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Republican presidential candidates weigh in on Rowan County marriage license showdown
Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina was not pleased when the US Supreme Court ruled in June that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states.
But that doesn’t mean the only female candidate in the GOP field is supportive of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis’ high-profile battle against issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
‘When you are a government employee as opposed to say, an employee of another kind of organization, then in essence, you are agreeing to act as an arm of the government,’ Fiorina said in a radio interview Tuesday (1 September).
Because of that, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard believes it might be time for Davis to look for employment elsewhere since she is being paid by the government to do a job and ‘needs to execute the government’s will.’
‘Given the role that she’s playing, given the fact that the government is paying her salary, I think that is not appropriate,’ Fiorina added. ‘ … I think it’s a very different situation for her than someone in a hospital who’s asked to perform an abortion or someone at a florist who’s asked to serve a gay wedding. I think when you’re a government employee, you are put into a different position honestly.’
Fellow presidential candidate, US Senator Lindsay Graham, also spoke to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt and was more concise in his reading of the situation: ‘As a public official, comply with the law or resign.’
Graham, who himself is opposed to gay marriage, added: ‘I appreciate her conviction. I support traditional marriage, but she’s accepted a job where she has to apply the law to everyone, and that’s her choice.’
But Davis has found an ally in her fight in US Senator Rand Paul despite his belief that states should get out of the license business altogether.
‘I think people who do stand up and are making a stand to say that they believe in something is an important part of the American way,’ Paul recently told Boston Herald Radio.
He added: ‘I think one way to get around the whole idea of what the Supreme Court is forcing on the states is for states just to get out of the business of giving out licenses … then if you want a marriage contract you go to a church. And so I’ve often said we could have gotten around all of this also in the sense that I do believe everybody has a right to a contract.’
The post Republican presidential candidates weigh in on Rowan County marriage license showdown appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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