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MARCO RUBIO SPEECH AT THE IOWA FAITH AND FREEDOM SUMMIT MARRIAGE LAWS AND OTHER POLICIES
MARCO RUBIO SPEECH AT THE IOWA FAITH AND FREEDOM SUMMIT MARRIAGE LAWS AND OTHER POLICIES
*Transcript below*
As Supreme Court Debates, 2016 Presidential Hopefuls Define Marriage Views
Ken McIntyre / April 28, 2015
The national debate over same-sex marriage has landed back in the Supreme Court, but few major presidential candidates routinely put the issue on the front burner.
Among more than a dozen possible Republican hopefuls, only three spoke out forcefully in recent days on their belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.
The three—Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas—appeared determined to underline their defense of traditional marriage.
“We are seeing businesses shut down and individuals threatened with costly lawsuits simply because they do not agree with same-sex marriage,” Cruz said Tuesday evening, in a statement released hours after the Supreme Court heard the marriage cases. “There was a time when the defense of religious liberty was an issue of bipartisan agreement. Yet now the progressive left is seeking to force their view of marriage upon all Americans, regardless of their religious convictions.”
This week I introduced a constitutional amendment to preserve authority of states to define marriage as between a man & woman #IAFaithForum
>>> Commentary: Don’t Silence 50 Million Who Voted for One-Man, One-Woman Marriage
Cruz on Thursday filed a constitutional amendment that he said would guarantee Americans’ right to define marriage as a man-woman union and restrain judges from requiring that “marriage or its benefits” be extended to other types of unions.
“The people should decide the issue of marriage, not the courts,” Cruz wrote in a statement, adding:
The union of a man and a woman has been the building block of society since the dawn of history, and the people in numerous states have repeatedly affirmed that truth in their laws. Nothing in the Constitution prohibits that. … And yet that is precisely what has happened. Judges have taken an unprecedented activist role to strike down state marriage laws.
Liberals have decided that if they can’t win at the ballot box, they’ll win in the boardroom.
Bobby Jindal: I’m Holding Firm Against Gay Marriage
I won’t let companies block Louisiana from protecting religious liberty.
In a widely noted op-ed published Thursday by the New York Times, Jindal said he would stand up to LGBT activists and corporate leaders who “bully” those with religious convictions about what marriage is.
The Louisiana governor, pointing to similar efforts in Arkansas and Indiana, wrote:
Our country was founded on the principle of religious liberty, enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Why shouldn’t an individual or business have the right to cite, in a court proceeding, religious liberty as a reason for not participating in a same-sex marriage ceremony that violates a sincerely held religious belief?
Jindal’s commentary appeared as he anticipated growing corporate calls, “under pressure from radical liberals,” for him to oppose a Louisiana bill that would prohibit the state from taking “adverse action” against an individual, business or nonprofit over religious views of marriage as between a man and a woman.
We need a president who will fight for our religious liberty. Please retweet. #ImwithMike
After a wave of court rulings and a shift in public attitude that seemed improbable during the 2012 presidential campaign, 37 states now allow gay and lesbian couples to marry—including the early primary states of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Courts instituted same-sex marriage in 26 of those states.
Huckabee, considering a second bid for the White House, has taken to saying the Obama administration is intent on “criminalizing Christianity” because of faith-based opposition to abortion as well as gay marriage.
And when asked, other GOP presidential hopefuls readily state their personal belief that marriage means one man and one woman and oppose federal judges redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships. However, they aren’t inclined to dwell on the issue.
Thanks @FaithandFreedom for a great event! 2gether we can defeat the Washington Machine & unleash the American Dream!
Recently, this group appears to include Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
>>> Commentary: Citizens, Not Judges, Should Determine Future of Marriage
The Daily Signal, in an email late last week to 24 declared and potential candidates for president from both parties, asked each their position on two of the major questions being argued Tuesday before the Supreme Court:
Does the Constitution require all states to redefine marriage to include man-man and woman-woman unions? And does one state have to recognize a same-sex marriage conducted in another state?
