GOP Chairman Michael Steele told a
group of fellow Republicans Saturday that gay marriage would burden
small business.
“Now all of the a sudden I've got
someone who wasn't a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for,
who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial
responsibility for,” Steele said. “So how do I pay for that?
You just cost me money.”
The Republican head said positioning
gay marriage as a pocketbook issue is just an example of how the
party can retool itself on social issues. Steele was speaking at the
state convention in Georgia.
Steele's position on gay issues has
earned him flack from both sides of the political spectrum. In
February, he told radio host Mike Gallagher that civil unions for gay
and lesbian couples were “crazy.”
“Do you favor civil unions?”
Gallagher asked.
“No, no, no. What would we do that
for? What are you crazy?” Steele replied.
But just weeks later, he told 'GQ
Magazine' that he opposed gay marriage but wasn't going to “beat
people upside the head about it,” and agreed that being gay was not
a choice.
“I think there's a whole lot that
goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can't simply
say, oh, like, 'Tomorrow morning, I'm gonna stop being gay.' It's
like saying, 'Tomorrow morning I'm going to stop being black.'”