Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a
candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said Wednesday
that he's opposed to a constitutional amendment defining marriage as
a heterosexual union.
In the wake of the Supreme Court's
ruling striking down marriage bans in all 50 states, several GOP
presidential candidates – including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker – have endorsed such an amendment
as a means to reverse the court's decision.
“I don't support a constitutional
amendment. I don't believe the federal government should be in the
marriage regulation business,” Rubio
told reporters after speaking to an audience at the Cedar Rapids
Country Club in Iowa.
“We can continue to disagree with it.
Perhaps a future court will change that decision, in much the same
way as it's changed other decisions in the past.”
Rubio added that he remains opposed to
marriage equality. In that respect he remains in lockstep with his
Republican rivals.
“[M]y opinion is unchanged, that
marriage should continue to be defined as one man and one woman. The
decision is what it is, and that's what we'll live under.”
“I disagree with the decision on
constitutional grounds,” he added. “Irrespective of how one may
feel about the definition of marriage, we're still all Americans.”
(Related: Marco
Rubio: Being gay is not choice.)