Only three candidates provided answers—Bush, Perry and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Of them, only Carson directly answered The Daily Signal’s questions.
Saying the Constitution does not require all states to allow same-sex marriage, Carson replied:
Like many Americans from diverse religious backgrounds, my faith confirms for me that by definition marriage cannot include same-sex relationships. The people of various states have always defined and treated marriage as a creation of the will of the people of that state. There has been no reason to suggest it should be treated otherwise now.
A fan sent this picture to me. It looks as if the University of Michigan has some type of matchup in mind? #ImWithBen
The public pronouncements from Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal occurred in the days leading up to a gathering Saturday of some 1,000 evangelical voters in Waukee, Iowa, for a Faith & Freedom Coalition event featuring speeches from the three men and seven other aspirants.
“I’m not backing off because what I’m saying is true,” Huckabee told attendees. “We’re criminalizing Christianity in this country by telling people who hold to an orthodox worldview of biblical marriage that if you still believe that … you will be guilty of discrimination, which could result in some kind of civil or criminal action against you.”
Santorum, having incurred the ire of gay rights activists for vocal opposition to same-sex marriage that in 2008 helped him win the first-in-the-nation Iowa presidential caucuses, instead focused his remarks on building the middle class.
We need to scrap Obama’s dangerous Iran deal, not the definition of marriage that's sustained mankind for 5,000 yrs #1m1w #StandforMarriage
On the Democratic side, party favorite Hillary Rodham Clinton has worked to demonstrate her recent change of heart in favor of same-sex marriage. The video with which she launched her campaign April 12 features two men talking about their pending wedding.
During her 2008 race for president, Clinton opposed same-sex marriage, as did her rival for the nomination, Barack Obama. Like the president, she “evolved” on the issue but unlike him did not come out in support of gay marriage until after the 2012 election.
Every loving couple & family deserves to be recognized & treated equally under the law across our nation. #LoveMustWin #LoveCantWait –H
Clinton faces a potential challenge for the Democratic nomination from Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist from Vermont who has been a strong supporter of what the Human Rights Campaign and other advocates call marriage equality. HRC gives Sanders its highest rating.
It's time for the Supreme Court to catch up to the American people and legalize #gaymarriage. #SCOTUSmarriage
Also pondering their own Democratic runs are Vice President Joe Biden, who declared his support for gay marriage in 2012 before Obama did, and former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who opposed it while in office but has called the nation’s “evolution”—and his—“a good thing.”
Another Democrat who may challenge Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, led the successful drive for redefining marriage in his state and has said it’s a human rights issue.
The dignity of every person tells us that the right to marry is not a state right, it is a human right. VIDEO:
Marriage Equality is a Human Right
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Clinton, Cruz, Paul and Rubio so far are the only announced candidates in the 2016 race for the White House. Huckabee has said he will make an announcement May 5.
Carson, expected to declare his candidacy May 4, also said that no state should be forced to recognize a same-sex marriage allowed in another state.
On the question of whether Americans of faith may decline to provide some commonly available services for a purpose such as a same-sex wedding that violates that faith, Carson said:
America was founded on the principle that people should be able to freely express their faith. They should not be drummed out of the marketplace because of their beliefs. We endanger religious liberties when people of religious convictions are penalized for adhering to their deeply held beliefs. … We need to leave room for people of religious faith and religious conviction to be true to their conscience.
USA needs leadership that projects our values instead of apologizing for them. Thank you IA Faith & Freedom Coalition
An aide to Perry replied to The Daily Signal that the former Texas governor “has long supported traditional marriage, but believes this issue should be left to the states to decide.”
Over the past 20 years Bush moved from opposition to same-sex marriage to calling for respect for the rule of law as courts in Florida and elsewhere changed the meaning of marriage.
>>> Commentary: Judges Don’t Have a Crystal Ball on Marriage
A spokeswoman responded to The Daily Signal’s questions by first citing Bush’s statement in January, when a Florida judge legalized same-sex marriage:
We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law. I hope that we can also show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue—including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.
