Florida Senator and 2016 presidential
candidate Marco Rubio defended his opposition to marriage equality
during a CNN appearance.
In announcing his bid for president,
Rubio criticized Hillary Clinton as “a leader from yesterday” who
is “promising to take us back to yesterday.”
The Lead's Jack Tapper noted a
Pew poll which shows that a large majority (61%) of Republicans under
30 support marriage equality.
“On that issue, same-sex marriage,
Senator, you're the candidate of yesterday,” Tapper stated.
Rubio defended his opposition by saying
that states, not the federal government or courts, should decide the
issue.
“I think there's still a significant
number of Americans that believe that the definition of marriage
should be that of one man and one woman, as it has been for thousands
of years,” Rubio
added.
“But they're a minority,” Tapper
noted.
Clinton is the only announced candidate
to support equal marriage rights for gay couples, a point she
highlighted with the inclusion of an engaged gay couple in her
announcement video.
(Related: Hillary
Clinton 2016 announcement video includes engaged gay couple.)