CNN Host Asks Rand To Reconcile Libertarianism, View On Gay Marriage

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks to reporters after voting at Briarwood Elementary School in Bowling Green, Ky., on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Austin Anthony)
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CNN’s Dana Bash pushed presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on his views on same-sex marriage on Sunday, asking him why, as a libertarian, he doesn’t believe gay people should have the freedom to marry.

“Why do you believe just as a core principle, as a libertarian, that people should be left alone, but not when it comes to their right to marry somebody they love?” Bash asked Paul on “State of the Union.”

“I do believe people ought to be left alone,” Paul responded. “I don’t care who you are or what you do at home or who your friends are or what, you know, where you hang out, what kind of music you listen to. What you do in your home is your own business.”

“But not when it comes to marriage,” Bash added.

Paul responded by differentiating between traditional marriage and a “contract” between gay people.

“Well, no. I mean states — states will end up making the decisions on these things. I think that there’s a religious connotation to marriage. I believe in the traditional religious connotation to this,” Paul answered. “But I also believe people ought to be treated fairly under the law. I see no reason why if the marriage contract conveys certain things that if — if you — if you want to marry another woman that you can do that and have a contract.”

Pauls has said before that gay marriage “offends” him and that a “moral crisis” in the U.S. led to same-sex marriage. He’s also pitched allowing gays to make a contract with each other, but not get married.

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Notable Replies

  1. They’re just trying to make him get angry again.

    HEY RAND! Can you reconcile devotion to Ayn Rand with being a hyperchristian?

  2. Rand Paul… situational opportunist ‘libertarian’

  3. Or, why did he sign Tom Cotton’s Iran letter in March after saying he wanted to let negotiations work in January?

    Libertarians, like the Lord, work in mysterious ways.

  4. It’s OK as a contract? Isn’t that what marriage is, a contract between two parties? And why are married people given benefits/breaks that unmarried people do not get? Stop the Bull and finally make it … “Equality for all”.

  5. Avatar for wiz99 wiz99 says:

    Rand is a hypocrite, trying to have it both ways on every issue. Then when asked about by a female reporter he attacks and tries to belittles the reporter, and never answers the question.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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