CNBC Host Challenges Eric Cantor On Gay Marriage: ‘No One’s Asking You To Marry Another Man’
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) appeared on CNBC’s Squawkbox this morning to offer his take on the state of the economy before a fairly tepid monthly jobs report was announced. But while he was waiting for the news, host Joe Kernen decided to bring up a topic that rarely gets discussed on CNBC: gay marriage.
“We never talk gay marriage, but I don’t know, why not?” Kernen began, before laying out a “hypothetical” scenario in which “52%, 53%, 54% of the country think it’s okay now for gay people to get married” and asking if Cantor would be willing to change his position on the issue. Kernen said it “kills me” that there are gay people out there who agree with Republicans on fiscal issues but “vote the other way” because of the GOP’s opposition to marriage equality. “Do the Republicans, will they forever be behind the curve and will history judge that they waited way too long to move were what looks like the general population on this?”
Cantor essentially deferred to the Supreme Court, saying he’s waiting to see how they vote on the issue. But, he added, “There are those of us who have personal religious convictions. And I think we as a country need to respect people about their opinion, not matter which side you come down on.” Cantor said that Republicans are being “portrayed” as a party that doesn’t care about people, but “that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Kernen dug in and pushed Cantor to address the issue more directly, saying, “if we really are free, then everybody should be free.” When Cantor hedged, Kernen added, “No one’s asking you to marry another man.” This comment drew a hearty laugh out of Cantor.
But soon, he was changing the subject back to the economy, saying, “This is an issue that has been divisive, but why can’t we spend some time on things we can agree on? That’s how we build, that’s how we grow. On the economy, my goodness, there’s so much we all know we need to grow and get more jobs, so we’re waiting on the jobs report.”
Watch video below, via CNBC:
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