Former President Jimmy Carter has said
the states, not the federal government, should decide whether to
allow gay couples to marry.
“I'm kind of inclined to let the
states decide individually,” Carter said during a wide-ranging
interview with ABC affiliate WFAA's Inside Texas Politics to
be broadcast Sunday morning.
“As you see, more and more states are
deciding on gay marriage every year. If Texas doesn't want to have
gay marriage, then I think that's a right for Texas people to
decided,” said
Carter, 90.
“I don't think that the government
ought to ever have the right to tell a church to marry people if the
church doesn't want to,” he added. “I'm a Baptist, and the
congregation of our church will decide whether we have a man or a
woman as pastor, and whether we'll marry gay people or not.”
A federal judge in February struck down
Texas' ban on gay marriage, saying it was unconstitutional. An
appeals court is expected to review the ruling early next year.
Carter first endorsed marriage equality
in 2012. In an interview with The Huffington Post, he said,
“I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married in
civil ceremonies.”
Carter
has previously said America is ready for a president who is openly
gay.