After taking back his concession on gay
marriage, Focus on the Family CEO Jim Daly suggests it's over for
opponents of gay marriage.
After Daly, who took over leadership of
the group after James Dobson stepped aside, told World Magazine
that opponents of gay marriage have “probably lost,” he
immediately backtracked in op-eds published on the websites of Fox
News and The Washington Post.
When asked how things stand on the
issue, Daly told World Magazine: “We're losing on that one,
especially among the 20- and 30-somethings: 65 to 70 percent of them
favor same-sex marriage. I don't know if that's going to change with
a little more age – demographers would say probably not. We've
probably lost on that one.”
The next day, he
railed against the institution, then
he denied his group was giving up the fight: “To me, it was a
simple statement of demographic and statistical fact, but to those
who advocate for same-sex marriage, it is being presented as a
concession speech regarding our efforts to protect one-man, one-woman
marriage.”
“So, let me be clear: I am not waving
a white flag. I’m not even contemplating picking one up,” he
added.
Yet in a new interview, Daly said
unless trends shift opponents have lost.
“What I was trying to say in that
interview, when the question was asked about the younger generation,
is you can't deny the stats. So when you're looking at that and
they're saying 65 to 70 percent of those under 40 or 35 – I can't
remember exactly – support same-sex marriage, if that does not
change within that community as they become 50 or 60, yeah it's
over,” Daly
told the Colorado Springs Independent.
“So the point is – and it is a fair
one – with a little more age, with a little more perspective, with
having your first child, will people's views become a little more
conservative in that regard? I don't know.”
Daly went on to suggest that he could
back civil unions for gay and lesbian couples: “I think there's
room, I just don't know what the perfect way is there yet.”