Boehner on Gay Marriage Debate: 'Marriage Is the Union of One Man and One Woman' (VIDEO)
John Boehner has weighed in on the gay marriage debate following Senator Rob Portman's announcement last week about his change of position on the issue.
Boehner, who is a Roman Catholic, said to ABC's This Week program, "Rob is a great friend and a long-time ally. I believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. It's what I grew up with. It's what I believe. It's what my Church teaches me. And I can't imagine that position would ever change."
Senator Rob Portman, who is a long time friend of Boehner's and a fellow Ohio Republican, made a very public announcement last week about his own change of position on the subject.
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Portman announced that he now backed a redefinition of marriage to include homosexual couples, saying that his change of stance had come following his own son telling him he was gay.
Portman wrote in a newspaper opinion piece on Friday, "We conservatives believe in personal liberty and minimal government interference in people's lives... One way to look at it is that gay couples' desire to marry doesn't amount to a threat but rather a tribute to marriage, and a potential source of renewed strength for the institution."
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also released a video this week officially declaring her support for same-sex marriage. The move is not unexpected and has been strategically made only a week before the Supreme Court looks at two important laws that could decide the future of the divisive issue.
Clinton says in the video: "LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends and our loved ones, and they are full and equal citizens and deserve the rights of citizenship. That includes marriage. That's why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law."
Meanwhile, Dr Richard Land in his latest editorial feature has written on the topic: "Make no mistake, the nation is as deeply divided on same-sex marriage as it was on abortion in 1973, if not more so. Gallup polling data reveals that the country as a whole has shifted to some degree on the issue (49% to 40% currently favor same-sex marriage).
"However, Pew polling data reveals that opinion varies widely across the country with a majority favoring same-sex marriage on the Pacific coast, in New England, and in the Mid-Atlantic states. The same polling data reveals a majority opposition in the South, and opinion evenly divided in the Midwest and South Atlantic."
Land adds, "These figures are a recipe for the same volatile backlash Roe produced and has caused 19 state attorneys general to urge the Court not to 'Stultify democratic principles by declaring a winner of the marriage debate'."
He concluded, "One would hope the Supreme Court would heed the lessons of history and make a narrow ruling on California and California alone and not repeat the mistake of Roe and further divide and inflame the country on the deeply divisive issue of same sex marriage. The better part of judicial wisdom would be to follow the precedent of the last 224 years and leave the issue of marriage to the various states."
Here is a video news report on "This Week" with John Boehner talking about the gay marriage issue:
