Reince Priebus, New RNC Chair, Opposed To Gay Marriage

Reince Priebus, the newly elected chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), is opposed to gay marriage.

The former chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin was elected the group's 65^th chairman on Friday, beating out seven other candidates. He will succeed Michael Steele, who also ran for re-election.

Priebus discussed his views on gay marriage with National Organization for Marriage (NOM) Chairwoman Maggie Gallagher.

NOM is the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage. The group backed successful efforts to repeal gay marriage in California and Maine. Its next targets appear to be New Hampshire and Iowa, where Republican lawmakers increased their numbers on November 2.

NOM interviewed the candidates before Friday's election via Skype and their responses were posted at the group's website.

In his interview, Priebus said marriage was given to us by God and needs to be protected from “activist judges.”

“I believe marriage is a gift from God and the sanctity of marriage ought to be protected … and I don't believe the Comity clause in the constitution allows for activist judges to redefine what marriage is,” Priebus said, referring to the constitution's Full Faith and Credit clause. (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

But there were few distinctions between the candidates, all of whom opposed gay marriage.