Rick Perry: Evolution Is A Myth And Same-Sex Marriage Should Be Illegal

Unlike President Obama, Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry is definitely not evolving. Perry made major news last week when he claimed that he was okay with New York’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage because marriage is a states’ rights issue. That idea, even though many would agree, got Perry into major hot water with every major Christian hate group around, so Perry immediately spun it and appeased his anti-gay buddies by saying he was against same-sex marriage. Now, evidently, that wasn’t enough so Perry — whom many believe will be running for the Republican presidential nomination — today said not only does he not support same-sex marriage, he doesn’t even support evolution! — but he does support a constitutional amendment to make same-sex marriage illegal. No word yet on a constitutional amendment banning evolution.

On Friday, July 22, Perry said of same-sex marriage in the Empire State, “Our friends in New York six weeks ago passed a statute that said marriage can be between two people of the same sex. And you know what? That’s New York, and that’s their business, and that’s fine with me.”

The following day, über-homophobe Rick Santorum took the opportunity to bash the undeclared presidential candidate and number two in line, by saying, “So Gov Perry, if a state wanted to allow polygamy or if they chose to deny heterosexuals the right to marry, would that be OK too?,” via Twitter.

Then, on Wednesday, World Net Daily founder and America’s Birther-In-Chief, right wing extremist Joseph Farrah slammed Perry across space and time. In “Rick Perry fooled me,” Farrah wrote of all the glowing recommendations he had given Perry, “you can forget all that – and all the nice things I said and wrote about Rick Perry. I’m afraid I’ve wasted my time and your time. In fact, I was just dead wrong in all of my conclusions about the governor of Texas. I no longer want him to run and no longer believe he is a viable candidate. In fact, I will do all I can to warn the American people away from him.”

“Evidently I was fooled by Rick Perry.

“I freely admit it.

“I feel unclean for the nice things I have said about him to date.”

Dallas Voice reported,

“His comments were inartful and disappointing,” Gary Bauer, president of American Values, told Real Clear Politics. “The 10th Amendment and states’ rights is very important to conservatives, but it’s not our highest value. There are some things so fundamentally wrong that we have not left those things up to the states.”

Oran Smith, president of an anti-gay group in the early primary state of South Carolina, told Real Clear Politics that Perry’s comments could mean he is also “slippery” on other issues (gee, ya think?). And our old friend Bob Van der Plaats, president of the Iowa Family Leader, said he hopes Perry’s comments were “more of an education issue … .” LOL.

Even Bryan Fischer, a spokesman for the American Family Association — the anti-gay hate group that is funding Perry’s day of prayer in Houston on Aug. 6 — told The Texas Independent that Perry “missed an opportunity here for him to stress the importance of natural marriage and the negative consequences for children when same-sex marriages are legitimized.”

But Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic goes back to Perry’s original states’ rights, Tenth Amendment focus, and writes,

“How deeply does Perry believe in the 10th Amendment? As it turns out, not deeply enough for his advocacy on its “beauty” and wisdom to survive an interview with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. By its end, he is speaking out on behalf of the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposal that would define marriage everywhere in the United States as being between one man and one woman, effectively overturning the actions of New York’s duly elected legislature, and preventing even citizen-backed ballot initiatives from legalizing gay marriage in the future.

In the interview, Perry and Perkins both try to make this sound as though it is the real states’ rights position:

TONY PERKINS I think marriage and family policy is best dealt with at the state level. But the tenth amendment — and I am a strong supporter. I fought the federal government on a number of issues when they were trying to force us to do things. But when you look at what’s happening on marriage, the real fear is that states like New York will change the definition of marriage for Texas. At that point the states rights argument is lost.

GOV. PERRY Right and that is the reason that the federal marriage amendment is being offered, it’s that small group of activist judges, and frankly a small handful, if you will, of states, and liberal special interests groups that intend on a redefinition of, if you will, marriage on the nation, for all of us, which I adamantly oppose. Indeed to not pass the federal marriage amendment would impinge on Texas, and other states not to have marriage forced upon us by these activist judges and special interest groups.Translation: We support the 10th amendment until the people of another state decide an issue in a way that affects us. As these men surely know, a state’s drinking age, gambling laws, agricultural policies, drug laws, and many other policies besides affect its neighbors. Should all those issues be federalized too?

So, now that all this is said and done, Perry, who is co-hosting and headlining a Christian-only possibly taxpayer-supported prayer rally next week, decided to make his stance as narrow as possible.

And Andrew Belonsky at Towleroad has this:

“Yes, sir, I would [support an amendment.] I am for the federal marriage amendment. And that’s about as sharp a point as I could put on it,” Perry told the news agency, just one day after he reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage at a right wing gathering in Colorado.

Meanwhile, Perry also insisted that he thinks a creator, rather than the Big Bang, formed the universe.

“There are clear indications from our people who have amazing intellectual capability that this didn’t happen by accident and a creator put this in place.

“Now, what was his time frame and how did he create the earth that we know? I’m not going to tell you that I’ve got the answers to that.

“I believe that we were created by this all-powerful supreme being and how we got to today versus what we look like thousands of years ago, I think there’s enough holes in the theory of evolution to, you know, say there are some holes in that theory.”

Any questions?

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