“Well, I am somebody who believes in the separation of church and state and that the government, frankly, ought to be out of the business of marriage entirely.”
Wimpy conservatives are likely to accept this compromise as the same-sex marriage tidal wave grows.
-- From "GOP Should Remove ‘Traditional Marriage’ Plank from Party Platform, Whitman Says" by Josiah Ryan, Staff Writer CNSNews.com 4/20/09
The government should have no say about marriage, and the plank in the Republican Party platform that calls for preserving marriage between a man and a woman should be scrapped, former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (R) told CNSNews.com.
Furthermore, the U.S. military should not differentiate between homosexuals and heterosexuals, said Whitman. The former governor spoke Friday at the Log Cabin Republicans’ (LCR) 2009 convention and symposium in Washington, D.C.
The Log Cabin Republicans are a group that seeks to promote homosexual and lesbian concerns within the GOP. In her speech, Whitman spoke about how inclusion can help the GOP become stronger, and she called on the Republican Party to veer in a moderate direction.
“It ought to be everybody – heterosexual, homosexual. When you go down and register to get married, that’s when the legal transfer of everything occurs and that’s a legal recognition of a relationship – and if you want to get married in a church, a temple, whatever, and you find one, great!” she said.
“Civil marriage, everybody,” said Whitman. “I am not against marriage for gay couples. I just think it would make the issue easier if it was civil marriage for everybody. And I am not against – I mean, it’s [same-sex marriage] not going to threaten my marriage. I mean my 35th anniversary is on Monday. It’s not going to threaten my marriage to have a gay couple married.”
Concerning the platform’s opposition to homosexual marriage, Whitman said, “I would like them to take it out. I just don't think it’s an issue that ought to be in a party platform. It’s a personal issue, not a political one.”
“We can't succeed nationally as a party that only has 31 percent of the American people behind it,” she said. “It’s not going to work. We need everybody. We need to ingratiate them. We need to bring them in. We are not going to agree on every issue – but that’s okay.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "RNC chairman can signal new GOP" by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman 1/28/09
If looking at the sea of faces gathered on the National Mall for the inauguration of President Obama did not send a clear message that the political winds have changed dramatically, then I wonder if anything will.
Unfortunately, the issues that seem to be the focus . . . suggest the Republican Party is still firmly focused on the past. . . . more concerned about a candidate’s firmness in their opposition to abortion.
If Republicans continue to look solely for purity on a host of social issues, we are destined to be the minority for the foreseeable future.
To read the entire commentary, CLICK HERE.
