Sam Stein of Huffington Post scored quite an interview with Buddy Roemer yesterday. The former Louisiana governor recently announced his candidacy, but it was his comments on gay marriage which are most interesting (because while Roemer is not going to win the GOP nomination, his stance on gay marriage issues turns out to be unique and important for his Party).
In an interview with The Huffington Post on Tuesday, the former Louisiana governor said that while he personally does not support gay marriage, he believes each U.S. state should be able to make its own decision on the matter.This is certainly a weird take on equality. Basically Roemer is saying he's fine with civil unions and is fine with there being marriage equality in other states, just not where he lives. For a southern Republican running for President, that's quite a stance.
“I’m a traditionalist in marriage,” Roemer, a self-described “southern Methodist boy,” said. “Here’s as far as I can go: I’m comfortable with the states having this discussion. And I’m all for -- in my extended family, not my wife or kids, but beyond -- cousins, that sort of thing -- we have a gay member. We honor him. He’s a great guy. He moved to California so he would be in a community where he would be more comfortable. And I love living in a country where gays are honored and esteemed, but traditional lives can continue as well.”
So if a state voted to legalize gay marriage or a form of civil unions, you’d be fine with that?
“That’s right,”said Roemer, who has been divorced twice. “[If] I was living in the state or was part of the debate, I would oppose it, I want to make that clear. But that’s why we have 50 states. They’re all a little bit different.”
It's certainly possible that part of the reason Roemer is open to advancing gay marriage rights is that he himself, like Newt Gingrich, is twice divorced and on his third marriage. So while Roemer mentions traditional marriage a few times in Stein's piece, he doesn't actually know what a traditional marriage is based on experience, but instead relies on brochures found at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition convention hall for insight. I'd say it's more likely that Roemer is trying to avoid being painted into a corner with the rest of his party as being anti-gay. As we saw at CPAC, there is real tension within the Republican base about how they deal with teh gay. Many primary contenders avoided the convention because a single gay group was part of it. As with most everything else, anti-gay Republicans are on the wrong side of history. Over time, more candidates will take small steps, as Roemer has, towards supporting equality. Hopefully Roemer has the courage to stay with this stance and be an advocate for equality as it evolves within American federalism.