Early this month, she noted, Bush told a California audience that “in a big, diverse country like America we need to have space for people to act on their conscience.”
Although “religious freedom is a core value of our country,” Bush added, “we shouldn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation.” After calling for both sides to “forge a consensus,” the former Florida governor concluded:
I do fear that certain freedoms that historically have been part of our DNA as a country now are being challenged and I don’t think it’s appropriate.
Happy Pascha to Orthodox Christians in the U.S. and abroad. We must remember the persecuted Church.
Of the rest of the unannounced Republican field, two potential candidates—former UN Ambassador John Bolton and former New York Gov. George Pataki—have said they support same-sex marriage, although Pataki argues it is a state issue.
To some, other likely candidates such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former business executive Carly Fiorina are harder to read.
Fiorina, set to announce May 4, has said she voted when she was a California resident for Proposition 8, the state constitutional amendment intended to preserve marriage as a man-woman union.
More recently, Fiorina declared that Americans are having “an important conversation” about gay marriage. “I think that the worst thing the Supreme Court can do right now is shortcut this conversation,” she told the Christian Post.
Closed out today speaking at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's Spring Kickoff. See you again soon. #IAFaithForum
The Human Rights Campaign, which calls itself the largest champion of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans, examined the public record of seven of the leading Republican presidential candidates on related issues—Bush, Christie, Cruz, Huckabee, Paul, Rubio and Walker.
The organization concluded that all are opposed to what it calls marriage equality. In its separate evaluation of members of Congress, HRC also gives a negative rating to an eighth White House hopeful, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
The HRC web site suggests the group will expand the analysis to include Democratic candidates and, as necessary, other GOP hopefuls.
Thanks to @FaithandFreedom for inviting me to speak at #IAFaithForum in Waukee this evening!
“In this whole debate about the definition of marriage, I remind everyone that marriage is an institution that existed before even government itself,” Rubio said during the evangelical event, held at Point of Grace Church outside Des Moines. “That the institution of marriage as one man, one woman existed before our laws existed.”
In an interview with Daily Signal contributing reporter David Brody, Rubio addressed what the Constitution requires:
There is no federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. There isn’t such a right. You have to have a ridiculous reading of the U.S. Constitution to reach the conclusion that people have a right to marry someone of the same sex. … Can a state decide to change their laws? Yes, but only through the political process.
The audience gave Jindal two standing ovations for marriage-related remarks that echoed his New York Times piece as well as a favorite line on religious freedom.
“Corporate America is not going to bully the governor of Louisiana,” the Louisiana governor said. “Here’s my message to Hollywood: The United States of America did not create religious liberty. Religious liberty created the United States of America.”
Watch: Ryan T. Anderson’s Instant Analysis of Marriage Arguments to Supreme Court
During his speech, Cruz depicted same-sex marriage as a nationwide goal for some Democrats.
“Today’s modern Democratic Party has become so radicalized in their devotion to mandatory gay marriage in all 50 states that there is no longer any room for religious liberty,” the Texas Republican said.
The government won’t stop at demanding that Americans accept a new definition of marriage, Huckabee warned the gathering:
If the government restricts something you can believe, then it can already restrict everything you do. … [S]omehow it’s you the believer that’s supposed to yield your freedom rather than the government step back and recognize you are guaranteed under the Constitution the freedom to believe.
https://twitter.com/ScottWalker/status/592165206257577984
Walker, who has indicated he may declare his candidacy within two months, recalled that the Supreme Court declined to review a court decision that Wisconsin must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
The governor told the crowd:
I believe marriage is between one man and one woman. I still hold out hope that the Supreme Court will rule, as has been the tradition in the past, that the states are the places that get to define what marriage is. If for some reason they don’t … I believe it’s reasonable for the people of America to consider a constitutional amendment that would affirm the ability of states to do just that.
Bolton, Bush, Carson, Christie, Graham and Pataki did not attend the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition event. (See the others’ speeches here, from C-SPAN).
