Why Is Rand Paul Afraid To Tell Supporters He Opposes Same-Sex Marriage?

Rand Paul has positioned himself as a libertarian, which means voters likely assume he does not oppose same-sex marriage. So why has he chosen to hide his anti-gay hate?

U.S. Senator Rand Paul, who just a day or two ago dropped the “Senator” from his name on social media and in most places on his website, opting instead for the “Washington outsider” title of “Dr.,” definitely has been up to finding ways to appeal to a wider set of voters.

Most Americans who are familiar with Dr. Paul think of him as a libertarian, even if they’re not sure what that really means.

Paul, like his former Congressman dad, has garnered a huge base of supporters who are younger and less socially conservative, thanks to their libertarian leanings. 

It’s no secret that marriage equality will soon likely be the law of the land, and it’s no secret that support for same-sex marriage is kind of a must among millennials.

68 percent of millennials, voters aged 18-33, support same-sex marriage, and 55 percent of Gen-Xers do too. Overall, about 60 percent of the nation supports marriage equality.

That makes it tough for any presidential candidate to not support marriage equality.

And overall, 31 percent of likely voters would be “somewhat more” or “much more likely” to vote for a presidential candidate who supports same-sex marriage than one who does not, and, conversely, 35 percent of likely voters would be “somewhat” or “much less likely” to vote for a candidate who doesn’t support same-sex marriage.

So, what about Rand Paul, who announced today his candidacy for the White House?

“I believe in old-fashioned traditional marriage, but I don’t really think the government needs to be too involved in this and I think the Republican Party can have people on both sides of the issue,” Sen. Paul said in a 2014 CNN interview, doing his best to try to appear as persuadable and as a moderate.

Now, if you visit presidential candidate Rand Paul’s website, you’ll notice he has a fairly extensive issues section, covering 

Spending and Debt, Term Limits, Taxes, Audit the Fed, Foreign Policy & Defense, Health Care,Energy, Immigration,Regulation, Criminal Justice Reforms, Civil Liberties, Education,Israel,Social Security,Veterans,Sanctity of Life, and the Second Amendment. 

No where on his site does Sen. Paul talk about marriage, except his own.

And yet, it was just days ago Rand Paul said, I do not ‘believe’ in the idea of “gay rights,” America needs “tent revivals” to heal the “moral crisis” created by gay marriage, and same-sex marriage “offends” him.

So why is Rand Paul hiding his obviously deep disgust of same-sex marriage and equality for LGBT people? 

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license