Marco Rubio’s deputy campaign manager is a gay ‘marriage’ activist
CHARLESTON, South Carolina, February 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)
– A pivotal member of Marco Rubio's campaign actively encouraged the Supreme
Court to impose gay "marriage" on the entire nation by judicial fiat.
Senator Rubio's deputy campaign manager, Rich Beeson, signed a
legal brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to redefine marriage in last summer's Obergefell
v. Hodgescase.
The amicus curiae brief, which was signed by 300 Republican
operatives whose names spill over 24 pages, argued that having the court
discover a nationwide right to same-sex "marriage" served
"conservative values."
The state marriage protection amendments defining marriage as
the union of one man and one woman "run afoul of our constitutional order
by submitting a fundamental right to legislative or popular referendum,"
it stated. However, the original intent of the Constitution did not include a
right to same-sex "marriage," as states legally prohibited
homosexuality until the Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in the 2003 Lawrence
v. Texas decision.
Beeson's name did not appear on the original list of signers to
the document but he had it added to an amended version, according to
Will Hall of The Baptist Messenger.
The Rubio campaign declined LifeSiteNews' request for comment on
the story.
Beeson has had campaign difficulties on other fronts, as he was
accused of punching an aide to Sen. Rand Paul in the face last fall in
Michigan. No charges were
filed.
This follows revelations last year that Rubio's staff held quarterly meetings with the Log Cabin
Republicans, a homosexual group that fought for gay
"marriage." Sen. Rubio reportedly did not attend those meetings, but
Gregory Angelo, the group's president, told Reuters
last spring that Rubio's staff sought to find issues they could "partner
on."
Rubio is "not as adamantly opposed to all things LGBT as
some of his statements suggest," Angelo said.
Rubio also enjoys the support of billionaire Paul Singer, whose
political donations have strongly supported candidates who favor same-sex
"marriage." Singer also supports candidates who deal with the nation
of Israel and immigration, two of Rubio's signature issues.
Rubio maintained after Obergefell that, while
he believes voters in each state should determine the definition of marriage
for themselves, "we live in a republic and must abide by the
law."
Although Rubio has called the Obergefell decision "bad law," he has declined to support a constitutional amendment defining marriage, saying that doing
so "would be conceding that the current Constitution...needs to be
fixed."
Instead, he said, he will nominate justices who may be
inclined to overturn the ruling.
The Rubio campaign announced the formation of a "Marriage and Family Advisory Board" consisting
of outspoken supporters of marriage, including Everett Piper of Oklahoma
Wesleyan University and Alan Hawkins of Brigham Young University. Heritage
Foundation scholar Ryan Anderson. Andeson, who has authored
multiple books defending traditional marriage, is advising both Rubio and Ted
Cruz. ("I'll advise anyone who will listen," he said.) “The Supreme Court’s decisions in Windsorand Obergefell are only the most recent example of
our failure as a society to understand what marriage is and why it
matters," said Eric Teetsel, the Rubio campaign's director of faith
outreach, who also co-authored a book defending traditional marriage.
The council's formation was announced last Saturday, one week before the
South Carolina primary.
Hall wrote that his investigation of the document revealed that
no staff member from Ted Cruz or Donald Trump's campaign signed on to the
brief, which was drawn up by former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman, who came out of the
closet after leaving his position with the GOP. LifeSiteNews has not yet
compared the full list independently.
However, multiple staffers of Governor Jeb Bush signed the amicus brief: David Kochel and Mike
Murphy, although Kochel had his name removed. An additional Bush staffer, Sally
Bradshaw, said she encouraged her pastor to publicly preach in favor of
same-sex "marriage" despite
pressure from more traditional Christians.
Brian Jones, an adviser to Gov. Chris Christie's moribund
presidential campaign and a former functionary in the unsuccessful campaigns of
Mitt Romney and John McCain, signed on, as well.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's New Day for America super PAC hired Matt David,
a leader of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry,
a group of Republicans who support redefining marriage.
It is unclear how evangelicals in South Carolina will respond to
the news. Rubio won a coveted endorsement from the state's governor, Nikki
Haley, this week ahead of Saturday's primary.
Gov. Haley said in her response to the State of the Union last month that the next Republican
president would "respect differences in modern families."
The National Organization for Marriage has endorsed Ted Cruz and is running ads in South Carolina
against Donald Trump, but not Rubio. Sen. Cruz, who backs a constitutional
amendment leaving the definition of marriage to the states, says his two
rivals' statements about the court on the issue of marriage are identical.