Transcript English (Automatic Captions)0:13do the best I can I appreciate you have me it's an honor to be here with you
0:18today
0:19and appreciate the opportunity to speak to you at this important time in our
0:23nation's history
0:24you know from most human history
0:28the vast majority of people ever lived I live in a society that tells them
0:33that they can only be with their parents were before you can only go as far as
0:38your family before you
0:40my parents knew that condition they were both born in
0:44families cue in the early part of the 20th century
0:47my father lost his mother when he was nine
0:50he went to work supports families
0:54work for the next seven years my mother was one of seven girls race my father
1:01disabled by polio
1:02young child struggles provide girls
1:06entire life yet 1956
1:10took it upon themselves to come to the one place on earth where people like
1:14them
1:14the chance they came here to the united states in america my parents were never
1:20rich
1:21never they were success
1:25because just a generation removed from
1:28despair working as a bartender
1:31made my parents achieve came to be known as the American dream
1:35a dream that has never been about how much money you make
1:38famous you become anything it's about achieving happy
1:43about leaving your children better off why were my parents able to achieve
1:49they're able to achieve it
1:52because 1956 they came to America during the American Century
1:57the 20th century was the American Century and the reason why the 20th
2:02century was the american century begins at our founding
2:05you see unlike all these other nations
2:08history ours was not founded on the political idea our nation was founded
2:12spiritual principle and here's the spiritual principles
2:16founded that every single human being
2:19was born with garage rights given to them by God
2:22to life and to liberty and to pursue happiness
2:26this is the principle that sometimes we I
2:30myself will only known this country may take for granted
2:34but in most places on earth they believe that your rights come from your
2:37government
2:38and from your law ours was founded on the belief that your rights come from
2:42your Creator
2:43from that let us
2:47guided by that fundamental truth at the turn of the 19th century
2:52face to the rapidly changing world that generation
2:55Americans choice they had to choose whether they resisted industrialization
3:00or embraced whether they feared the future or wanted to be a part
3:04and they chose to embrace the future they chose to embrace industrialization
3:10because they did less than a hundred years later america was the most
3:14powerful nation
3:15three times in the last century America save the world from evil
3:20confronted and defeated. Imperial Japan
3:23Nazi Germany and then again during the cold war defeated
3:26an economically in the 20 century
3:30gave birth to the American dream my parents live
3:34i've lived and that so many view this was the American this is this
3:41extraordinary nation
3:42that changed the world now there are millions of people that are starting to
3:48doubt
3:48why do they feel that way because everyday to turn on the news
3:53and the read about how somewhere else in the world evil is winning
3:56and we seem helpless to do anything about it radical jihad spreads from
4:01North Africa to the Middle East
4:02intact can stand Pakistan even Indonesia Iran continues to carry out its nuclear
4:08ambitions
4:09north Korea has nuclear weapons China claims to own the South China Sea
4:13and we cements capable responding to these issues
4:18and making it even worse they are confused how can it be that are present
4:22shows more respect for the ayatollahs in Iran
4:24and for our allies in Israel
4:33and at home
4:34and here at home people have doubts to why
4:37because they're working as hard as they ever have now they're living paycheck to
4:41paycheck
4:41one unexpected expense away from disaster
4:45or maybe their youngsters who went to school they got a degree now the whole
4:49bunch money loans
4:50but they have a degree that doesn't need to adjust or maybe they're trying to
4:55start a small business but they can't because they are buried under mountains
4:58regulation tax the result is extraordinary uncertainty
5:03now overcome our country the question is how can this be happening
5:07how can this be happening to this most extraordinary place
5:11this nation without parallel or humans
5:14the answers we have the wrong people running
5:25we have too many leaders in charge for gotten the fundamental truths
5:28the fundamental truths that government is no replacement for the family
5:33for our churches for our homes
5:36laws in our replaces for our replacement for our values
5:40the Forgotten fundamental truths that the world is a safer in a better place
5:44America is the strongest country when our military is the most powerful
5:48military on
5:50we also have leaders economic policy strap
5:53yesterday who do not realize that this 21st century economy is dramatically
