At Manhattan Fundraiser, Ted Cruz Says Opposition To Gay Marriage Not A Priority
- By
- Carlos Santoscoy
- | December 24, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said earlier this month that opposition to gay marriage wouldn't be a priority in his administration.
According to POLITICO, Cruz made the comment during a closed doors fundraiser in Manhattan.
At the event, Cruz told a Republican supporter that fighting same-sex marriage would not be a “top-three priority.”
The donor told Cruz that he disagreed with him on marriage equality, then asked: “So would you say it's like a top-three priority for you – fighting gay marriage?”
“No,” Cruz answered. “I would say defending the constitution is a top priority. And that cuts across the whole spectrum – whether it's defending [the] First Amendment, defending religious liberty.”
“People of New York may well resolve the marriage question differently than the people of Florida or Texas or Ohio. … That's why we have 50 states – to allow a diversity of views. And so that is a core commitment,” he added.
Cruz, also a senator from Texas, is an outspoken opponent of marriage equality. In a recent interview, he compared the Supreme Court's June finding that gay and lesbian couples have a constitutional right to marry to “Nazi decrees” and called it “fundamentally illegitimate.”
(Related: Ted Cruz says president can ignore Nazi-like gay marriage ruling.)