been evasive over whether to fight court rulings in favor of gay marriage, but U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio was unequivocal Wednesday on what should be done: appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to ban the same-sex unions.
“First of all, I think she should. Obviously, I don’t know what decision she’s made,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday. “I think that issue is going to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court either way.”
“I do not believe that there is a U.S. constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Now, as I’ve said before, states have a right to change their laws. I don’t believe it’s unconstitutional. I just don’t believe there’s a constitutional right to it.”
Rubio’s comments echoed those given by his friend and potential 2016 presidential-race opponent Jeb Bush, who told The Miami Herald on Sunday that he had concerns with courts overturning the 2008 Florida constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. It passed with 62 percent of the vote.
Bush the following day took a softer approach in a written statement where he said the court rulings should be “respected.”
Rubio, however, was more direct in his opposition and what he thought both Bondi and Floridians should do.
“If a state wants to change its marriage laws, it should do so by petitioning their elected representatives in the legislatures, and in the case of Florida, by placing on the ballot a question on the issue,” Rubio said, referring to gay marriage. “I’m against it. I don’t agree with it. But we’re in a democracy. People can debate those issues. Ultimately, they’ll be decided through that process.
“But in Florida, the law is in place as a result of voters, who voted by a supermajority to define it that way. If that’s going to be changed – and I don’t agree that it should be changed – but if it’s going to be changed, it should be changed through the political process not through the judiciary.”
Marco Rubio: FL should keep gay marriage banned, appeal to U.S. Supreme Court | Naked Politics.