5:58different from the one we leave behind
5:59and it is displaced and the result is the stagnation
6:05faces our country I'm here tonight to tell you there's
6:09the good news is that despite the many challenges
6:13I believe with all my heart I really do in our nation is on the verge
6:18another American Century that I believe the 21st century will be even better
6:23the 20th century we do simple but important things
6:26begins by turning the page on these leaders are trapped in yesterday
6:31by turning the page on these people that I forgot not just a fundamental truth
6:36but the reality that while America has always been proud of its history
6:39we have always been about the future and applying the truth
6:43our founding the challenges of our time to do two things
6:48the first is to reinvigorate our economy
6:51and to do that we must understand how different this economy is in the economy
6:56we leave behind
6:57today we are engaged in a global competition with dozens of countries
7:01and we are holding ourselves back because the tax policies
7:05and regulations and a national debt the hamstrings are believed to grow
7:09that is why we need tax reform and regulatory reform
7:13energy reforms so that once again we can become
7:16the most the most attractive place on earth to invest
7:19in and if we do this americans will do what they have always done
7:22they will create millions a better paying jobs not just new jobs
7:25better-paying jobs
7:27adjusting to the 21st century also means accepting
7:30that automation and technology change the nature of work
7:33in this new economy machines have replaced the jobs that people want
7:38the good news is that this new economy is creating new
7:41jobs that pay more than the ones it's replaced we have too many people that do
7:45not have the skills needed for those jobs
7:47that's why we need to graduate more people from high school ready to go to
7:51work
7:51as welders and plumbers and electricians an airplane mechanics
7:55he's a good jobs with good pay we should not be stigmatizing
8:04that's why we need to create a higher higher education system
8:08that people want to work full time access to so that the single mother who
8:12has to work full-time and raise a family
8:15can also go to school at night on weekends and online
8:18and go from being a receptionist to a paralegal from home health aide making
8:22nine dollars an hour
8:23to a dental hygienist making sixty thousand dollars a year
8:26and we need to reform traditional higher education's well
8:30we can no longer afford to graduate people from school with loans
8:34and agrees that do not lead to jobs and that's why I believe that before any
8:39our young people take out student loans that's cool have to tell you
8:42how much you can expect to make when you graduate from that degree
8:46from at school so people can decide whether it's worth borrowing tens of
8:50thousands of dollars
8:51to major in Basque my apology for the basket weave but winning in this twenty
9:00percent requires
9:02raise fundamental truths as well and here's one we should never forget
9:06you cannot have a strong country without strong P
9:09you cannot have strong people without strong
9:12the thing is no one is born strong
9:16now you have to be they are talk to you
9:20the most basic cell society the family and they have to be reinforced
9:25by the voluntary groups and churches in our community
9:28that help parents raised the social and economic well-being of our people are
9:34inextricably
9:35and it should not surprise us that are struck our country struggles
9:38economically
9:39families should not surprise us to learn
9:43that the single greatest contributor poverty today's disintegration
9:47American and we need leaders that understand this fundamental truth
9:51even government's role in it might be limited it certainly is important we
9:56should never have any policies that stand in the way of families
9:59we should never have any policies that stand in the way marriage
10:02and in this whole debate about the definition of marriage I remind everyone
10:06that marriage is an institution existed before even governments
10:11that the institution of marriage as one man one woman existed before our laws
10:14exist
10:24and that thousands of years a human history teaches
10:27very simple truth the ideal setting where to raise children
10:31and instilling the values is when the mother and the father married to each
10:35other
10:35living in the same home raise those children together
10:44these fundamental truths also requires to accept that the world needs a strong
10:47america
10:48that only america is capable rallying the people in the world
10:52to take collective action to face down and there's always many
10:56but never in so many places in so many different ways
11:00radical Islam Iran's hegemonic ambitions
11:05sign as illegitimate territorial claims LATAM you put efforts
11:09to relitigate the end of the cold war all these things require strong american
11:13leadership
11:13which we cannot exert as long as we keep this rate military spending which is
