Yahoo Finance Eric Cantor: Attend your gay friend’s wedding
Republican contenders for the White House are being put to the test this week on what will certainly be one of the most talked-about issues in the 2016 campaign: gay marriage.
A new Reuters poll finds a majority of Republicans (56%) would show up for a gay friend’s wedding if invited. That compares to 80 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of independents. Overall, 68 percent of Americans said they would attend. 19 percent would not and 13 percent were unsure.
A separate poll conducted by AP-Gfk finds the country pretty evenly divided on the latest case before the Supreme Court with 50% saying the high court should rule that same-sex marriage should be legal and 48% saying it should not.
The Republican candidates and prospective candidates vary in their response to the question: Would you attend your gay friend’s wedding.
Governor Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio, who oppose gay marriage, said they would attend a friend’s same-sex wedding. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker hedged a bit and said he would attend the reception, and Senator Ted Cruz dodged by saying he has not been faced with that scenario.
Yahoo Finance’s Rick Newman spoke with former Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the Milken Global Conference about the Republican Party’s position on gay marriage. Cantor was clear on the question of whether one should attend a friend’s same-sex wedding. “Of course you should attend a gay wedding if your friend is getting married,” he said. “I think everyone is entitled to their views and I think over time those who believe in traditional marriage, such as myself, I think that more and more will gain an appreciation and respect for those who think otherwise.”
Cantor served as the Representative for Virginia's 7th Congressional district from 2001 to 2014, and wielded enormous influence as House Majority Leader from 2011 to 2014 when he was defeated in something of a stunning upset in the Republican primary in his state. The Former Majority Leader, revered or reviled depending on your politics, is now Vice Chairman of the New York investment bank, Moelis & Company.
Cantor's position on whether it's time for the Republican Party to endorse gay marriage was somewhat more nuanced than his stance on whether to attend a gay wedding.
“I’ve always said, whether it’s some of the issues surrounding the marriage equality or whether it is a question on the life issue, we as a Republican party have a diversity of interests, but we shouldn’t insist anyone abandon their principals, right? But there’s a way to do that and also have tolerance for others.”
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Cantor named four potential Republican candidates he believes “make up the pool from which our nominee will come,” including Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. All four oppose gay marriage and all four will have to contend with the issue in 2016 if they’re in the race for the GOP nomination. Cantor believes there’s room for principals and tolerance in the Republican Party, without having to abandon the position held by many in the party that marriage is between a man and a woman.
The candidates who share Cantor’s views on traditional marriage likely will find support for those positions in the early primaries, but will have to walk a fine line in the general election as they court moderates and independents who are more supportive of gay marriage.
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