Full Your World Interview: Mitt Romney Speaks Out Following President Obama’s Announcement on Same-Sex Marriage
In his first national interview since President Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage, Governor Mitt Romney joined Neil Cavuto to react.
Romney reflected on the president’s fundraising surge since the announcement, saying, “You know, I don’t think the matter of marriage is really a fundraising matter, either for the president and it’s certainly is not for me.”
Romney said that he hoped that Americans would focus on the issues of the day, including the economy. He said, “You don’t change your positions to try to win states or certain sub-groups of Americans. You have the positions you have.”
The governor reiterated his position on same-sex marriage, saying, “I’ve made it very clear that I believe marriage should be a relationship between a man and a woman. And, I know other people have differing views, but that’s my view.”
He thoroughly outlined how he believes the issue of marriage should be handled, saying, “My preference would be to have a national standard that would define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. That would then allow states to determine what rights would be provided for people of the same gender that want to have a relationship. There could be domestic partnership benefits, for instance, where one state might decide to provide hospital visitation rights. Another state might decide to provide that as well as benefits of other kinds.”
Romney also addressed today’s Washington Post article which recounted the governor’s participation in a prep school hazing incident against a student thought to be homosexual. He said, “Well, first of all, I had no idea what that individual’s sexual orientation might be. Going back to the 1960s, that wasn’t something that we all discussed or considered. So, that’s simply just not accurate. I don’t recall the incident myself but I’ve seen the reports and I’m not going to argue with that. There’s no question that I did some stupid things while I was high school, and obviously if I hurt anyone by virtue of that, I would be very sorry for it and apologize for it.”
