Marco Rubio today claims he has never supported a federal amendment to the constitution on marriage. Is that true?
In a quick interview with MSNBC this morning, Marco Rubio said he believes the states should have the right to define marriage as they choose. The GOP presidential candidate, who does not support marriage equality and initially stumbled by saying “sex” instead of “marriage” when talking about same-sex couples, also offered up an interesting statement. “I’ve never supported a federal constitutional amendment on marriage.”
Really? If that’s true, the record says otherwise. And if that’s true, did he try to correct the record?
There’s a line, of course, between being so anti-gay that enshrining bigotry into our founding documents seems like a good idea, and being anti-gay but conceding the issue to the states – not that marriage should be left to the states.
While the Florida freshman Senator may or may not have ever “supported a federal constitutional amendment on marriage,” the record certainly appears to show he did.
A 2010 Voters Guide published by the Christian Coalition, a far right religious organization, puts Rubio’s position on the issue of a “Federal Marriage Amendment to prevent same sex marriage” as “Supports.” An asterisk is next to his position, which the Christian Coalition states designates:
“When possible, positions of candidates on issues were verified or determined using voting records and/or public statements.”
On the other side of the political spectrum, in an undated article that was published at least by October 3, 2010, the People For The American Way write:
“Rubio is opposed to repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell – which puts him at odds with three quarters of the American people. He opposes the freedom to marry for gay couples and supports a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in any state.”
LOOK:Â Marco Rubio’s Top 10 Anti-Gay Statements
In August of 2010, before Rubio was elected to the U.S. Senate, CNN interviewed his challenger, Charlie Christ. Here’s how reporter Ed Henry began a question on same-sex marriage:
“Another big issue, same-sex marriage. Many conservatives like Marco Rubio support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage…”
One year earlier, in 2009, Rubio told Slate’s Christopher Beam that he wasn’t talking about same-sex marriage because no one else was, but offered up this “position,” if you will, on a federal marriage amendment that would ban same-sex couples from marrying: “I have mixed feelings about that.”
By 2013 Senator Rubio may have take the position that marriage should be left to the states, but he did not have that belief solidified when he was running for the U.S. Senate three years earlier.
And if he never supported a federal amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage, it would appear he also never tried to correct the record – or disabuse those who thought he did – of that perception, which worked to his advantage.
Senator Rubio’s campaign was contacted for comment on this article but did not immediately respond.
UPDATE – 5:50 PM EDT:
In an article published after this one, MSNBC’s Benjy Sarlin adds this supporting statement:
“Reached by msnbc for comment, a Christian Coalition spokeswoman confirmed that had Rubio filled out a candidate survey in 2010 when he was running for the Senate in Florida and attested to the voter guide’s accuracy, which she said was rigorously checked against candidate’s questionnaires, votes, and public statements.”
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Image: Screenshot via MSNBCÂ