11:17what we are doing now
11:18we are placing our nation dangerous position unable not just to respond to
11:24the threats
11:25today but the growing threats we are the only nation that is not modernizing its
11:29nuclear weapons
11:30we are the only nation that is not building the aircraft the long-range
11:34bombers
11:34additional aircraft carriers the nuclear submarines that we need for national
11:38defense
11:39and we will pay a heavy price for this every single time this nation has done
11:44this
11:44it had to come back in reverse and it costs more money and it is more
11:48dangerous
11:48and we cannot be a strong country we are ambivalent
11:52about our allies and we are accommodating to our enemies
11:56because our allies are watching
12:00and our allies our allies are watching
12:04and you know what they say to themselves if this is the way america treats Israel
12:08a country with extraordinary support in Washington DC
12:11match with the world and this is the positioning
12:15but imagine if we had leadership in this country
12:19reinvigorated America on the global stage imagine we have policies that once
12:23again understood that the family
12:25is the most important institution in society imagine
12:28we have policies that would help reinvigorate our economy and give our
12:32people the skills they need
12:33to succeed in the 21st century we have these things
12:37in the 21st century to be an American Century
12:40we want to save the American dream we will expand its reach more people and
12:46touch more lives than ever
12:47I will close by saying that these elections in 2016
12:51not simply a choice about what laws were going to pass
12:55party will be in charge election 2016
13:00straightforward question what kind of country we're going to be
13:05I want this to be a special country
13:08chose to run for president at this time his
13:11this time in my life because while america owes me
13:16ap I have a debt to this country
13:19every america is not just the nation
13:23it's the nation literally changed history
13:27what are the most influential people in my life
13:31I don't often talk about him chose to tonight because I think it's right
13:36my grandfather's earlier
13:39disabled by polio as a child he went to school he was the only person
13:44family to learn how to read he was ambitious had big dreams
13:50and they were all impossible for him because his parents were not politically
13:54connected
13:55know the right people years later as I was growing up my grandfather he would
14:02sit on the porch of her home in smoke three daily cigars you live to be 84
14:09and I would sit on the porch with a militant story the top
14:13history he loved america he commented how this country
14:17remember long before he was citizen long before
14:21he was fully in this country was an American he marveled
14:25the man that was born 1899
14:28airplanes didn't exist sat in front of a television
14:311969 watch the American walk and he concluded from
14:36Americans Tommy something else
14:40not directly per se in the lessons that instilled
14:44talk was blessed and privileged to be a citizen
14:48the one place on earth or even the son of a bartender me
14:52have the same dreams and the same future as the children
14:56peak he wanted me to believe that
15:00anything I wanted possible all the things that whenever possible for him
15:04would be possible for me
15:06because I was a citizen special nights like tonight I recall how proud he would
15:12be
15:12I remember the last his life because I wrote
15:16into the house held his hand as he slipped away
15:20and I know that he couldn't respond hear me when I promised them
15:24what I said at the time Spanish I'm promises study
15:27be I really meant
15:32he wanted me not to waste the opportunity because he understood how
15:37special opportunity in the back
15:39mine I'm sure you wondered he could become
15:42he had the opportunity to grow up
15:46the reason why say that to you tonight because that's the country I think
15:51those follow here this is the country's those
15:56inherited we have a special obligation to leave that sort nation behind
15:59for those and whether america remain special
16:03will not be determined by how many rich people we have every country has rich
16:07people
16:07whether america remain special on will be determined by whether people can do
16:12for their children
16:13your parents did for you my parents
16:19I believe that it is this generation's comment not just to restore the promise
16:23of america
16:24to expand to reach more people than it has ever reached before
16:27and I have no doubt in my mind that we will for americans have always been
16:32about a better future
16:33that is who we still are we've had backed president
16:36for we've had bad governments before but we have always over common we will again
16:42this generation will turn the page and we will do for our children what our
16:46parents did for us
16:47leave for them the single greatest nation in history
16:51bombing thank you for the opportunity thanks
17:00the