Michele Bachmann told two students in
Iowa on Wednesday that gay people are free to marry, so long as they
marry people of the opposite gender, the Des
Moines Register reported.
During an appearance at The Pizza
Ranch, Bachmann debated gay rights with two Waverly High School
students as a crowd of roughly 65 Bachmann supporters listened in.
Bachmann prefaced her remarks by saying
that Americans have “really forgotten what true tolerance means.”
“Everyone is welcome here. But that
doesn't mean that we squelch people's speech that have
religious-based values either. And we need to allow people to
speak.”
Jane Schmidt, the president of her
school's Gay-Straight Alliance, asked Bachmann what she would do as
president to protect GSAs and support the gay community.
“Well, number 1, all of us as
Americans have the same rights. The same civil rights. And so
that's really what government's role is, to protect our civil rights.
There shouldn't be any special rights or special set of criteria
based upon people's preferences. We all have the same civil rights.”
“Then, why can't same-sex couples get
married?”
“They can get married, but they abide
by the same law as everyone else. They can marry a man, if they're a
woman. Or they can marry a woman, if they're a man,” Bachmann
answered.
“Why can't a man marry a man?”
Schmidt asked.
“Because that's not the law of the
land.”
(Gay and lesbian couples can marry in
Iowa, five other states and the District of Columbia.)
“So heterosexual couples have a
privilege.”
“No, they have the same opportunity
under the law. There is no right to same-sex marriage.”
“So you won't support the LGBT
community?”
“No, I said that there are no special
rights for people based upon your sex practices,” Bachmann said.
“There's no special rights based upon what you do in your sex life.
You're an American citizen first and foremost and that's it.”