Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said Thursday that his feelings towards his twin daughters would be unchanged if they were gay.
“I would say, ‘I love you girls. End of it,” Kasich told a reporter moments after taping an MSNBC town hall set to air Thursday night, according to the Washington Examiner. The reporter asked him what he’d say to his own children if they came out.
The Ohio governor’s response came after an extensive back-and-forth with MSNBC host Chris Matthews over the legitimacy of same-sex marriage.
Though Kasich maintained that he believed in “traditional marriage,” he urged tolerance and noted, as he has many times on the campaign trail, that he once attended a gay wedding.
Kasich also said the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide should stand.
“There could be an effort to pass a Constitutional Amendment,” Kasich told Matthews during the town hall. “I’m not for doing it. I’m for moving on.”
Kasich’s stance on LGBT rights and same-sex marriage is more moderate than that of his fellow Republican presidential candidates. The Ohio governor recently expressed opposition to legislation passed in North Carolina that prevents cities and counties from passing their own rules against LGBT discrimination.
“Why do we need to write a law every time we turn around in this country?” he said on CBS’ “Face The Nation.” “Everybody, chill out, get over it if you have a disagreement with somebody.”
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has said he “would strongly consider” appointing judges to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex marriage. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) voiced support for the anti-transgender “bathroom bills” passed in North Carolina and a slew of states in recent weeks, calling them “perfectly reasonable.”
