Rubio says SCOTUS didn’t ‘settle’ marriage issue: ‘God’s rules always win’
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| English: Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator from Florida, Former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Français : Marco Rubio, homme politique républicain de Floride (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Surging GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-FL, says
that "God's law" trumps the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision
imposing same-sex “marriage” nationwide.
The senator also told Christian Broadcast Network's David Brody
that the Supreme Court's redefinition of marriage is not "settled,"
but instead "current law."
“No law is settled,” said Rubio. “Roe v. Wade is current law,
but it doesn’t mean that we don’t continue to aspire to fix it, because we think
it’s wrong.”
“If you live in a society where the government creates an avenue
and a way for you to peacefully change the law, then you’re called to
participate in that process to try to change it,” he explained, and "the
proper place for that to be defined is at the state level, where marriage has
always been regulated — not by the Supreme Court and not by the federal
government.”
However, when laws conflict with religious beliefs, "God's
rules always win," said Rubio.
“In essence, if we are ever ordered by a government authority to
personally violate and sin — violate God’s law and sin — if we’re ordered to
stop preaching the Gospel, if we’re ordered to perform a same-sex marriage as
someone presiding over it, we are called to ignore that,” Rubio expounded. “We
cannot abide by that because government is compelling us to sin.”
“I continue to believe that marriage law should be between one
man and one woman," said the senator, who earlier in the fall was backed
by billionaire GOP donor and same-sex "marriage" supporter Paul
Singer.
Singer, who also backs looser immigration laws and a strong
U.S.-Israel alliance, has long pushed for the GOP to change its position on
marriage in part due to the sexual orientation of his son.
Despite Singer's support, Rubio's marriage stance has largely
been consistent. He told Brody earlier in the year that "there isn't such
a right" to same-sex "marriage."
"You have to have a ridiculous reading of the U.S.
Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone
of the same sex."
Rubio also said religious liberty should be defended against
LGBT activists he says "want to stigmatize, they want to ostracize anyone
who disagrees with them as haters."
"I believe, as do a significant percentage of Americans,
that the institution of marriage, an institution that existed before
government, that existed before laws, that institution should remain in our
laws recognized as the union of one man and one woman," he said.
Rubio also hired social conservative leader Eric Teetsel as his
director of faith outreach this month.
However, things have not been entirely smooth for Rubio on
marriage. Social conservatives were concerned when the executive director of
the LGBT-focused Log Cabin Republicans told Reuters in the spring that the
Catholic senator is "not as adamantly opposed to all things LGBT as some
of his statements suggest."
The LGBT activist group had meetings with Rubio's office
"going back some time," though the senator himself never attended
those meetings. Rubio has publicly said that he would
attend the
homosexual "wedding" of a gay loved one, and also that he believed
"that sexual
preference is something that people are born with," as
opposed to being a choice.
Additionally, days after the Supreme Court redefined marriage,
Rubio said that he disagreed with the decision but that "we live in a
republic and must abide by the law."
"I believe that marriage, as the key to strong family life,
is the most important institution in our society and should be between one man
and one woman," he said. "People who disagree with the traditional
definition of marriage have the right to change their state laws. That is the
right of our people, not the right of the unelected judges or justices of the
Supreme Court. This decision short-circuits the political process that has been
underway on the state level for years.
Rubio also said at the time that "it must be a priority of
the next president to nominate judges and justices committed to applying the
Constitution as written and originally understood…"
“I firmly believe the question of same sex marriage is a
question of the definition of an institution, not the dignity of a human being.
Every American has the right to pursue happiness as they see fit. Not every
American has to agree on every issue, but all of us do have to share our
country. A large number of Americans will continue to believe in traditional
marriage, and a large number of Americans will be pleased with the Court’s
decision today. In the years ahead, it is my hope that each side will respect
the dignity of the other.”
The Florida senator said in July that he opposed a
constitutional marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution to leave marriage up
to the states because that would involve the federal government in state
marriage policies.
