Libertarian nominee for President and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson today called for the Obama Administration to "make up its mind" when it comes to supporting marriage equality for all Americans, citing Vice-President Biden's weekend comments appearing to support gay marriage and White House efforts since to clarify those comments.
Johnson, who supports gay marriage equality, received the Libertarian Party nomination for President Saturday, and will be on the ballot in all 50 states. "The President is playing cruel, cynical politics with a deeply personal issue for many Americans," said Johnson. "He should quit trying to have it both ways and take a stand."
In a statement released Wednesday, Johnson said, "Gay marriage equality is not a trick question, and we shouldn't be getting trick answers from the President of the United States. Gay Americans deserve better than a President who winks and nods and tries to convince them that he will protect their rights, but refuses to emerge from the closet and support one of the most basic rights -- the right to equal access to marriage. And frankly, even opponents of gay marriage deserve the truth from the White House. Is the President for it or against it? Right now, the Administration is trying to have it both ways"
"For a few brief minutes over the weekend, supporters of marriage equality were given a glimmer of hope when the Vice-President expressed "comfort' with gay marriage. I'm sure the White House was delighted to offer that glimmer. But within hours, they were walking it back. And Monday, President Obama sends his spokesperson out to say there is no "update' of the President's position that marriage is between a man and a woman, but repeats that Obama opposes "efforts to repeal rights for same-sex couples'.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what that means and I suspect no one else does either," Johnson said. "We have a President saying he won't support marriage equality, but if it somehow becomes legal, he won't support repealing it? And a Vice-President saying he's "comfortable' with it? That is not leadership. That is politics, and on such a deeply personal issue for many Americans, it is cruel politics.
"Government exists to protect civil liberties and constitutional rights -- not to pick and choose among those Americans who should have those rights. Denying same-sex couples the right to marry under the law is government-sanctioned discrimination. Unlike President Obama, I am not afraid to state, without a wink or a nod, that the government has no right to tell us who we can marry or not marry.