AMES, IA — At the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, Republican presidential candidates made it clear to social conservatives and evangelicals that they’re not going to give up their fight against same-sex marriage.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month legalizing same-sex marriage across the country, the Republican Party has been split between those who recognize that the country should accept the decision and move on, and those who will keep pushing to abolish the high court, allow states to ban same-sex marriage, or to “resist and reject judicial tyranny.”
“It was sad to see more than a few Republicans, including more than a few 2016 candidates, publicly saying it’s the law of the land, it’s settled, surrender and move on,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said during the event. “There is something profoundly wrong when republicans running for president are reading from Barack Obama’s talking points.”
The event featured 10 presidential hopefuls interviewed by Republican political consultant Frank Luntz. Between candidates, conservative leaders invoked religion and spoke about the need for the next president to support socially conservative ideologies.
Brian Brown, president of anti-same sex marriage group National Organization for Marriage, condemned the Supreme Court’s decision and said the fight must continue.
“Did Frederick Douglass give up when he was fighting against slavery?” Brown asked the audience.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also repeated his call for a constitutional amendment which would allow states to decide whether or not to allow same-sex marriage. “I believe marriage is between one man and one woman,” he said, adding that he’s had that opinion for more than 20 years.
He later told CNN that he is unsure if being gay is a choice.
Since losing the battle against gay marriage in the Supreme Court, some Republican Party leaders have said the fight should move to preserving “religious liberty.” Conservatives in Indiana attempted to pass a “religious freedom” law earlier this year which would allow businesses to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but lawmakers in Indiana and other states quickly backed down after backlash from the public.
Some candidates at Saturday’s summit also spoke about the need to pass these laws, appealing to the evangelical audience. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal talked about the executive order he signed after the state legislature failed to pass a law that would have allowed businesses to discriminate against same-sex couples.
“The next president I think should do what we did in Louisiana — issue an executive order immediately saying the federal government will not discriminate or take action against any individual or business that has a traditional view of marriage,” Jindal said.
Recent polls show that the percentage of Americans who support same-sex marriage remained stable after the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage, at 58 percent. Iowa was a leader in legalizing the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry in 2009 and another recent poll found that about half of likely GOP caucus and primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina said they find opposition to same-sex marriage “mostly” or “totally” unacceptable in a candidate.